Follow Your Passion: Things You Should Know Before Following Your Dreams!

So I recently saw this video of Mike Rowe on Entrepreneur's YouTube channel.

When you follow your passion, when you follow your dream, when you grow up being told that you're a precious little snowflake and all you have to do is look inward and identify that thing in you that you want more than anything else, that's a trap. I think when you put passion first, you erect a giant wall. If you can get over it and get down to the other side, then you get to write the biography and tell the world about how you identified your wish, and people love to read that crap. In my view, that's simply not how most success works.

Then I got this comment on my YouTube channel. What do I think? I think you should be careful who you're taking advice from. Here's who I listen to.

People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you're doing, and it's totally true. And the reason is, is because it's so hard that if you don't, any rational person would give up. It's really hard, and you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don't love it, if you're not having fun doing it, you don't really love it, you're going to give up. And that's what happens to most people, actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up being successful, unquote, in the eyes of society, and the ones that didn't, oftentimes it's the ones that are successful loved what they did so they could persevere when it got really tough. And the ones that didn't love it quit, because they're sane. Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don't love it? So it's a lot of hard work, and it's a lot of worrying constantly. And if you don't love it, you're going to fail. So you've got to love it. You've got to have passion.

Really liking what you do, whatever area that you get into. Given that, even if you're the best of the best, there's always a chance of failure. So I think it's important that you really like whatever you're doing. If you don't like it, life is too short. And also, if you like what you're doing, you think about it even when you're not working. I mean, it'll just— it's something that your mind is drawn to. And if you don't like it, you just really can't make it work, I think.

My advice would be the same for any kind of entrepreneur, and that is make sure that you are focused on something you're passionate about. So, if you look at the early internet companies, they were started and focused on doing something that they thought was very interesting long before the internet was fashionable in any way. You know, I, I, you know, we are currently an underdog once again. We've been in business for 6 years and there was exactly 1 year where we were not the underdog and that was 1999. I like the the underdog years because it makes, you know, I liked it when all the people we hired, their parents told them they were crazy. Like that was kind of the good era. Fortunately, it's back. In 1999, all the parents were like, you know, giving their brothers and sisters high fives. You know, my son is working at Amazon.com. So that's a very, you can't follow the fashion. When you're trying to do a startup company, or I think really anything in life, but you have to, as an entrepreneur, if you're gonna build a company, pick something you think is interesting that has the intersection of genuinely creating real customer value, and then just stay right there and let the wave catch you.

Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out as soon as possible what that is, who you were meant to be and begin to honor that in the best way possible for yourself. We have seen over the years on the Oprah Show so many people who've been able to rise to success in their life and only able to rise to success because they answered the call. Lots of people think that it's about being famous or about being known or about doing big, big incredible things. What you're gonna hear today and see through the stories is that sometimes the calling is right in your own neighborhood. Sometimes the calling is something that was just a whisper to you, and when you begin to honor that whisper and to follow that, you end up being the best that you could be. So in my own life, I have to say that I had no idea that I would end up being who I have become, but I had a strong belief that the calling was something greater than what Mississippi was showing me. The calling was greater than my front yard. The calling was greater than what my grandmother believed that my life could be.

In your book, "The Art of the Deal," you said that money really isn't that important. It's just a means of keeping score. It's playing the game that excites you. I love the game. I like the money, and the money is certainly a method of keeping score, but I don't do things for money. I do things because I enjoy doing them. That really sometimes can translate into more money than you would have made if you went just after the money.

I say that, you know, you should pursue your passion. If you're passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you'll be successful. If you start a business because you think you're gonna make a lot of money at it, then you probably won't be successful, because that's the wrong reason to start a business. You have to really believe in what you're doing, be passionate enough about it so that you will put in the hours and the hard work that it takes to actually succeed there, and then, then you'll be successful.

Do you need more? I think people that look for great ideas to make money, uh, you know, aren't nearly as aren't as successful as those who say, okay, what do I really love to do? What am I excited about? What do I know something about? You know, what's kind of interesting and compelling?

My advice is just do things that are true to you. Most things that I'm involved with are extension of being creative. You know, Roc-A-Wear is a clothing company. You know, it's part of who you are, and hip-hop is your attitude and what you're trying to express, how you dress. I loved sports growing up. I grew up in a household where sports was on 24/7. So these are all things that are comfortable for me. These are things that I like. So I would just say get involved in things that you love and also have a standard for yourself and have some sort of integrity and try to find some sort of truth in what you're doing.

You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about the pathway to the future, but all there will ever be is what's happening here. And the decisions we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear. So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I'm saying I'm the proof that you can ask the universe for it.

Please.

And if it doesn't happen for you right away, it's only because the universe is so busy fulfilling my order. My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant, and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

I've been telling people for a long time, if you're doing something that you're not passionate about or committed to, then you're compromising yourself every day.

And you know what?

You cannot fake the funk for long. Just don't take no for an answer. I mean, I think if you, you know, if you believe in what you're doing, you know, many people will tell you, you know, why you're mistaken, why it'll never work, you know. But if you really believe passionately in what you're doing, just, just, you know, keep going, you know, keep pushing on.

I feel so strongly that the reason I'm here is is I dreamed big dreams. I dreamed the kind of dreams that other people said would not be possible. I'm also living proof. This isn't a Hollywood movie. I come literally from the other side of the tracks. If you saw where I grew up and we took a picture of it, the neighborhood, the setting, you'd say it's not, it's impossible that someone could come from there and get here. But it is possible. And not to sound too trite, it's possible because we still live in a country where the entrepreneurial spirit is so alive and so well. And anyone in this country, if you dream big and surround yourself with great people and leave your ego at the door and share success with others, and have a little luck along the way, you can do anything. But there will be people along the way, and I remember this, who will say to you, you know, you're dreaming too big, it's not possible, those things just can't happen. Don't allow anyone, friend, family, acquaintance, teachers, whoever it is, Don't allow anyone to tell you that what you are dreaming for yourself and your family is not possible. It is possible. Don't be one of those people 20 years from now are going to be walking around in a 9-to-5 job miserable and angry and bitter because you let your dreams get away from you because you did not believe strongly enough in yourself and what was possible. Don't allow that to happen. This is an unbelievable time. And I, I can't encourage you enough to continue to think that things are possible and that your dreams can come true. And as it relates to finding your calling in terms of what the opportunity or the entrepreneurial adventure is going to be, it has to be linked to something that you are so passionate and crazed about that you're willing to knock down walls and climb mountains and do the things that are going to put yourself in a position of sacrificing so many other things for its success. And you can only do that when there's a compelling underlying feeling that you have that this is something I'm going to fight to the death for. And without that, I think it's going to be a commodity-based experience, not only for the customer but for you. And I think you can't really succeed at the levels that you want to unless you find that thing that you're so passionate, excited, and in love with. And I think because you've got it along the way, you're going to have to convince so many other people to believe in you and the idea and the opportunity and the struggle and the obstacles that are going to come can only be overcome by this passion that you have. In which you're going to be able to get people to follow you over those hurdles. I know it sounds a little bit sophomoric, but it's so true. So does that answer it for you?