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My Firsthand Example of WHY You Should NEVER Do What You Love; and It’s Not What You Think.

Brentnal

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well, in the story above, I loved driving fast cars and I found a way to get paid to do it. If you took away the customer, I would have had just as much fun, if not more. It was purely selfish. The value of the product was the customer's enjoyment of the experience, I didn't honestly care that much about them enjoying themselves (despite that they always did enjoy it). All I cared about was getting paid to drive a Ferrari.

Now, if I loved teaching people to drive fast, or enjoyed the thrill the customers got out of my passenger rides then I would love the value I created - This is better, but still not fastlane

The fastlane version of this story would be to own the driving experience centre - Ok, a huge amount of capital expenditure, but a good little earner. With managers in place the centre ran itself and the owners were off racing their own cars never so much as visiting the site for months on end.

You see the owners loved cars as much as I did, but unlike me, they weren't foolish so they opened a business that allowed them to enjoy cars on their own terms. They were passionate about having the best site, the best instructors and the best cars - all so that the customers would have the best time possible. And this is what I mean about loving the value you create, they loved cars but instead of getting paid to drive them (like me) they provided the facilities and service to allow others to enjoy exotic cars too and met a very real market need.

There is nothing wrong with loving the industry you work in, but focus on the way to provide value to your customers and love the process of creating that value - don't get side-tracked by a selfish desire to find a way to get paid to do your hobbies.

Thank you for this clear explanation, now i fully understand it: Love the value you create in order to do a better job at you're business.

This brings me to something else i am struggling with for over 1 year now, i tryed to ignore it but it doesn't work that way.
I see all these succesful enthrepeneurs have all their passions in theire compnies and the things they do, but i don't got any passions and i really don't care about creating value i just want to enjoy my life without working for someone else and just be free.

Is it dangerous to have money based goals instead of having value based goals? Money based goals works a bit better for me.
I am a selfish person i am having a hard time with this passion/motivation issue.

I asked the same types of questions in this forum, but i can't really make up my mind. There are different kinds of advice and i don't know what to do with it.
I want to solve this internal problem of mine, to progress in my life, i can't stop wondering about this because eventually i want to be free and i have this kind of fear of having to work a job i hate my entire life. So i can't leave this alone.
 
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Developmental

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Thank you for this clear explanation, now i fully understand it: Love the value you create in order to do a better job at you're business.

This brings me to something else i am struggling with for over 1 year now, i tryed to ignore it but it doesn't work that way.
I see all these succesful enthrepeneurs have all their passions in theire compnies and the things they do, but i don't got any passions and i really don't care about creating value i just want to enjoy my life without working for someone else and just be free.

Is it dangerous to have money based goals instead of having value based goals? Money based goals works a bit better for me.
I am a selfish person i am having a hard time with this passion/motivation issue.

I asked the same types of questions in this forum, but i can't really make up my mind. There are different kinds of advice and i don't know what to do with it.
I want to solve this internal problem of mine, to progress in my life, i can't stop wondering about this because eventually i want to be free and i have this kind of fear of having to work a job i hate my entire life. So i can't leave this alone.

Now, this probably warrants another topic, however, I'll risk it

Deciding that you don't want to work for someone else is at least a step in the right direction.

Everyone that searches for their fastlane ultimately has the end goal of financial freedom. And freedom in the greatest sense, not having "the man" tell you when you can or cannot take holiday and all that crap that comes with a "job". It is a bit of a can of worms, but, ultimately everyone here wants to earn money, and lots of it. But the key point is in focusing on the customer.

now, first example : you tell me you want to get rich, am I about to send you a cheque (US :check) for 100€ for the hell of it? not a chance, sorry

Second example: I'm an avid sailor, if you can provide me with a product or training manual that allows me to moor/dock a boat single handed from the helm/wheel, I would happily send you that cheque. Find enough people like me, and you are well on your way to making yourself a millionaire.

if you take the attitude of "I don't care about value" then your business is like example number 1, no one is going to buy your product, everyone wants to be a millionaire and not work another day, why do you think you deserve it and not them?

Get focused on a customer and start figuring out what they want - then focus on providing them it. This is more like example number 2.

don't take this the wrong way, and I'm sure you won't - if you have been here for any length of time you know we are all supportive but sometimes its a bit of tough love

It sounds like not only do you not want to work for your boss, you don't want to work at all. This is not what entrepreneurship is about. Yes, in 10 years or 5 years time you can have your feet up on a beach somewhere, but between now and then you are going to have to work like a maniac - I'm currently doing 80-90 hours a week - slow lane job plus every other hour awake spend on my business.

If you are struggling, especially with regards to ideas/mindset/motivation, then do the 30-day copywriting challenge - if you can get your head around copywriting, you start to see things from the customer's perspective and ideas and motivation flow more easily.

as MJ says, you can't chase a cat, if you want it, get some tuna and the cat will come to you. Same with money, find the value and money will come to you
 
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safff

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I think it's a valid point, but I also think that it depends on your take on things. For me, life is too short to spend it doing something that you don't love.

It's funny I've come across this, as being someone who's also car-obsessed, I've actually started a part time business buying and selling cars. Something I've done successfully for years but have always known I could make good money on if I had more money, and time to dedicate to making it work and an overall vision. I've finally reached a point in life where I have that. I've been increasingly hating the day job, and could do it free-lance again and have a few opportunities to start related businesses, but if I don't enjoy something, if I don't love it, I can't be passionate about it. If I'm not passionate about it it's hard to get up every day and apply yourself. After 9 years in my current job, I'm flagging. Paid many times what I started on, but flagging. The key is taking the next step.

However I don't believe it's as simple as not doing what you love, I think it's much more complex than that. In a sense, I think loving what you do is essential. BUT. I think the key determination to make is whether you are doing WHAT you love, or are you doing something associated with what you love.

My point being, taking the OP into consideration. The OP Loved cars. That's not to say the OP loved monotonously driving the same tracks with strangers riding shotgun. You werent' doing WHAT you loved, you were doing a job which was connected with what you love. The mistake here imo is branching off to do something associated with your passion rather than your passion itself, and staying there. I would find driving hotlaps very unsatisfying. I'd find being a racer absolutely a dream come true.

I've always loved construction and architecture, however 9 years of cost management and contractual advice and I'm honestly over it. It's what I'm good at, it's what I'm paid very well for, and I'm over it - it's not precisely what I wanted to do at the start, and being loosely related only takes you so far before you have to take that next step.

Buying and selling cars is something I've always loved and I've made good money over time with it, and for me, doing it in a structured way is great - but I've got to stay true to why I want to do it, and that's to be in dealing with performance and luxury cars. If I can't make it work doing that, I'd sooner bow out and go back to it as a full hobby, rather than compromising and hating it all. Therein lies the difference, being aware of the point at which you're no longer doing what you love and loving what you do, and what you can do to bring it back in line.
 
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Kevin Peter

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I second the thought. Always wanted to become a pilot, but ended up doing a desk job for an MNC. Trying to learn the job, love and live it but it is really hard to convince oneself.
 
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Charmander

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Why shouldn´t I do what I love?
Look around - in nature : each animal has its own purpose - even an ant for example : do you think that the ants that check out the surroundings do not like what they do? I don´t think so. In fact - they love what they do more than ANYTHING else !

There are millions of ways to make money - why not choose the ones that interest you? And this has nothing to do with the fact that other people might like it too - there are a lot of ants doing the same thing.

And the fact that they like to do it too will not make those jobs disappear
 
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MJ DeMarco

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there are a lot of ants doing the same thing.

Your ant analogy is convincing. I mean seriously, what better species to model our lives after than an insect with a brain the size of a pin needle. I'm sure the research concludes that ants do indeed, "do what they love" and are happy slaving for the queen, so by all means, we should do it too.

Do what you love folks!
 
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LifeTransformer

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When I was reading TMF , I was also reading 2 other books at the same time. Cal Newport's "So Good They Can't Ignore You" and I forget the other one's title (but that doesn't matter in the context of what I'm going to say).

MJ suggests not necessarily doing what you love.
Cal Newport suggests focusing on a specific skill, and the passion will come when you're an expert.
The other book suggested turning your passion into a side business at least, and perhaps scaling it up (Think it was $100 start-up actually).

I believe it was also Robert Ringer who in one of his many great books recalls the story of a guy who quit his 6 figure desk job to follow his passion, he began making stained glass windows and was full of happiness, that was until he started getting so many orders that he scaled up, and ended up with a massive business which he spent more time managing than he doing what he loved, which was creating the stained glass windows.

I think everyone is unique. There certainly doesn't seem to be a clear answer for or against "follow your passion"/"do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life".

@16yearoldboy you should get yourself a copy of Victor Frankl's - Man's Search for Meaning, you sound like you need to find your personal meaning before moving forward, but you're young and you've got plenty of time to plot your path in life.
 

funkj25

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I believe it was also Robert Ringer who in one of his many great books recalls the story of a guy who quit his 6 figure desk job to follow his passion, he began making stained glass windows and was full of happiness, that was until he started getting so many orders that he scaled up, and ended up with a massive business which he spent more time managing than he doing what he loved, which was creating the stained glass windows.

It always seems like stories like this are held up as the evidence to "do what you love" and the money will follow. However, we don't get to see all of the people doing what they love who are not able to make scalable businesses (if that's their goal) or fail outright.

Personally I see the situation or debate as a bit moot. I think the intersection here comes in with one of MJ's bits of advice in that you have to engage yourself in life to find problems that need solving or things that people desire. Sometimes that is going to be in a niche you're already "passionate" about and you can "do what you love," but it came about from your engagement and paying attention to that space which lead to your ability to solve problems/provide value rather than your passion for the space itself.

At least that's how I view the vast majority of the successful "I do what I love" stories.
 

FierceRacoon

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well, in the story above, I loved driving fast cars and I found a way to get paid to do it. If you took away the customer, I would have had just as much fun, if not more. It was purely selfish.

So what?! You've had fun, and now you can do something else. It doesn't mean the fun was not real!
 
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