Episode Summary: "Follow Your Passion: Good Advice or Bad Advice?"

Becker Business with Scott Becker
Date: August 25, 2025

Overview

In this solo episode, host Scott Becker delves into the widely debated adage, "follow your passion," evaluating its appropriateness as advice in both professional and personal contexts. Scott draws on personal anecdotes and broader observations, challenging the wisdom of prioritizing passion in business and career choices while outlining a more pragmatic path toward fulfillment and success.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Question: Is "Follow Your Passion" Good Advice?

• Opening Context (00:00):
  Scott explains that he was recently asked whether "follow your passion" is sound advice.
  • He frames the discussion by distinguishing between the concept's relevance in personal life versus business.

2. Passion in Love & Hobbies: An Unquestioned Good

• [00:25]
  • “In love and in your hobbies, absolutely. Follow your passion.”
    • Scott positions passion as essential in personal areas, such as relationships and leisure.

3. Passion in Business: A More Nuanced View

• [00:32]
  • Scott notes, “Many of the people that say follow your passion are people that are already rich in business.”
    • He suggests that following your passion, as a career strategy, is often recommended by those with the financial security to take risks.
  • Scott’s Business Priorities:
    1. “Your first goal is to make a living.” (00:36)
    2. “Your second goal is support your family.”
    3. “The third is if you get good at it…you’ll probably find it very fulfilling and very rewarding.”
  • He argues that fulfillment often follows mastery and success, not necessarily the mere pursuit of passion.

4. The Reality of Passion and Career

• [01:00]
  • “My passion might be looking at the stars, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to make a living looking at the stars.”
  • Scott shares personal examples, like his love of tennis and golf, conceding that even coaching—an attempted career pivot—was not ultimately fulfilling.
    • “I love playing tennis, I love playing golf… But if I pursue those into making a living... that wasn’t tremendously fulfilling, even though I’m passionate about tennis and golf...” (01:15)

5. The Pragmatic Order: Security First, Passion Second

• [01:25]
  • "No, don't follow your passion. Follow making a living and supporting your family, then you could figure out how to follow your passion."
  • Scott suggests integrating passion only after achieving financial and familial stability.
  • “Connect your passion, but save the follow your passion advice for your love life, your hobbies, the other things that you do on the side.” (01:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Difference Between Passions:

  “Follow your passion, for sure. Follow it in love, in your hobbies. In business, your first goal is make a living, support your family, then find your passion and figure out how to intersect those. Perhaps.”
  — Scott Becker, [00:52]

• On Life Priorities:

  "Your first goal is to make a living. Your second goal is support your family. And the third is if you get good at it ... you'll probably find it very fulfilling and very rewarding."
  — Scott Becker, [00:36]

• On Career Realities Versus Passion:

  "My passion might be looking at the stars, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make a living looking at the stars."
  — Scott Becker, [01:00]

• On Personal Experiences with Passion and Work:

  “I love playing tennis, I love playing golf. But if I pursue those into making a living ... that wasn’t tremendously fulfilling, even though I’m passionate about tennis and golf...”
  — Scott Becker, [01:15]

• On Where to Follow Your Passion:

  “Connect your passion, but save the follow your passion advice for your love life, your hobbies, the other things that you do on the side.”
  — Scott Becker, [01:38]

Important Segments & Timestamps

• 00:00 — Introduction & framing the passion question
• 00:25 — Passion in love and hobbies
• 00:32 — Critique of “follow your passion” in business advice
• 00:36 — Three priorities: making a living, supporting family, fulfillment
• 01:00 — Personal anecdotes: passions that don’t pay
• 01:15 — Attempts to monetize passion, lessons learned
• 01:25–01:38 — Summary advice: security first, passion second

Conclusion

Scott Becker’s take on “follow your passion” challenges common business wisdom, arguing that the romantic pursuit of passion should be reserved for personal fulfillment and leisure. In career and business, he asserts that financial stability and supporting one’s family are primary; passion can be “connected” to work only after those needs are met. The episode provides a pragmatic, experience-based counterpoint to the culture of passion-driven professional advice and offers listeners an honest framework for making life choices.