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How to make a living from your passion, without losing the passion? (Read 151 times)


Ultra Cowboy

    Last Spring I asked a running partner, and several friends : "Would you rather receive worldwide acclaim for your job or your hobby?"  Most people responded that they would rather be known for their hobby than what they did to make their living.

     

    So often I see people who go into a business that services their hobby and while they are immersed in "the industry"  they don't get the chance to participate in what fueled their passion to start with.

     

    Why is this?  Do we need a division between work and fun?

    WYBMADIITY

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    Feeling the growl again

      Why is this?  Do we need a division between work and fun?

       

      I think it's pretty simple.

      1)  Turning a hobby into work brings in all sorts of pressures that are not there when it is just a hobby.  When money becomes involved and it becomes a daily obligation, the fun can wear off.

      2)  If can force you to quit doing the fun part to service the work part.  If you are running a shoe shop, you may be spending most of your time dealing with annoying customers, suppliers, accounting, or employee issues.  At the end of the day you can't or don't want to go for a run anymore.  Or say you like hunting, if you become a professional guide you spend all your time helping other hunters become successful and don't get time to just sit back and do it yourself.

      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

       

      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

       

        Do we need a division between work and fun?

         

        Yes.

         

        I remember from my psych classes in college that if you pay someone to do something they were previously doing for fun, it automatically makes that activity less enjoyable for them. It turns out a huge part of why we are passionate about our hobbies is that we are doing them by choice.

        Runners run


        sugnim

          I think a way to do this is to become passionate about making a living.

          Wing


          Joggaholic

            I think a way to do this is to become passionate about making a living.

             

            Does being a workaholic count? Maybe that's more being compulsive than passionate though...

            BeeRunB


              think Picasso, Dali, Vincent Cianci, Richard Simmons, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steve Martin, the Boss, Grandma Moses, Charles M. Shulz, Tarantino, Spielberg.......

               

              if they can do it, you can


              Why is it sideways?

                 It may sound sorta odd to put it this way, but working at your passion is kinda like marriage. You have to keep redefining and reimagining the relationship in response to new conditions in order for it to keep working.

                 

                I think what happens for a lot of people is that they are passionate about something because they have a certain mental picture of the ideal work. But then when they actually achieve their passion, it turns out not to measure up to the idealized picture that they presented themselves earlier that ignited that passion. The real world being, well, real.

                 

                When this happens you have three options:

                1) Compromise your mental picture.

                2) Attach your passions to more nuanced ideas.

                3) Do the hard work of changing real conditions to make them better approximate the ideal.

                 

                It will take work on all three fronts to survive and keep at it. That's exhausting work, and I think for this reason people who choose to work at their passion are less psychologically healthy in most respects than those who keep a clear boundary between work and life.

                kateruns


                  Good point. Hard to do!

                   

                  ~Kate

                   

                  http://therealfoodrunner.blogspot.com/


                  Best Present Ever

                     

                    When this happens you have three options:

                    1) Compromise your mental picture.

                    2) Attach your passions to more nuanced ideas.

                    3) Do the hard work of changing real conditions to make them better approximate the ideal.

                     

                    It will take work on all three fronts to survive and keep at it. That's exhausting work, and I think for this reason people who choose to work at their passion are less psychologically healthy in most respects than those who keep a clear boundary between work and life.

                    Huh.  Color me unhealthy,  though I do occasionally decide that I might go work at Starbucks. Or at least a locally-owned coffee shop.  Preferably one with no actual customers, because making coffee?  that's too much work.  Honestly, if real life could be just a teeny weeny less real, mostly in the direction of having less stupid committee work, then I would be a lot happier.  I mostly compromise my mental picture with denial.  (in my fantasy world, there is no phd curriculum committee.  I know,I  dream big ).

                    zonykel


                      I think it depends... when I had therapy sessions with a psychologist, she told me that she didn't feel like she was working, because helping people out and seeing the results was so encouraging to her.


                      Feeling the growl again

                         It may sound sorta odd to put it this way, but working at your passion is kinda like marriage. You have to keep redefining and reimagining the relationship in response to new conditions in order for it to keep working.

                         

                         

                        I like this point, but I would say it's not just limited to your passion.  I think it applies to anything you feel is meaningful as well.  A lot of people work at jobs they aren't passionate about or feel are meaningful, and that is unfortunate.  But even if you feel it is meaningful, it is easy to get disheartened or jaded and lose that connection.  You have to frequently remind yourself why what you are doing is important...and the reasons may change/evolve over time.  I have been through this several times in my career.

                        "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                         

                        I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills