Why You Must Follow Your Passion in Life

Dear friend,

I think following your passion in life is the ONLY way to live!

Why follow your passion?

Spoiler alert: One day you will die. Knowing that, how do you want to best live your life?

I think living a life of passion, blood, and enthusiasm is the only noble way to live.

Why?

It is impossible to fake passion in life. You cannot bullshit enthusiasm.

If you follow your passion in life, you will never run out of motivation or inspiration. Why? You are fueled by that inner-fire, you don’t need others to prod you to do anything. You will do all of your activities for ‘autotelic’ (doing it for the sake of it).

You won’t really care so much for the approval for others; because you’re doing it for yourself.

What if I don’t know what my passion is?

When people say that “I don’t know what my passion in life is”– I think what they’re really saying is:

What I am passionate about in life isn’t seen as ‘legitimate’ by society.

Most people are ashamed to say what their passion in life is.

For myself, I don’t believe there is any ‘legitimate’ profession or passion in life. I just encourage you:

Whatever your passion is, hustle fucking hard in it.

Go Epic!

For example let us say your passion is video games (which is seen as illegitimate by society). Don’t just be a passive gamer; seek to make your own video games! Study computer science, graphics, and do something epic with it.

Take on a ‘producerist‘ mindset; focus on producing, not just consuming. Focus on being ACTIVE, not passive.

GO BIG.

“I’d rather die enormous than lie dormant.”
JAY Z

You don’t need to make your passion into your living. But if you do want to make your passion your living, realize it is possible.

How do you make your passion into your living? Simple:

Adopt an ascetic lifestyle (lower your costs to the bare minimum)
Start your own website/blog and use it as a platform to get discovered
Hustle 10x harder than anyone else, and don’t lose courage in yourself. For myself, I had to hustle 2+ years on this blog (blogging three times a week, incessantly), before I was able to gain any modicum of fame.
Start to charge money for your products or services: Don’t be shy. Proclaim your self-value and worth, and take the risk. Better to take the risk and “fail” than to never attempt it in the first place.

Allow Yourself to Change and Evolve

Don’t perform ‘self-tyranny’ on yourself (not allowing yourself to change or evolve).

You’re constantly in a state of becoming, which means every moment, every day, your passions are changing and evolving.

I think ‘passion’ is related to curiosity. And what you are curious about is what you CARE about!

Thus, never let anyone prevent you from pursuing your passions or curiosities in life.

If you know what your passion is in life is, you can discover any “how” to pursue it.

How I Turned my Passion in Photography into My Living

Photography (and blogging) was my passion since high-school/college. To be frank, I didn’t imagine one day I could turn it into a profitable living.

I cannot give you a blueprint of how I succeeded (what worked for me won’t work for you). But this is my theory of what worked for me:

Produce much: I’ve written 5,000+ blog posts from 2010-2018 (8 years on this blog). It seems the more you produce, the better.
Don’t Censor Yourself: Don’t “front” (fake). Tell your own true story. Write like you talk in real life. Don’t be afraid to curse (if you curse in real life). Pride yourself in who you are, and don’t try to be anyone else.
Leverage YouTube: YouTube is one of the best ways to get discovered. Make videos about your own life. Share your own personal thoughts, and keep it casual. Treat ‘vlogging‘ as a way to flesh out your thoughts, and as a way of building a genuine relationship/trust with your audience.

Success is a Verb

Let us say you follow your passion in life. How do you know when you’re “successful” or not?

Treat success like a verb. If you are “successing” in life, it means you’re heading in the direction which you desire to go in life!

For myself, I only judge my success on whether I feel inspired to create, whether I am coming up with newer and more brave ideas, and whether I have the vigor, energy, and courage to put these ideas out there.

Never let others define success for you. Disregard money, fame, and other external measures of success.

Conclusion

A life without passion isn’t a life worth living.

Have the courage to dictate your own passion in life, regardless of what others say.

Have the courage to then pursue that passion.

Have the courage to develop your passion to the most epic zenith possible; overcome all self-perceived limits, and never stop your noble hustle!

ERIC

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