Monetizing something you’re passionate about isn’t passion. Go ahead and drink the kool-aid, but it’s lie. Okay, it’s not necessarily a lie, but the promise is a lie. Stop telling everyone that making money off your passions is as good as it gets.
After a few months of blogging, I can (still) say that I’m not really passionate about blogging. I don’t get excited about telling people about everything I do and everything I’m into. The best thing to come out of blogging so far has been the things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met in the process.
I write because I have to get stuff out of my head. I’ve been trying to fall asleep for twenty minutes and I had to open the laptop back up because I knew I had to get this post out of my head before I’d be able to fall asleep.
If I had my choice, I’d spend my days exploring. That’s what I do. Whether it’s exploration of ideas or exploration of locales, I explore. That’s what I’m passionate about. Guess what? Documenting everything is a pain. Dragging a camera along everywhere I go is a hassle. Taking notes is drudgery. Writing for the sake of pushing out content doesn’t get me out of bed in the morning. It feels exactly like a job.
Further, I have reservations about sharing locations I visit because, in many cases, I’d rather have them to myself.
I don’t think I’m alone in any of the above feelings. None of it is shocking. Sure, we go around pretending that doing what we’re passionate about and regurgitating the experience of our passion is the same thing. Sure, doing a job related to something you’re passionate about tends to be better than working with something you hate, but that’s a thin veil.
Here’s what has shocked me. I often prefer to write about things I’m not that passionate about. Take that passion guru consultant people! The things I get the urge to write about are often things like this post… things that bother me and need the attention of ideas and discussion.
My kayak doesn’t need you to know about it. I don’t need you to know about my kayak. I can enjoy being on the water and being in the moment without any consideration of anything outside the moment.
Let’s face it… If you’re reading my blog, you’re probably a geek. So… let’s get quantum physics for a second. The things I’m passionate about present as waves when I’m doing them for myself. When I’m attempting to record and document and verbalize them, they present to me as disjointed granular particles. Not only does it take me out of the moment, but I get bummed that no strength of prose or photography can put you close enough to me to feel anything the way I feel it.
Before you join the cult of making money from your passion, at least consider that analyzing and monetizing and measuring what you’re passionate about might put a little too much Schroedinger in your cat.
There’s nothing in this world I’m passionate about that I’d rather document than do. Is there really any other reasonable option? Seriously.
Don’t answer that by saying you’re passionate about writing. That’s different and spirals into an infinite scenario about writing about writing. I’m not denying that one can be passionate about writing or photography or whatever. I love those things, but I love them for themselves and on their own merit and in certain situations.
Insisting that monetizing a passion is as good as the passion itself is like saying documentary filmmakers passionate about film who are documenting Nazis are passionate about Nazis. Bad logic! Really bad logic to design your entire lifestyle around.
Well anyway, I’ve offloaded enough of this to sleep. My duty is done for the moment. Your turn.
Brandon W.
10 months ago
The Schroedinger's Cat parallel is the best thing I've read in weeks.Maybe part of that is because I like cats, and the Schroedinger's Cat concept amuses the shit out of me. Yeah, you're right, I'm a geek.I've read all the stuff from the “gurus” about job-ifying your passion, and it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I believe a business should be built off something you have a skill at within an industry you have some sort of intimate knowledge of.I think I'm going to write a blog entry about that. Maybe I can become a guru….. If I can just expand it out into 5 information products, a book, a neverending one-note blog, and some speaking engagements….
Andrew MacPherson
10 months ago
Lately I've been wondering if being a guru is my secret passion.The Work Vs. Passion debate is typically set up as a false dichotomy. While it's invaluable to evaluate work-life balance against the backdrop of passion, letting it obfuscate the real question would be a mistake. The real question isn't one of choosing a vertical you're passionate about then making a decision regarding the right amount and type of energy to throw at it. The real question is more along the lines of finding modes of productivity (value building) that you're passionate about in concert with a vertical that in combination yields a passion greater than the sum of its parts.This is a new angle… for me at least. I haven't broken it open, but I'm on it.
Jonny | thelifething.com
10 months ago
While I appreciate your honesty and honestly I have only read one of your posts, it seems to me that blogging is possibly not for you. This is a shame because I think you have a good writing style.
Andrew MacPherson
10 months ago
First of all, thanks for contributing and double thanks for the compliment.I can see where one could arrive at the idea that blogging may not be for me based on some of what I wrote above. However, whether or not I should blog isn't the question I'm trying to address. It concerns me that the overwhelming advice in the blogging community is that everyone should harness their passion and monetize it. There are people out there making millions of dollars promoting this advice. It's easy to spread and easy to sell because it's what people want to be true. When people want something to be true, they'll rationalize as far as their rationalizations will take them. In this case, people really really really want it to be true. I simply and completely reject the underlying assumption that blogging about your passion leads to passion. I don't deny the possibility of correlation, but I don't think the correlation is necessarily significant, let alone strong. The attempt to draw a causative relationship is where I diverge completely.The things I'm passionate about blogging about… and the things I'm passionate about doing are just different sometimes. I'm okay with that, but it's contrary to what the gurus are cashing in on. I'm 100% certain that there are lots of other people like me who should be blogging about things they're passionate about blogging about and doing things they're passionate about doing… despite the very real possibility those things are totally different.An imperfect analogy might be something like… the difference between playing golf and watching golf on TV. I sorta like playing golf, but watching it on TV would never happen. TV was built for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Does that translate to the blogging/passion thing?
James NomadRip
10 months ago
“Monetizing your passion” by talking about or teaching about your passions has to be something you're passionate about. If you are more reclusive and don't like to document or share whatever it is you like to do, then of course documenting or talking about it for a living won't work.While there are people who don't work or participate in any kind of monetary system, almost everyone has to do something to survive in the modern world. Work and money is the way most of them do it. Even doing a Grizzly Adams, you still have to do a lot to keep warm and safe, as well as get food. If your passion was gardening, hunting, cooking and chopping firewood, that wouldn't seem much like “work” either.Most of the monetize your passion people say if you are already doing something anyway, you may as well make it something you get paid to do. You have to do something to get food/shelter. Why spend 80 percent of your waking life working doing someone else's taxes, when you can't wait to punch out so you can go do what you'd rather be doing?True, when you start doing something you love because you HAVE TO do it or you won't have a place to live, it can get stressful like any other job. Some aspects of it may cause you to lose interest in it to some degree. It depends how much worse having to go back to getting a job might be to you. Talking about it might suck for you. How would giving tours make you feel? There are plenty of methods other than talking/documenting.Enjoying the experience of kayaking is going to be different than sharing it with others if you'd rather keep it to yourself. Not being able to experience kayaking except on rare weekends because you had to go get a “real job” may seem worse.Being passionate about whatever it is you do to get money/food/shelter doesn't necessarily mean you will enjoy 100% of it 100% of the time. Rarely is there ever a paradisaical scenario where everything is always 100% exactly the way you want it (some folks call that enlightenment or a few other variations). We all have to find that best balance for ourselves. Yours doesn't have to be what anyone else says, just what works for you. The only absolutes are really the survival items. The rest is how you want to go about surviving.I hope you don't stop writing. I don't really care if you hate it, I enjoy reading it
Andrew MacPherson
9 months ago
A lot of what you're saying here involves the two lowest levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. For people trying to break out of their socially conditioned lives into something that resembles “lifestyle design”, I totally agree with what you're saying along those lines.For those who may not know the context of my situation… I'm not operating from those levels at the moment. My income doesn't come from blogs. I'm pretty sure James knows this and I assume he's making these points for the sake of everyone who may read this rather than just for me. That's one of the reasons James is rad.“If you are more reclusive and don't like to document or share whatever it is you like to do, then of course documenting or talking about it for a living won't work.”Reclusive!? Time-out.
That's solitude for the sake of being away from people and society. People are great. However, when I'm about to pedal around a blind corner on a singletrack trail at 30 mph, it's not in my best interest to have someone on the other side heading my direction at the same speed. Some environments are better with people, some without. Do I enjoy solitude sometimes? Hells yeah, but it's usually for experiential reasons, not separation from human contact.There are a few other things here that tell me I didn't effectively make my point in the first place. I cranked this post out based on an impulsive feeling rather than a rational argument. Since I wrote it, I've refined and expanded my thinking to the point where I believe it warrants a new post.
Andrew
7 months ago
I think your kayak wants some limelight…
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