More practical than "do what you love, money will follow"

[Lupe]

The following is excerpted from Ran Prieur's essay on How to Drop Out (of society).

5. Do not try to find a job doing what you love. This is my most radical advice. There are some people in the world who have jobs they love so much that they would do them for free. If you become one of these people, you will probably get there not through planning but through luck, by doing what you love for free until somehow the money starts coming in. But if you make an effort to combine your income and your love, you are likely to end up compromising both, making a poverty income by doing something you don't quite love, or no longer love. For example, if you decide to become a chef because you love cooking, it will probably make you hate cooking, because cooking will become linked in your mind to all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around the job.

What I recommend instead is to separate your money from your love. Get the most easy, low-stress source of income that you can find, and then do exactly what you love for free. It might eventually make you money or it might not. "Do what you love and the money will follow" is a lie. The real rule is: "If you're doing what you love, you won't care if you never make any money from it -- but you still need money."

How to Drop Out

[Cyllya]

I've seen similar arguments before and something about the logic always bothers me.

First, to use the same example, cooking and having a job as a chef are two different activities. It doesn't make sense that loving one means you love the other even if one involves the other. If someone doesn't love having a job as a chef, then having a job as a chef means that person is doing something he doesn't love. So you can't really point to him and say, "He's doing something he loves, and look how badly that worked for him."

Pretty much any job is going to have "all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around the job." I'm pretty sure the job isn't going to be any more pleasant just because you dislike the activity it revolves around. If you love cooking and hate math, a job as a chef is going to be less miserable than a job as an accountant, right? If you can't find a job you love, I don't think you should try to separate love from income but instead separate love and income from a job. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few possible income sources that involve cooking that would be a very different experience than having a job as a chef.

One advantage of self-employment is that it's much easier to have multiple income sources. In addition to the financial benefits of multiple income sources, there's also the fact that when you start to get burnt out with one activity, you can take a break for a while and not suffer financially. Steve likes blogging about personal development, but he sometimes goes weeks without doing so. He probably wouldn't like it if he had to spend 40 hours per week and 50 weeks per year churning out PD blog posts, but that hasn't kept him from making a buttload of money off it.

[Daffy Duck]

"'Do what you love and the money will follow' is a lie."

That's funny. Steve and tens of thousands of others are happily living this "lie" every single day.

However, it is true that some people go into a job they love and they find themselves not loving it anymore. This could happen for a number of reasons. Maybe your passion was only temporary. I don't love action figures like I did when I was a kid. Or maybe your job was just a horrible way to pursue your passion... maybe you need a better way to pursue it.

[lasti]

That's a pretty lame compromise. Why limit your life like that?

*going back living the lie*

[st33med]

I don't know, but the cake is a LIE

[James81]

I never understood why people try to relegate to extremes to make a point. I guess when it comes to posting blog posts, some people feel like they have to post something "radical" and against the grain just to be different and attract readers.

I think the truth of the matter is this:

Find something that you not only love to do, but can bring you a decent income as well.

It really is that simple. It's not enough to just do what you love. That's hit or miss. I mean, if what you truly love to do is make baloon animals, it's probably not likely your are going to make a decent income from that. But the thing is, most people have a whole array of interests and it's not just ONE thing that will make you happy. Most people have a handful of things they like to do that could make them happy. Find the one that makes you happiest that will support you and the lifestyle you want to live.

That's the practical advice. Not this article, which is just trying to go against the popular advice.

[ProjectX]

Or try to find sources of income related to what you love. For example if you want to become a film director, also study special effects/graphic design.
Then get several odd jobs like being a video/audio technician, CGI producer while writing scripts.

Basically diversify.

[Dimond]

Then everyone would be wasting a big part of they're lives doing something they don't want to do. If you have a passion for something, there is always a way to make an income.

[dannielo]

Originally Posted by Dimond

Then everyone would be wasting a big part of they're lives doing something they don't want to do.

Quoted For Truth.

I don't think you can separate "working for money" and then "working for free doing something you love" that easily. Working for that money will still require spending 8 hours EACH day of your life. If that's not personal and will not affect everything around, I don't know what it is.

[nin64]

Originally Posted by st33med

I don't know, but the cake is a LIE

Oh wow, sure is /b/ around here...

Anyway,
How do you know that getting money from doing what you love will make you less fulfilled?
Maybe the job that you love deprive you spiritually.


BTW, chef>Dilbert

[ellie]

I pretty do much what he has spoken about.

I've given up caring about prestige in jobs and just do some jobs for the money. But I don't hate the jobs, it's just not my actual passion.

And the things that I love doing that I didn't associate with money at all (we're just purely from the heart), are now opening up jobs for me that I never dreamed about.

I basically learnt to let go...and it working really well.

[Sea]

I remember reading that page a while back as well.

I don't utilize limiting beliefs, so I ignored that quote.

Might be "impractical".. but that's subjective

[Rudolf]

Do not agree, might be just me and might work for somebody else but I just do not feel that this would be solution for me in a long run. For a transition period of time? Maybe. But if you keep spinning it, keep focusing on activities you love most, looking for ways how to get real, exceptional value to people, you WILL make money sooner or later. No need for such compromises long term.

[Hyperchiller]

Sometimes social conditioning makes people think that they are doing what they love.

There's usually deeper levels to the 'what you love' thing.

A job is a medium through which to add value. Money is something you receiving for adding value.

The questions are more like -

In what ways can I add value?

Is this strong or weak value?

How can I receive the value back from adding value to people via the Law of Fair Exchange?

[BeyondtheWrap]

Originally Posted by dannielo

Working for that money will still require spending 8 hours EACH day of your life.

The writer of the article in its original form says to reduce your expenses as much as possible.

In his update, I think he is suggesting to get a part-time job that will cover your minimal expenses and still leave you plenty of free time.