Love what you do. Not do what you love.

There’s a lot of advice going around online these days telling people to do what you love, follow your childhood passions, and live happily ever after.

I don’t agree with it.

I’ve been there, I’ve seen others, and it doesn’t work.

You may be passionate about basketball, but the chances of you making it to the NBA are very slim. You may love traveling, but no one is going to pay you a dime for discovering the Wall of China.

Now this isn’t a post to discourage you from following your passions to become a doctor or a lawyer. Far from it!!

I write this because I’ve learned the difference between following a dead-end passion vs. following the passions that will bring success in your life.

Your mission is to narrow down the many passions you have in life to the latter category.

Here’s the truth: you should love what you do. Not do what you love.

The difference between the two is that the latter is often unrealistic, not in demand and comprised of decisions made with emotions.

To distil it down even further, loving what you do means that you’ve developed an expertise that is in demand, where people are willing to pay for what you do.

By the way, I’m not saying being paid 45–100SEK/hour. Loving what you do means being compensated for your expertise, and demanding 10 and even 100 times that amount.

Beyond the obvious reason of why it’s important to be paid to follow your passion, is that it allows you to sustain your message.

Sustaining your message is everything when it comes to loving what you do. It takes at least three, and most often five years to gain recognition and mastery in your industry. Without a doubt, unexpected obstacles will come your way, and sometimes pure passion isn’t enough to sustain it.

By being paid for your work, you not only allow clients to value your work more, but it gives you room to make mistakes, time to master your passion, and develop a solid portfolio of testimonials and clients.