Why do some people end up loving waht they do, while so many others fail at this goal?You will find the answer here!
I want to ask you a question. Do you think it is good for a person to love his job?
And do you think your job now is what you want to do?
Just as a commen sense, many people don't want to go to work because they don't like their job. They believe that we can become excellent at something only if we like it first.
But there are also some people who do love their job. It seems that they are always energetic. As long as they have time, they are eager to go to work. It is true with many examples, such as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and so on. Not only the famous businessmen, but also someone around us. Maybe your friend, your classmate, your colleague. Think for a while, you may think of that one.
So here comes a profound question? Why do some people end up loving waht they do, while so many others fail at this goal?
Steve Jobs gave his own answer at Stanford University in the commencement speech in 2005. He said: You've got to find what you love. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle.
What he said can be concluded as Passion Hypothesis, which refers that the key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you are passionate about and then find a job that matches this passion.
In other words, Steve Jobs thought We should follow our passion, and we will be successful. Which means every one must have pre-existing passions.
However, it is totally wrong. Jobs even didn't follow his passion himself in the beginning, otherwise he would be a teacher in Buddism Center which he was passionate about and even went to India to study it.
Jobs started to do electronic work in the first place, only for he needed quick cash. Then he found it more and more interesting and attractive when he became proficient and excellent at it. It was after he did it that Jobs had passion on it, Finally, he loved it, and he could do what he was passionate about.
He became a great man because of his good luck, his personality, the new electronic era and many other factors. All this can't be explained just by "follow your passion".
From Jobs' case, it shows that Passion doesn't exist at first until you become excellent.
Many years' Researches and studies have shown the 3 pieces of truth about passion.
First：Career Passions Are Rare
In 2002, a research in Canada was conducted to ask 539 college students whether they had passions and if so, what they were.
Surprisingly, 84 percent of the students had a passion, while the top 5 answers are: dance, hockey, skiing, reading, swimming.
In fact, less than 4 percent of the passions are related to work or education. 96 percent of the passions are hobby-style interests.
Second: Passion Takes Time
A professor of organizaitonal behavior at Yale University, made a study on a job with nearly the same work responsibilities: college administrative assistant.
And the discovery is that the more experience an assistant had, the more likely he was to love his work.
Third: Passion Is a Side Effect of excellence
There is a SDT theory claiming that people will be happy from 3 basic needs: freedom, competence, good relations.
For which, scientists haven't found there are pre-existing passions, but found being good at what you do will meet the basic needs and you will gain passion.
In other words, Passion, including career passion follows Excellence. not the reverse.
I am crazy about English and I can speak well now. Every one can see I have huge passion on it. But I still remember I went to English Corner several times in college, I couldn't speak even one sentence with fluency.However at that time English didn't draw my attention at all and I quitted. It was when I forced myself to practice speaking English seriously before many people praised me for good oral English that I gained passion gradually.
Passion does follow excellence, what you need is to be good first, then you will love what you do.
Just as the book goes: Be so good they can't ignore you!