The Surprising Problems with Pursuing Your Passion

23 Jan 2023

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Insisting on doing work you love can have downsides. Finding a job aligned with your passion might take months or years, sacrificing economic stability. What’s more, investing so much of our sense of identity in paid employment incurs an existential risk to our sense of self-worth, should layoffs or other business changes occur. The key is to be deliberate about how large of a role work should have in your life, says Erin Cech, author or “The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality” (https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Passion-Searching-Fulfillment-Inequality/dp/0520303229). More on this topic: https://hbr.org/2022/10/striking-a-balance-between-your-passion-and-your-paycheck More on Erin Cech: https://lsa.umich.edu/soc/people/faculty/erin-cech.html 00:00 Pursuing your passion seems like a no brainer, but it can be based on false assumptions. 00:31 One of those false assumptions is that the labor market is meritocratic and fair. It ain’t. 02:11 For example, let’s look at two aspiring programmers from very different backgrounds. 03:25 Employers love passion, but maybe not for the reasons you think. 04:40 Passion won’t insulate you from the stresses of the modern world of work. 06:30 Alright, what’s a healthier way to orient yourself towards work, then? Follow us: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters #HarvardBusinessReview #Passion #Work #Capitalism #Economics Copyright © 2023 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

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