Why Following Your Passion Is Terrible Advice

Should you really follow your passion? Or is that advice keeping you stuck?

In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins challenges one of the most popular career and personal development myths: "Follow your passion."

Drawing on research from psychologists Paul O'Keefe and Carol Dweck, Julie explains why passion is often developed through effort, skill-building, and persistence rather than discovered fully formed.

If you've been struggling to find your purpose, career direction, or next chapter, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on growth, success, confidence, and meaningful work.

In This Episode:

•  Why passion alone is not enough 
•  The research behind passion and persistence 
•  Why people quit when work gets hard 
•  The connection between competence and confidence 
•  Carol Dweck's growth mindset research 
•  Why effort may be a better guide than passion 
•  How to discover meaningful work through action 

Key Takeaway

Passion is often not the starting point.

Passion grows when skills, confidence, and effort come together over time.

Transcript

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Hey, last week I got to see my niece perform as the lead role in Mean Girls, and she killed it. She knocked it out of the park. And I've been thinking a lot about her fervor and excitement for acting and singing. And this episode is for her. She may not listen to it. However, this is the episode that I wish I would have listened to probably in my 20s. Now, if you've ever been told to just follow your passion, this might make you a little uncomfortable. Honestly, because I think follow your passion is some of the most incomplete advice we have been given for years. And not because passion doesn't matter, it absolutely does. But because passion alone is rarely enough, my friend. And for many people, waiting to discover their passion is exactly what is keeping them stuck. Now, of course, before we dive in, if you enjoy these conversations, make sure that you're subscribed and leave us a review because that totally matters. And make sure that you share this episode with someone who is trying to figure out their next chapter. And stay with me till the end because I'm going to share why some of the most successful people in the world just didn't start with passion and why our effort may be the better guide than your feelings. Now, for years we've been told find your passion, follow your passion, do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life. It sounds amazing and beautiful and so inspiring, but it doesn't really tell you the whole story because most people don't wake up in the morning with a lightning bolt and this huge clarity that says, Oh, I know exactly what I'm meant to do. Most people discover what they love through doing it, not through waiting. Now, passion doesn't pay the bills. Let's be honest. There's so many artists and creatives out there that are passionate artists and musicians and writers. And most of them struggle to make a living wage. Because passion itself doesn't guarantee success. Because success, my friend, requires skills, competency, resilience, learning, adapting, and also being persistent. Passion may get you started, but it's not going to carry you through the difficult days. You know, I had an incredible passion in my 20s for dancing, for being a dancer. I used to choreograph and teach dance. And that, well, I'm not a dancer today, my friends. Now I do love dancing, but I am not getting paid to be a dancer. However, I am a successful business owner, and that's because I learned the skills. I build the skills. Psychologist Paul O'Keefe found something really fascinating. People who believe passion is something you simply find are actually more likely to quit when things get really tough. Why? Because they assume if this were really my passion, it should, it shouldn't feel this hard. It shouldn't be this way. I shouldn't be failing. I shouldn't be struggling with it. So when these obstacles show up, they interpret the struggle as a sign that they're on the wrong path. And honestly, that is dangerous because every meaningful pursuit eventually is gonna get hard, my friend. Every one. Now, this is where Carol, the work of Carol Dweck, becomes important. In her research on growth mindset, she found that people who view themselves as a work in progress are more resilient and often happier. Why? Because they don't see difficulties as failures, they see difficulties as part of the process, as development, and they understand that skill takes time. And here is what happens a skill grows, confidence grows. Oh, I love that. And often passion grows too. So passion often follows competence. So think about something you're good at today. Maybe it is baking or speaking or parenting, perhaps your gardening skills or writing. Were you passionate about it one day? Probably not. Most likely you improved, you got better, you build the confidence. We've been talking about this all week. Skills, confidence, motivation. And when you begin to really be more skilled at something, you begin to enjoy it more because competence creates satisfaction. And satisfaction often creates passion. You know, one of the shows that I love is Shark Tank. And my favorite shark, believe it or not, is Mark Cuban. Oh my God, I love this man. If I could spend the day with him, I would be so happy. He, by the way, is part of my board of directors that I talked about yesterday. So here's one of the things that he says: instead of asking, what is my passion, ask, where am I willing to put in the effort? Because effort tells you the truth. Effort is going to reveal what you care about enough to continue when it's hard. Passion can be emotional and effort is evidence. Passion is always going to say, I like this. Effort says I'm willing to work for this. And these are two very different things. Now, for me, becoming a passionate business owner, passionate at helping women really came from the experience of seeing that, well, I loved working at my job, building the skills, learning to be better, seeing that I could become better, seeing the success that I was having. And it didn't happen overnight. But I also had to get started. I started in the very bottom. I didn't know anything about running a business. I didn't know what a PL was. I didn't know anything about marketing, but I learned and I also adapted and I gained those skills. And over time, that passion of a business owner, of someone who is helping others build sustainable businesses came because my competence at doing the thing increased. And this is something that I want to encourage you to think about, my friend. Start, learn, adapt, gain the skills. And my friend, if you want to continue to move forward, ask yourself this question. And the question is not, what is my passion? Maybe the better question that you should be asking is, what am I willing to keep learning? What challenge am I willing to face repeatedly? What problem am I willing to solve? What work am I willing to improve at? Because that's where passion often lives, not at the beginning, at the end of persistence. That is where passion lives. And you don't have to find passion very often. You build it. So here's your brave move for today, my friend. Stop asking what am I passionate about and start asking, what am I willing to get better at? And then spend the next few days practicing that thing, not perfectly, consistently, because your future passion may be hiding inside a skill you haven't developed yet. So who knows? Go check it out. And remember, my friend, the world tells us to follow our passion. But maybe the advice we want to hang on to is follow your effort, follow your curiosity, and be willing to learn because passion always will be present when you're learning. And passion isn't always a spark. Sometimes it's the fire that gets built after years of showing up. And that is your brave move. I am so glad that you're here. And remember, you too can build the life that you've imagined and go confidently to do so. Until tomorrow.