“Follow your passion.” From TED talks to high school motivational speakers, this phrase has become one of the most overused pieces of life and career advice.
And for every person who’s told you to follow your passion, you’ve likely heard two more telling you that it’s bad advice. Simply telling people to follow their passion can feel naive or unrealistic—because passion alone won’t pay the bills or provide helpful direction.
But what if “follow your passion” isn’t bad advice? What if, instead, it’s merely incomplete?
At The Kirby Foundation, we believe that following your passions is good advice—there’s just more to it than that. That’s why in this guide, we’ll explain how to follow your passions in a way that’s grounded, intentional, and sustainable.
Why “Follow Your Passion” Gets a Bad Reputation
How did “follow your passion” become such a cultural cliché?
To start, you’ve likely heard that advice your whole life, to the point that now you just ignore it.
But a lot of the bad reputation surrounding this advice stems from two valid criticisms:
- Telling people to follow their passion assumes that everyone already knows what they’re passionate about.
- Focusing only on passions neglects the role of hard work, skill, and market reality.
You may also feel frustrated or guilty when you can’t identify a single passion that drives you. And so hearing someone tell you to follow your passion makes you feel as if you’re missing something.
In our experience of talking with students, teachers, and professionals from across fields, it’s very common to be unaware or unsure of what your passions are. You rarely “just know.” It takes time and self-reflection to (re)discover your passions, especially if you put them aside in pursuit of your career.
As to the practical realities of being driven only by passion, we agree! Hard work and execution matter as well, but they come much easier when you’re passionate about what you’re doing. The same goes for developing skills: you need some initial curiosity to start developing a new ability, and your passion for it emerges as your skill level increases.
Lastly, we recognize that not everyone’s passion will align with the kinds of jobs the market demands and rewards. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on your passions completely; you can still find other ways to pursue them in your hobbies, side projects, or volunteer work.
We encourage you to think of passion not as a destination (“Passion led me here”) but as a motivating, energizing force that propels you as you learn, grow, and experiment.
What Passion Really Means
“Passion” means many different things to different people: fun, excitement, or an innate drive.
But at The Kirby Foundation, we like to think of passion as what you love doing. It’s the feeling you have when you’re doing something for its own sake, regardless of external motivators like money or recognition.
That doesn’t mean you need to instantly enjoy an activity to have passion for it, however. Passion for a topic often grows out of exploration, challenge, and progress—not just preference or comfort.
As an example, consider Paul Kirby’s journey as an artist. Paul had already had a career in engineering and business before he even considered painting. When he realized he wanted to learn to paint, he was building his skills from scratch. As he put it in The FUSE Pathway,
“Over the next six years, I took many drawing, painting, and sculpting classes. That might sound like a strictly fun pursuit, but if you’re dedicated, classes can be intense.”
The more Paul learned about painting, the greater his passion for it became. Paul’s story shows that your passions don’t have to emerge fully formed from the day you were born. Rather, they’re often something you discover as you experiment, challenge yourself, and see where your interests lead you.
The Right Way to Follow Your Passion
Now that you have a more nuanced understanding of what passion is, let’s look at three guiding principles you can use to realistically follow your passion.
Start with Curiosity, Not Certainty
Hearing that you should follow your passion can place a lot of pressure on you to already know what you’re passionate about.
But you don’t need to know your lifelong passion right away. Instead, we suggest you begin by following what genuinely interests or intrigues you. When you approach life with curiosity, your passions will become clear along the way.
To discover where you are on your journey to finding your passions, take our free assessment.
Pair Passion with Skill
Passion is motivating on its own, but its true power emerges when you combine it with competence. The more skilled you become in an area that interests you, the more passionate you become. This creates a glorious feedback loop in which your passion and fascination motivate you to deepen your learning.
What’s more, your increased skills create tangible opportunities for advancing your existing career or setting out in a new direction altogether.
Let Passion Evolve
Just as you don’t have to figure out your passions all at once, you also don’t need to feel locked into a single passion or passions forever. As you pursue your interests and learn more, your interests may shift. Not only is that normal—it’s a healthy sign that you’re growing and staying curious.
The goal of following your passions isn’t to feel locked into a single passionate pursuit, but to stay aligned with what brings you meaning and fulfillment.
Common Mistakes When “Following Your Passion”
If you aren’t careful, the advice to follow your passion can lead you to distress instead of fulfillment. Be sure to avoid these mistakes.
Mistake 1: Waiting for the “perfect” passion before taking action
Self-reflection and thoughtful consideration are both important when you’re discovering your passions. But if you spend too much time trying to discover the “perfect” passion, you’ll miss out on the life-changing journey of self-discovery and fulfillment that comes from truly pursuing your passions.
Mistake 2: Quitting everything else too soon without testing
It’s a common narrative: someone quits their job to single-mindedly follow their passions, ultimately finding both success and fulfillment. While this might work out for some, these success stories are outliers. Most of us have familial and financial obligations that make it irresponsible to quit everything and jump straight into a new, passion-powered career.
That’s why The FUSE Pathway advocates for starting gradually with small projects, internships, or experiments to test out following your passions.
Mistake 3: Confusing aptitude with passion
Being good at something doesn’t mean you automatically enjoy it. Yet, because well-meaning parents and teachers encourage us to build careers around our natural abilities, many of us end up in jobs that we’re good at but also hate.
It’s understandable to assume that the things you’re good at must also be your passions, but we invite you to question that assumption. Upon reflection, you may discover that your true interests lie elsewhere, in an area you enjoyed as a child but then pushed aside in favor of more “practical” career paths as an adult.
How to Start Following Your Passion Responsibly
We’ve talked at length about what passion means to us, and why following your passions can work out well if you do it the right way. So now, let’s finish with some concrete steps to help you begin following your passion responsibly.
1. Reflect on recurring interests and themes in your life
When you’re trying to identify your passions, it’s helpful to start by looking at recurring themes and interests throughout your life.
As an adult, it’s easy to lose track of these interests amid your myriad responsibilities. But if you take the time to reflect, you’ll likely see patterns emerging. These patterns point towards your passions.
For more detailed guidance through this process, we recommend The FUSE Pathway, which has focused exercises to help you discover your latent passions.
2. Identify one area where passion and skill overlap
Once you have a better idea of what your passions are, it’s time to start building the skills you need to pursue them.
The details of what you’ll need to learn in this step will vary depending on your current skill level. If you’re passionate about game development, for instance, the work required to develop your skills will be more extensive for someone with no programming experience than for someone who already works as a professional software developer.
But regardless, you should identify the skills you need to start taking action on your passions. This will give you concrete goals as you move through the next steps.
3. Dedicate time weekly to develop it or test a related idea
The only way to know if you’re truly passionate about something is to spend time pursuing it. With all the responsibilities in your life, that time won’t create itself. That’s why we suggest setting aside some free time each week to develop the skills related to your passion. As your skills increase, you can also use this time to work on small projects or experiments related to your passions.
Continuing with the game development example, you could set aside two hours each Saturday to study game programming. Or, if you’re already skilled in programming, you could set a goal to spend that time working on making small games to apply your skills.
Whatever the case, you aren’t giving everything up to follow a new career direction. Instead, you’re thoughtfully designing small experiments to help you discover how it feels to follow your passions.
4. Keep a “passion journal” to track insights and emotional energy over time
When you set out in pursuit of your passions, you’ll learn a lot along the way. To ensure you remember those insights, we suggest keeping a “passion journal”.
The format is up to you; be as detailed or as brief as you like. What matters is checking in with yourself and paying attention to your emotional energy levels. Seeing how you progress over time will help you stay motivated when you encounter challenges.
Follow Your Passion, But Follow It Wisely
“Follow your passion” still works as advice when you pair it with curiosity, skill, and thoughtful action.
You don’t have to quit your job or move to a different country to start bringing more meaning and fulfillment into your life. Instead, you can find outlets for discovering your passions, upgrading your skills, testing them out with small projects, and seeing how your interests evolve over time.
Whatever you do, don’t wait for your passion to find you. Put the steps in this guide into practice, and watch your motivation and energy grow.
