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0 pointsmatwood2y ago0 comments

> I am frustrated that the USA’s money advice largely comes from billionaires.

One of my big issues with the 'follow your passion' advice is it almost always comes from people who are already rich. And, those people are often trying to leverage worker passion to staff their companies.

As a young person, don't follow your passion. Instead, figure out the fastest way to economic security and once there, then figure out a passion.

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samuellevy2y ago

There's an interview with Bo Burnham where he puts it clearly...

> Don't listen to people who just got very lucky. Taylor Swift telling you to "follow your dreams" is like a lottery winner saying "liquidise your assets, buy Powerball tickets. It works!"

And that's the thing. Skill and talent are important, but there's a certain amount of success that's only achievable through luck, or through starting from _so far ahead_ that it's just genuinely out of reach for us mere mortals.

Is the experience of those people irrelevant? No, but it's also not actually applicable to most other people.

biztos2y ago

Surely there's some luck involved, but wouldn't the Taylor Swift analogy be more like "develop a product that leverages your talents and is likely to have mass appeal, work your ass off perfecting your ability to deliver that product, take the extreme negative externalities of success in your business without complaining, and once you get traction double down on the working your ass off part?" Oh and also "have sufficient business acumen to stare down Apple and win?"

JohnCurran2y ago

> Instead, figure out the fastest way to economic security and once there, then figure out a passion

This is good advice and I agree with it. I just wish it wasn’t the advice we had to give

jebarker2y ago

Do you say that because you think the work required to achieve economic security is too much? I ask because it's hard to imagine an alternative that would enable more people to follow their passions without securing the essentials first.

red_admiral2y ago

There's a saying from Eastern Europe: first learn a trade, then follow your dreams. If the dreams don't work out, you'll still be able to earn a living.

badpun2y ago

Andrzej Sapkowski (polish fantasy author, of "The Witcher" fame), when asked about his advice for young people who want to be professional writers like him said: "get into an honest and, if at all possible, profitable profession". We're not dreamers here in EE like people in US, we're not reach enough to afford it :)

gjenkin2y ago

> One of my big issues with the 'follow your passion' advice is it almost always comes from people who are already rich

This. My sister is quite an accomplished artist who decided out of college to follow her passion. https://instagram.com/carmeljenkin?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

She is not rich and has to hustle like crazy to sell her artwork while also working tables at a casino and raising a daughter. I doubt that she would advise anyone to just follow their passion without first establishing some kind of financial base.

shurane2y ago

> And, those people are often trying to leverage worker passion to staff their companies.

Is there usually a good reason for an average employee to pour their passion into work? Seems like it's better to do a better job than your peers/coworkers but not shoot for the moon, unless you're getting a significant amount of that profit.

Most passions I see are usually poured into something separate from your earning potential, i.e. working a service job while writing music, auditioning for a movie or play, etc.

Unless they can afford to go all in, via startup funding or savings while working on their own project.

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