Habits and Hustle - Episode 280: Why Passion Won’t Lead to Success

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Do you believe that you have to “follow your passion” to be successful? In this solo episode of the Habits and Hustle podcast, I debunk the widely held belief that pursuing your passion leads to success. I’m sharing how to redefine your path to achievement and how overlooked paths have the potential to provide financial stability but also the freedom to pursue passions. What we discuss: 00:10 - The truth about following your passion 01:06 - Why is it crucial to concentrate on your strengths? 02:34 - Why following what you love may not be enough 05:18 - Why turning your passion into your career isn’t always a good idea 07:34 - Do what you’re good at Thank you to our sponsor: Ketone IQ (HVMN): You can save 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at HVMN.com/JEN   Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I got this Tony Robbins you're listening to Habits in Hustle, Crescent. Okay guys this is a topic I really wanted to dive into today which is this idea of following your passion. You know I think a lot of times successful people tell other people that they should be following their passion. When really in my opinion I think what we should be doing is following our effort because wherever our effort is, is where we build reps.

And the more reps we have in something, the more time we put into something, the better we get at that thing. And that is where we really kind of find our success. You know, I don't know where the lines got blurred And that is where we really kind of find our success. You know, I don't know where the lines got blurred where it became this idea that we have to have our job and our career be what we're the most passionate about. You know, I love watching documentaries

let's say on Netflix, but I'm not making a living doing that because otherwise I'd be broke, right? I wouldn't make any money doing that, right? But if I did something that I was good at and made money for that, I can then use that to pursue my hobbies, which is my passions. Like I don't think the two have to necessarily be connected. If they are, then great.

But a lot of times it's not, and I think there's a lot of pressure on people, and I think to have to do that, because it's so much in the conversation, it's so much in the zeitgeist, but you know what the funny thing is, I did speak about this, I had a podcast with this guy named,

well, I'm sure you guys may have listened to it with Professor Galloway, Prof. G, and he's so accurate when he talks about this part because he says that, you know, if you really talk to the people who are the most successful people in the world, the multi-millionaires, multi-millionaires, they made their money in metal in the mines in doing things that aren't very sexy, that aren't the jobs, the sexy entrepreneurial, hatch-taggy things that are Googled a bazillion times. It's places where they made a lot of money, but it gave them the opportunity with that money, right?

To do all these other things that they love to do. And I think that happens in real life. I think that happens. I think that we are giving people a sense, a false sense of reality when we just say these very overarching, polyonic lines, like just follow what you love. And that will be enough.

No, it will not, not always. It can, but I think a better strategy is to follow where your effort is and see where you're putting in the time and wherever that is, you will get stronger and better at it. And that should be what you end up doing. And like I said, a lot of times,

like we sometimes actually naturally gravitate to the things that were better at, that were good at. I did that with my life and my career, my entire life, and I zigzagged everywhere, right? I was in fitness, I was in music, I was in sports, I was in media training. But the one through line that I had with everything was that I leaned on the things I was good at. And it took me in a lot of different directions, but I found eventually found my way and it evolved over time.

And I believe that's what people should do. So when they are following their effort, they will notice, and you will notice that that effort is very much usually in line with where your strengths lie anyway. And if we do that, and we follow that, success will follow. I want to tell you about masterclass because I am such a fan of all the various classes that they offer from Entrepreneurship to business strategy and so much more whether you're watching masterclass on TV Listening and audio mode in the app or on their site the quality speaks for itself It's like masterclass instructors are your own

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model, you'll receive up to 39% off and up to $300 off. Exclusive to podcast customers, you will also receive a three three year warranty on any unit, which is an additional $84 value. Lock this special offer by going to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code hustle. That's airdoctorpro, a-i-r-d-o-c-t-o-r-p-r-o.com promo code hustle. I love that. I think it's really important. It was gonna bring it up on the execution idea episode of the exact opposite thing of we were talking about

with really mundane businesses that just crush and do really well and have great execution. Like car washes and like those kind of things like that people would consider boring and maybe not someone's passion, but they allow that person to go travel, to go do all these things that they wanna do to provide for their family, create generational wealth.

It's insane. It's the award ceremony speech phenomenon is what I used to call it back in the day where it's like everyone that's this crazy famous actor telling you to like chase your dreams and then they just get all, that's where we get all these sort of starving musician and artist that come to LA and have this delusion that everyone can make it. Listen, if you can't live without chasing your passion, okay, fine, but I think a lot of people can. Also, the other thing that happens is if your hobby

is your work, there can be the case where you end up not liking your hobby anymore. Because it becomes work, it becomes not enjoyable. So you kind of like ruin that pleasure for yourself. So that's a good point. Now I was gonna say, happens to me all the time. That happens to me so many. So when I was hardcore in the fitness business,

like I was like really doing a lot of personal training and I was doing that hour after hour because I went into that, you know, I quit all these other career paths and then I followed fitness. And then what happened was I got burnt out and I ended up not liking it anymore because I made my passion and my hobby,

my actual career, I was really tired of it. I got super burned out and I ended up leaving it for a bunch of years and went into media training because I just didn't want to work out anymore. The one thing I loved the most in life was exercise and fitness and movement. And when I was doing it as my career, it became so, so much for me where I was like, I'm over this. I'm like, you know, piece out. I'm going to do something different. And I did that

for many years. But then I got back into the health and fitness space. I reintroduced it to my life in a different way, not the way I was, I thought my passion was, right? I thought because I love to work out, that if I just work out with people, that's what I should be doing. But really, I took that idea and I regigged it and I loved the business of fitness and figured out a way to work within the confines of fitness and health and all that other things and wellness, but in a different way, that was something I was stood for where I kept on like leaning into because that was where I naturally gravitated to the different businesses that I could build

within the fitness business and not do it as the daily workout situation. So I just feel like I'm a big believer in chasing what you want, but I'm also a big believer in chasing what you're good at because that will follow what you want. They're very connected. What you're good at and what you want, they're very closely tied. Yeah. Doing what you're good at can help you get what you want. Doing what you're good at can absolutely get you with what you want and not just because you love fishing

and just because you love video games. That's your passion, your love swimming, whatever it is. Leave that as your hobby and your passion. That's okay and I promise you, you'll be able to do those things more if you lean into what you're actually good at to for the other stuff. I like that, that was great. It's good. Bye. Thank you.

Thank you. This episode is brought to you by the YAP Media Podcast Network. I'm Holla Taha, CEO of the award-winning Digital Media Empire YAP Media, and host of YAP Young & Profiting Podcast, a number one entrepreneurship and self-improvement podcast where you can listen, learn, and profit. On Young & Profiting Podcast, I interview the brightest minds in the world, and I turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. Each week we dive into a new topic like the Art of Side Hustles, how to level up your

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