I agree with this article and love it but take it one step further.
I think doing 'what you love' is a failed premise for several reasons.
a>When you turn your passion into a job your passion becomes a job.
b>You only 'think' you love it. Your social circles have conditioned you to love a certain subject. An inner city kid is going to be more likely interested in the NBA and Rapping, than social media and solar power. Just like the average person from the middle east will be more interested in Islam than the average person from the South. (Stereotypes can be proven by statistics.)
c>You will change. As you get older think of all the new things you've fallen in love with. New passions. New interests. And the things you have fallen out of love with. I'm not convinced people are static enough to love 'one thing' for 40 years.
I think what people really want out of a career is freedom. Intellectual freedom, freedom to manage their time,prestige, respect, expertise, etc.
I think these are the things one should be pursuing instead of doing 'what you love'.
"You only think you love it."
Feels close enough. ;)
"I'm not convinced people are static enough to love 'one thing' for 40 years."
Who said anything about sticking with the same career for 40 years? As my interests have changed, I've changed my profession. My profession lags which is less than ideal but it's still worked quite well for me.
Why do you find it necessary to define what the general masses "really" want out of a career? It sounds like you know what you want and if you don't care to "DWYL" that's fine. That's you.
Once you commit years of education to a particular field and years of worktime and experience the 'momentum' of your direction in life can get pretty hard to shift.
You passion for being a veterinarian turns to 'just a job'.
I get that. I'm almost 32 and had been doing software development priors to becoming an analyst where my coding skills weren't even inquired upon during my interview.
It's been hard psychologically as I try to define my role outside of building.
So you're right it's hard but it's possible if you're a) lucky and b) committed.
I think doing 'what you love' is a failed premise for several reasons.
a>When you turn your passion into a job your passion becomes a job.
b>You only 'think' you love it. Your social circles have conditioned you to love a certain subject. An inner city kid is going to be more likely interested in the NBA and Rapping, than social media and solar power. Just like the average person from the middle east will be more interested in Islam than the average person from the South. (Stereotypes can be proven by statistics.)
c>You will change. As you get older think of all the new things you've fallen in love with. New passions. New interests. And the things you have fallen out of love with. I'm not convinced people are static enough to love 'one thing' for 40 years.
I think what people really want out of a career is freedom. Intellectual freedom, freedom to manage their time,prestige, respect, expertise, etc.
I think these are the things one should be pursuing instead of doing 'what you love'.