passion
March 1, 2010I was reading a business book and I thought I’d pause and write for a while because something interesting made me think. (here’s where you go “Oh no, she’s thinking…”)
The author said that to be successful, you have to find something you’re passionate about, only then you can succeed. Most people find jobs their parents like that earn good income and level of prestige. Yes, they’re good at it, but they are miserable inside because they know they can be great doing something else. After a while, life gets sucked out of them and you can see the dissatisfaction in their eyes.
He also said everyone thinks they want financial security, but they don’t realise that the really happy people are the ones doing what they love.
I think most of my friends and I are at that stage where we’re trying to find careers that make money, not something that make our eyes bright up. Most of us probably don’t even know what our passions are yet.
I think when we want to start a business out of passion, we have to use our heads. Life is about happiness but also about survival; to survive in this world you need money. So we can’t be happy creating a passion business that doesn’t make money. It’s like falling in love. Yes, love is dandy but it alone won’t pay the bills or feed the family.
So, I guess the challenge is to find something we are passionate about and making it into a business THAT SELLS. And sells well, since we should really excel at things we love.
For me, construction was just thrown to me at a young age. I saw my dad build and sell and renovate and buy and whatnot. And when you’re a little girl who thinks her dad is the most amazing, most intelligent person in the world (I still do!), that becomes your world too.
Now that I’m immersing myself in the construction world, I am so thankful and grateful that what was thrown to me is extremely interesting in my eyes. I’m curious about it, I want to learn more about it, I love learning it. Sometimes I get frustrated that I’m not learning fast enough or I feel under-utilised, but that’s just my impatient side talking. Coming from a non-engineering background, of course I need to realise my limitations at this current moment.
I’m lucky that I love something that my family business is all about. Some people don’t and this can put quite a strain in the family, even though it’s completely understandable that everyone has different interests.
Another one of my passions is my creative side; blogging and writing. I’m keeping up with blogging quite well. You know you love something when you’re typing this at 2 am out of your own will. I’ve always thought I would write a book, but given my full-time job (and doctor’s order to sleep!!) I’m finding it quite tough to pursue this passion. But hey, as a 22-year old, I’m in no rush just yet.
The problem is when you are just passionate about EVERYTHING and you want to do everything!! I’ve had these moments before and it’s really frustrating. This is when to know you’re not Superman. Many wise people have told me that in order to excel, pick your niche and really really focus. You can’t be in 2 places at once. I’m still a bit sceptical with this advice because I’m really stubborn. I’ll have to work on that.
But I KNOW things that I’m NOT passionate about.
E.g.
- Investment banking. In uni, the most popular work prospect is investment banking. I never quite understood why so many of my peers wanted to be on the same wagon! I’ve interned at banks and met many bankers in my line of work (in fact, even my friends are new bankers!) and I have the utmost respect for them. It’s not easy, I know. But just listening to them talk about banking tunes me out so fast. I would love to learn for my knowledge but to do it as a fulltime job, I know I wouldn’t excel at it.
- Law. Believe me, 3 years of it + internship = more than enough for poor old me. Even without interest, I completed a degree (shows how easy law really is! Hehe) so it shows that you CAN do it. But I didn’t get first class honours, and that just proves my point. Without passion, you won’t be the best.
- Sports. As a girl who covered her face when a teammate wanted to pass the ball during PE lesson, I won’t even bother to elaborate.
I think it’s good to list out things we’re passionate about and the things we’re less passionate about. And most importantly, to actually reason out why. That way, we’ll all be one step closer to success, whatever our definition of it is.
p/s: Having said all this, school is still school. Everyone goes through it and that’s when you discover which subjects you like and you don’t. I took Physics in Form 4, but dropped it in Form 5 after A LOT of thought. But I made sure I got an A before I dropped it. Give every subject a chance and try to do well in all of them. You can’t be complacent in a subject “just because you don’t have passion for it”, because unfortunately in qualification, every little subject counts.
well written! 🙂
PD… go for the magazine faster faster. Remember, I’m a self proclaimed artist trapped in an engineer’s body. Get me outta here!!!!
I can become your in house photographer 🙂
askum prudduck,
hye! i’m currently an spm-leaver and waiting for my results this coming 11th march… n i must say ur post really helped me alot in making me realise the importance of passion to pursue a course in the future that i really like and will truly enjoy… hopefully i’ll be able to make the right choice and enjoy it. i am grateful i stumbled upon this post because i’ve been thinking about my future since spm ended and i couldn’t make up my mind. this post was a huge help for me 🙂
thank u so much for helping me! <3
god bless u.
wasalam.
I have this kind of problems too. I always think I am a superman that can do this that and this. For what u have wrote here, definitely will help me out in this problems. Thanx PD!
Im going to list out my desirable and less desirable.
Well written and an inspired post yet again. I know exactly what u r saying. I can’t see myself becoming an engineer. U know u hate it when u love doing last minute assignments and u hate maths and u dread going to class. I still haven’t found what i’m passionate about and can make money out of it. The only reason why I choose my course is the job security that came out of it but if studying for 4 years is a pain in the ass, I couldn’t go through and actually find an engineering job and stick years doing it. I’m at a crossroad this moment and it’s frustrating trying to make ur parents happy and making myself happy at the same time.
You’ve got to have passion to do something at your highest potential. Too many people get into jobs and careers for the sake of someone else ( often the person who funds the degree – go figure ) and it would have never been their choice. I realise some people aren’t lucky enough to wake up and just know what they want to live and breathe. The most important thing IS to be happy and love your chosen career and it passion is what leads you to it. I am on the road to a thoroughly fulfilling career and my passion for it is limitless. It gets me up every morning and makes me sleep soundly at night. It’s got to be something you seek for, don’t resign to ‘just not knowing’. You’ll miss out on a lifetime!
Ya that’s right.. faster work hard for my croc 30 cm in bordeaux! <3
Love this post PD! And if you want some IT-tech or graphic girl for the upcoming magazine, audition me! 😛
I love this post. It make me think about my passion and my talent too. But you know its really hard to find out what’s your passion. I hope I’ll find someday but hope its not too late. 🙂 Btw, now I’m 22, exactly in your age in this post.
Hi vivy..i just reading through your old posts. A lot has happened right
You’re so lucky that your parents gave you the freedom to make your own decisions. I hated physics in school and wanted to drop the subject so bad cos I did poorly at it no matter how hard I tried. But I couldn’t. Cos my mom would kill me if I did. I guess one of the reasons you’re happy and successful in your life is because your parents allowed you to make your own decisions and didn’t force you into anything.