Why You Should Never Follow Your Passion

John: So here we are back with another episode of Green Apple Slices. I’m here with Rachel Fisch, the National Bookkeeping lead for Deloitte Canada.

Rachel: Hello.

John: See, I got it right that time.

Rachel: Yes, you did. You did. Okay, that’s it. Podcast is over. We’re shutting it down. He got it right.

John: That’s pretty much — I just jinxed us. But yeah, I found this really great article that yeah, I mean actually I got a huge laugh out of so it was great. It was, Why You Should Never Follow Your Passion and it was on Entrepreneur and it was more of a video interview.

Rachel: It was. It was the best article ever because you didn’t have to read it.

John: By Bryan Elliott of Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs.

Rachel: And Mike Rowe, by the way, has an amazing podcast voice. I did not mind watching that video at all.

John: Yeah. I’m going to go insert the audio of the interview right into our podcast and then people don’t even have to click on it. But yeah, the whole message of just instead of following your passion, just bring your passion to everything you do which is great.

Rachel: Yeah. One of those titles is you read that and you’re like, “What?” Because we’re talking about following your passion. We’re talking about all of that but he had a really great point and I’ve actually found that in many of the interviews that Mike Rowe has done or in the writing that he has done and stuff like that, he kind of starts off with this idea that you’re like, “What? Really?” But then when he kind of digs into it a little bit, you’re like, “Okay, that totally makes sense.” So the idea here is that why you should never follow your passion but instead bring your passion into whatever you do. I thought that was a really great one. Well, yeah. Absolutely. You should be doing that and that’s something that’s definitely along the lines of the Green Apple message and kind of goes with what we talk about every week.

John: Right, absolutely. Because I mean I am not an advocate of anyone quitting their job and following their passion because let’s face it, you’re probably not very good at your passion which is totally cool.

Rachel: In some cases, actually.

John: Like I mean it’s totally cool. I mean good enough to be professional to where you’re getting paid. That’s totally fine, you shouldn’t be. Because if you were, then everyone would be an actor or a singer or a comedian or an artist, and that’s fine. I mean, buy yeah, I mean I think it’s great and also, I mean when you follow your passion then suddenly it’s not always fun because now it’s your job.

When I made that switch, you certainly have to keep yourself in check on that but I love how Mike Rowe tells the story of going around the different dirty job people and he was working with a pig farmer and I’m sure he’s knee-deep and pig slop and he said that he was joking about how in office buildings, they have those motivational posters and all that stuff and the farmer said to him, “The thing about passion is you got to have it but only a moron would follow it.” I was like, “Ouch. Too soon buddy. Too soon.” But then he followed, “Bring your passion with you to all the things that you do but just don’t actually go chase it.”

Rachel: Yeah, and that to me was kind of like your passion is in front of you that you are chasing that you never fully embrace but if bringing your passion with you, then you have fully embraced it into whoever you are and into whatever you do and that to me felt like a much more satisfying way to live out that passion rather than you know, chasing after something that you may not ever attain.

John: Right, yeah. And then you’re just grumpy.

Rachel: All the time.

John: Tell me about it. It’s just taking that enthusiasm and the energy that you get from doing your hobbies and doing your passions and bringing that energy to the office and even when you are able to talk about it at lunch or during a quick break or things like that, that little boost of energy that you get will help your day job which is fantastic and especially when you’re in the accounting world and all that. I mean a perfect example is the very first episode I did was with Nancy McClelland and she’s the dancing accountant. She’s actually in a, go-go ‘60s, go-go dancing troop in Chicago. Yeah, the white boots and everything. The name of her firm is the Dancing Accountant, LLC. And so she had clients come to see her. She’s clearly not doing this professionally for a living but she’s really good and she really enjoys doing it and I mean she’s taking it to that next level of where it’s dovetailed with her firm so I think it’s a cool thing so that’s a perfect example.

Rachel: Great. You go, Nancy!

John: Yeah, absolutely. So everybody get out there and share your passions. I mean it’s too short to not. So there we go, even Mike Rowe says, “So now people will believe us.” But yeah, but I hope everybody has a great week and Rachel, have a good rest of your Monday.

Rachel: You too.

John: And I will talk to you next week.

Rachel: Sounds good. Thanks, John.