Never follow your passion. But always bring it with you.

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/06/2016 at 14:44 • Filed to: None

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“People I’ve met in my journeys, by and large, didn’t set out to realize their dream. They looked around for an opportunity. And they identified the opportunity, they exploited the opportunity, they worked at the opportunity, and then they got good at the opportunity. Then they figured out how to love it.”

As a frustrated cartographer/historian who followed a career in music because it was the opportunity that presented itself, I absolutely understand what he means.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 14:48

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Nice advice, that resonates with me. Except I’m in that weird spot where I keep getting better at a job I hate, so I’m struggling to love it. But I do love to learn and talk about diverse subjects, such as why the hell Gerard Mercator got so popular. Damned Dutch Privilege, if you ask me.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 09/06/2016 at 14:52

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Mercator got famous because his dorky map, that makes Greenland look like the largest continent in the world and Alaska bigger than it has any right to be, allowed mariners to plot straight line courses on the map and end up where they wanted to be.

jimz > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 14:53

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hard to believe he’s also an opera singer and used to be a salesman on QVC.

and his advice is kind of like Jon Stewart’s, regarding politics: “Get into it, but don’t get it on you.”

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 14:58

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I remember my dad getting a piece of string and teaching me about the Great Circle Routes in middle school. It took me forever to understand it, but it eventually blew my young mind. I'm a Dymaxion Map fan, personally.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 09/06/2016 at 15:02

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I don’t think I have a favorite projection, since they’re all good for one thing or another, but none are perfect (except for a globe). I started reading this book, but got pulled away and didn’t get back to it—yet. It’s the exactly sort of nerdy wordy book that fascinates me, and I look forward to opening it again. I found it at Costco of all places.

https://www.amazon.com/History-World-…

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 15:05

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This one has been my favorite lately, hasn't left my coffee table in months: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Maps-Smi…

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 09/06/2016 at 15:12

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I see a birthday present in my future....

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 15:15

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I live in a family full of people who have to be told what to buy me. Not complaining :D

Audistein > jimz 09/06/2016 at 15:18

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That said, he seems to have an “ I’m not an expert and haven’t done research but here’s my opinion and you can’t do anything to change it ” approach to a lot of issues, especially ones around economic and workers’ matters. I found that a bit surprising.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Ash78, voting early and often 09/06/2016 at 15:52

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Dang, how many cartographers do we have around here? This was my gateway drug:

RallyWrench > Ash78, voting early and often 09/06/2016 at 16:05

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A weird spot indeed. I made the mistake of turning my passion (cars) into my profession, and now I hate it. Good at it, but I hate it.

CobraJoe > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 16:36

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“Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you.”

That quote makes my skin crawl somewhat.

First off, it references two different subjects as if they were the same thing. Personally, my passion is cars, it’s my singular focus when I have any free time and it’s the driving force behind many of life’s choices. How am I supposed to bring that to any job that isn’t car related? He then goes on to talk about how you should work passionately, which is completely different.

Secondly, It suggests that you should forget about what you currently love to do and only focus on what will make you money, and then work passionately at that. I find that idea to be complete BS. Yes, you might find out that you love doing something you didn’t expect, but if you’re truly passionate about a subject, you can create your own opportunities to pursue it. Of course, you might not make money, but if that’s you’re only measure of success, I feel sorry for you.

ttyymmnn > CobraJoe 09/06/2016 at 16:47

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I think what he is saying is don’t become so fixated on your dream job that you pass up a solid opportunity for something else in the hope that one day your ship might come in.

CobraJoe > ttyymmnn 09/06/2016 at 17:29

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That’s a sentiment I can agree with, and one that you phrased in a way that is much easier to understand.

ttyymmnn > CobraJoe 09/06/2016 at 17:37

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Thanks. I think you also have to see the statement through Rowe’s experience. He is a trained opera singer, and as a professional musician myself, I know how difficult it is to break into that scene in a meaningful way. Rather hold on to that dream to the bitter end, Rowe found himself in a position to pursue a career in TV, which worked out very well for him. And I’d bet that he is loving it now. I’ve been playing and practicing for 40 years, and only landed my first meaningful gig last week. I was fortunate that I could focus on being a stay home dad while my wife worked, and I even considered more than once in the past year to abandon it. But it’s all I really know how to do, and there’s no money in writing aviation history posts on Oppo, unfortunately.

CobraJoe > ttyymmnn 09/07/2016 at 10:46

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There is wisdom in finding an opportunity that fits instead of waiting and struggling for the dream job, but I do not agree that you should do that instead of following your passion. If you’re truly passionate about something, you’ll work hard to do it even if you’re in a job that doesn’t match your passion.

For me, I’ve worked hard and got into a job that matches my skills pretty well, but I don’t care for the subject at all. But when I get free time at home after the kids go to bed, I’ll fire up my CAD computer and do very similar work to my job except that the design is of my own car. I’ve worked for 3 years on one design only to decide it wasn’t possible to build by my self, and then spent 2 years on a new and simpler design. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m willing to start buying stuff for it, and I finally have the garage space and a donor car.

If you want to make money, look for opportunities to make money. If you want to follow your passion, you must chase, fight, learn, and sacrifice if you have to. But never assume that you cannot do both. Maybe eventually you can make money off of your passion (I could sell plans or kits for the car, you could write on a blog or for a website like Cracked or even write a book for some examples), but that can also backfire if you don’t want your passion to become a job.