Was “follow your passion” a lie all along?
A case for enjoying life as a part-time writer
If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
You’ve likely heard this sentiment. But does it hold up today? Should we be pursuing our passions to the ends of the Earth to wrangle them into submission to be monetized for a few bucks? After 9 years of trying, I now realize that I don’t think so.
The idea that passions should be monetized at all is worthy of pause. Yet, the magmatic discontent that bubbles forth after embracing this silica-rich mentality primes the believer that someday in the future, they, too, will erupt into fame and money. But we must first grapple with the odds of making a living by doing what we are passionate about.
According to a JobSage survey in 2022, only 1 in 10 Americans work their dream job. While 7 in 10 do not believe they are on track to ever work their dream job. Although this is concerning on several levels, I wonder if it’s indicative of the results of the “lie.” A dream job seems rather subjective, an amorphous ideal that can change on a whim. I don’t know about you, but I tend to romanticize scenarios I’d like to happen and gloss over the mundane aspects to glam up what could be.
As a part-time writer, I get the sense that I’m constantly subjected to pursuing this lie: to be a successful independent author, I need to quit my day job and go all in. The worst part is that I perpetuate it whenever I think, “If only I had more time in the day. If only I had [blank], I could land that next job. If only I worked remotely. If only….”
The problem is in the assumption that doing what we love all day will bring us the joy we seek. Turning a passion into a job is like eating your favorite cheat meal 3 times a day. Most people will eventually come to despise it and desire a new flavor, add anything to spice life up again. Our contentment isn’t held hostage by the fact we aren’t working our dream job but by the belief that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Don’t follow your passions. Bring them with you. ~ Mike Rowe, creator of Dirty Jobs
The glamour surrounding fame and celebrity, especially in the age of social media and content creators, has warped our perception of success into something that requires outside validation to feel whole on the inside. Everyone wants to go viral; everyone wants to top of the charts, to be the next NYT Bestseller, but at what cost to our present well-being?
The harsh reality is that barely 45 people landed a spot on the New York Times bestseller list in 2023 out of an estimated 4 million books published last year, which includes self-published books in both fiction and nonfiction. And with the typical self-published author selling an average of 5 copies of their book1, the truth behind the lie is that following a dream job is generally not a viable option for most people, at least not for many writers.
, writer of The Elysian, spoke at length about this a few years ago, so I won’t rehash her findings, but publishing isn’t exactly well known for its lucrative revenue streams.The absolute dream crusher is the idea that you can’t find success unless you achieve some notable sales chart position, have millions of followers, or win an award. But, ironically, success is never the award; it’s the unseen years of hard work that brought about the recognition to begin with. So many people want that recognition without doing the work. And work is precisely what a passion becomes if you do it full-time every day.
“The things I ended up being really good at were the things I found myself putting effort into. A lot of people talk about passion, but that’s really not what you need to focus on. You really need to evaluate and say, ‘Okay, where am I putting in my time?’” ~ Mark Cuban
When we chain ourselves to the anchor of expectation, we drown in a sea of possibility. We have to break free from this cursed mentality. We shouldn’t expect any recognition for what we do other than our own appreciation for our having done it in the first place. The spectral suffering we unwittingly summon to haunt us day in and day out causes harm to ourselves and society at large in the form of stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic job searching, all founded on the hope that one day life will be better.
Exploring this topic has helped me to understand that it’s okay to write in my free time and to enjoy that I can do so on my own terms.2 A full-time job provides the financial security to support me on a fundamental level while augmenting any expenses that arise from my publishing business. The precious hours I get outside work are also deeply cherished and utilized with greater appreciation. Interacting with coworkers and friends, meeting people, learning new skills, and running into unique situations outside my comfort zone provide me with crucial life experiences needed to write stories worth telling.
There’s nothing wrong with working a full-time job and being a part-time writer. Am I saying not to aspire to write full-time? Absolutely not. But that opportunity will present itself when it decides to present itself. The effort we put in part-time turns out to be more special, in my opinion, because it’s done out of pure love for the craft rather than meeting a deadline for a paycheck.
Alternatively, work doesn’t need to always feel like work. Our mental health shouldn’t be contingent on a desire to become someone we’re not. Bringing our passion to work could exemplify distinct skills that set us apart, enabling a turning point in how we view our jobs and how our employers treat us.
The lie was never that by doing what we loved, we wouldn’t have to work anymore but that we didn’t have to care about anything but ourselves along the way. The self-centeredness that emerged through this way of thinking happens to be so toxic to every facet of our culture and our inner being. We weren’t meant to function as a validation vacuum, desperately sucking up every crumb of attention to treat it like affection. Because it’s not true love, nor is the work involved to receive it.
Therefore, it might be time to alter the saying to something a bit more like this:
Good article, Winston. I agree 100% that we need to learn to love the work we do. I have been writing over 50 years part-time. Often I would get up an hour before I needed to in order to write. I have lived a creative life both as a writer and as a business executive. I have written ads, brochures, speeches, and training programs and have been paid for doing so. I have written thousands of poems and have not been paid a cent. Nine years ago I published an article on LinkedIn about loving the work you do and appreciating the rewards you receive. There is nothing wrong with writing part-time and being able to support your family at the same time. Don't let the dream of writing full time prevent you from being successful.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/love-work-you-do-rewards-come-harley-king/
I needed this today. I fall in and out of needing the external validation and being sucked into the marketing, stressing and burnout vortex. We're so lucky to even have the free time to create things to pass down to the next generations. I was losing sight of this. I've also written enough novels and read enough about publishing to realize you really have to enjoy those moments of "notoriety" with some humility and realism. No matter how many sales, reviews, and likes it will never be enough. My day job consists of taking care of farm animals and growing food, but a lot of times I'm resenting it because I feel like I NEED to do more marketing (constantly and even in my sleep). It's a sickness that robs the joy from other parts of life that are as nourishing as the creative stuff.