5 Myths About Doing What You Love

We hear it all the time:

"Do what you love!"

"Follow your passion!"

Everyone from Confucius and Joseph Campbell to Steve Jobs and Richard Branson have been quoted as giving some form of this advice. Usually it’s in relation to how we make a living.

The problem is that we are seldom given concrete instructions for how to actually go about doing what we love.

As a result, this message often comes across as abstract, impractical, or worse, unachievable, leading many people to dismiss the advice and even go so far as to call it unintelligent or irresponsible.

This is due to some simple but crucial misunderstandings and misconceptions that have turned into full blown myths surrounding this topic. 

I want to clear up some of these myths now.

How I Accidentally Gained Over a Million Followers By Following My Excitement

In case you missed my previous blog post and recent Instagram posts, I’ve been talking about how to take action on the small things that excite you in order to discover the bigger things that will lead you to your “passion” or “purpose.”

I want to address a question that has come up in regards to this topic. It may be on your mind too:

“Acting on my excitement sounds great...but how does it translate into doing meaningful work that financially supports me?”

A lot of people think that when they follow their excitement, their lives will be perfect and they’ll never have to work or do anything they don’t like ever again.

But that's not really how it works.

It’s not that you won’t have to work hard when you follow your excitement or even that you won’t have to do things that you’re not absolutely thrilled about sometimes.

It’s that when you follow your excitement, the work you do will seem less like work and more like play.

3 Steps to Finding Your "Passion"

If we’re being honest, I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of the word "passion"—at least not in this context. It's too abstract and can seem daunting to people who are just starting out.

Instead, I prefer to talk about excitement because it’s a more tangible, practical method for creating meaning in your life and work.

I've found that acting on the small things that excite you will help you get on the right path, which will lead you to your passion, which will eventually help you discover your purpose or mission in life.

The best part is that you do not need to know what your “passion” or “purpose” is before you start taking action on what excites you.

When you have the courage to consistently take action on the day-to-day things that excite you, the necessary people will appear in your life, the right opportunities will be drawn to you, circumstances will work themselves out and you will have an overall richer, more enjoyable life experience.

3 Steps to Succeed on Social Media

No matter how you slice it, we live in a world of likes, followers and views. Because of this, we are often looking to be validated in all of our social media channels. One of the most common questions I receive via email is how to make content go “viral” and get a large social media following.

I decided to answer this FAQ with a blog post. :)

Social media is everywhere and it’s no longer something that is viewed as a waste of time. Quite the opposite. Social media is now a marketable job skill, it’s something you can put on your resume (or LinkedIn).

Whether you approach social media as an entrepreneur, employee or just for your personal life there seem to be so many strategies, complicated processes and filters that you need to be successful.

I think it’s a lot simpler than that.

There are three foundational things that most people and brands with large and engaged followings are all doing.

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