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Why Talent Trumps Passion, A Path to Career Fulfillment

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steve jobs

Why Talent Trumps Passion: A Path to Career Fulfillment

In 2005, Steve Jobs delivered his iconic commencement address at Stanford, where he urged graduates to “find what you love” and build a career around it. However, if you examine Jobs' own career trajectory, his actions appear to contradict this advice. His personal passions included meditation, calligraphy, fruitarianism, and even going barefoot—none of which defined his professional success. When Jobs eventually found his calling, it wasn’t rooted in any of these interests. Instead, it was in promoting a hobbyist computer built by his friend Steve Wozniak. Jobs didn’t build his career around what he loved; rather, he excelled at something he was extraordinarily good at—marketing technology and transforming consumer experiences.

On a far less iconic (but still relatable) level, I made the same mistake of chasing passion before talent. About eight years ago, I switched to software engineering, and it’s hands down the best decision I ever made. Before that, I had a brief and spectacularly unsuccessful run at becoming a football player—turns out, passion can’t make up for a total lack of talent. So I pivoted to music. Once again, I was high on enthusiasm, low on ability. I even earned a degree in Sound Engineering and Music Production, only to discover the industry rewards you with… peanuts. If you’re lucky. And the cherry on top? After long days in the studio, I was so burned out I didn’t even want to listen to music anymore. Ear fatigue had turned my passion into something I stopped enjoying.

It wasn’t until I read The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway and So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport that everything began to make sense. Reflecting on my career now, after achieving a modest level of success (ranking in the top 1% of salaried earners in the UK), I can confidently say: pursuing your talent is the key.

Why is important to not follow your passion

No child dreams of becoming a top-performing tax lawyer, but the best in the field enjoy financial security, expanded career and mating opportunities, and the various benefits associated with high status and a lucrative job. It’s unlikely you’ll excel in something you dislike, but achieving mastery in a skill can indeed ignite a genuine passion.

Your mission is to identify a skill at which you excel, and then dedicate thousands of hours to improve it. As you progress, you’ll experience a profound sense of growth and improvement in your craft, accompanied by recognition, status, camaraderie, and financial rewards that will deepen your passion for the work.

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Focusing on my talents has led to a deep passion for my work and amazing career growth. I've made great friends, explored diverse fields like banking, ad-tech, and social media, and nearly doubled my income with each job change. It's proof that betting on your strengths can really pay off, both personally and financially.

Most people don’t even know what their passion is

Stanford psychologist William Damon discovered that only 20% of people under 26 [2] can clearly articulate a passion that shapes their life choices. So, if you’re one of the four out of five who can’t quite pinpoint your passion, don’t worry—you’re in good company. And even when people do claim to have a passion, it often turns out to be more about what society expects than what truly lights their fire. Even when we can articulate a "passion," it's often socially determined, reflecting cultural expectations rather than our inherent interests. Research on young people's aspirations [3] reveals that their "passions" are highly malleable and easily influenced by external factors—even something as simple as classroom decor. For most of us, the kind of passion that serves as a guiding light isn't innate. It's something we discover through perseverance and hard work.

Most passion careers really suck

Believing you have to be passionate about something before embarking on the uphill journey to mastery will lead you to careers where the supply of eager workers far exceeds the demand—activities better suited to be avocations than careers. [4] Only 2% of professional actors make a living from their craft, the top 1% of musicians garner 77% of their income from recorded music, and half of all visual artists obtain less than 10% of their earnings from their art. Digital media was supposed to democratize this, but it’s only reinforced a winner-take-most economy. The top 3% of YouTube channels receive 85% of all views on the platform, and even if a creator reaches that threshold (about a million views per month), their passion generates just $15,000 in annual revenue.

In entertainment and other careers that look desirable from the outside, casting directors, producers, senior vice presidents—aka the tiny group of people with power—know raw talent is cheap and always flowing in. They have little reason to invest in or mentor anyone who isn’t already a bankable star.

Let's talk about a real-world example that Galloway shares in his book. Chanel, a luxury brand with incredibly high profit margins, is owned by a family of billionaires. Despite their wealth, they often hire unpaid interns or pay minimum wage, mostly to young women eager to break into the fashion industry. Why? Simply because they can. There's such high demand for these positions that people are willing to work for little to no pay. So, when you hear "Follow your passion," you might be in for quite a bit of exploitation.

Following your passion isn’t just risky for your career; it can also be detrimental to your passion itself. Work is challenging and often comes with setbacks, injustice, and disappointment. If you entered a field solely because it was your “passion,” you might find that passion fading over time. As Morgan Housel (Author of The Psychology Of Money) aptly put it, “Doing something you love on a schedule you can’t control can feel the same as doing something you hate.”

Why following your talent is a much better idea

Talent is essentially what you can do that others aren’t willing to. Fresh out of a Software Engineering Bootcamp, my first job required commuting over an hour from London to Windsor, spending 40% of my salary just on transport to work for a low-paying startup (I was in the bottom 40th percentile of UK earners). They were the only company willing to hire someone starting their career in a promising field, despite my limited English skills. At the time, I couldn't compete with more experienced candidates who spoke the language fluently, but I was willing to make sacrifices—saving nothing and enduring a long commute—just to gain exposure and opportunities.

Unlike passion, talent is measurable and tangible—it can be tested, refined, and more easily transformed into a high-earning career. While passion might make you better at something, talent will—and the more you invest in it, the stronger it gets. Economists refer to this as "match quality," the alignment between a person's talents and their job. Studies consistently show that people excel, improve faster, and earn more when they have high match quality [3].

Focusing on what you're naturally good at creates a virtuous cycle. Your achievements come quicker, boosting your confidence and driving you to put in more effort. On top of that, your brain benefits from a rush of rewarding neurochemicals, enhancing memory and skill development [4]. As a result, the work becomes enjoyable rather than draining, making it easier to stay committed day after day, year after year.

Closing thoughts

As Galloway suggests that the best way to keep your passions alive is by pursuing them as hobbies or side projects, rather than depending on them for your primary income. This lets you enjoy what you love without the pressure of turning it into a career. By focusing on your talents for work and letting your passions flourish on the side, you can avoid the burnout and frustration that often come with trying to monetise your passion.

This balance allows you to stay connected to what you love while building a successful career around your strengths. As your career grows and brings financial stability, you may even gain more time and resources to fully enjoy your passions on your own terms. In this way, your passions remain a source of joy rather than stress.

Music and sports remain crucial in my life, teaching me discipline and hard work. They bring joy without the pressure of monetization. Now, I dance for physical activity after coding and enjoy various sports to stay fit. I find more enjoyment in these pursuits as hobbies rather than professional endeavors, free from the stress of performance expectations.

References

  1. study of 233 millionaires: Thomas C. Corley, “I Spent 5 Years Analyzing How Rich People Get Rich—and Found There Are Generally 4 Paths to Wealth,” Business Insider, September 3, 2019, www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-people-get-rich-paths-to-wealth.
  2. 20% of people younger than 26: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016), xxiv–iv.
  3. Researchers studying the aspirations: Sapna Cheryan and Therese Anne Mortejo, “The Most Common Graduation Advice Tends to Backfire,” New York Times, May 22, 2023, nytimes.com/2023/05/22/opinion/stem-women-gender-disparity.html.
  4. avocations than careers: Oliver E. Williams, L. Lacasa, and V. Latora, “Quantifying and Predicting Success in Show Business,” Nature Communications 10, no. 2256 (June 2019): doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10213-0; Mark Mulligan, “The Death of the Long Tail: The Superstar Music Economy,” July 14, 2014, www.midiaresearch.com/reports/the-death-of-the-long-tail; “Survey Report: A Study on the Financial State of Visual Artists Today,” The Creative Independent, 2018, thecreativeindependent.com/artist-survey; Mathias Bärtl, “YouTube Channels, Uploads and Views,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 24, no. 1 (January 2018): 16–32, doi.org/10.1177/1354856517736979; Todd C. Frankel, “Why Almost No One Is Making a Living on YouTube,” Washington Post, March 2, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/02/why-almost-no-one-is-making-a-living-on-youtube.
  5. high match quality: Yi Zhang, M. Salm, and A. V. Soest, “The Effect of Training on Workers’ Perceived Job Match Quality,” Empirical Economics 60, no. 3 (May 2021), 2477–98, doi.org/10.1007/s00181-020-01833-3.