In this motivational YouTube response, Evan Carmichael addresses a viewer’s dilemma about abandoning an art degree for a business/accounting program. He argues that major life decisions—education, relationships, careers—should be guided by the heart rather than sunk‑cost thinking. Carmichael warns against staying in a path you hate simply because of prior investment, urging listeners to let go of sunk costs and pursue what excites them. He illustrates his point with two stories: Steve Jobs dropping out of college to explore fonts, which later gave the Macintosh its distinctive typography; and Carmichael’s own childhood piano experience, where switching to music he loved reignited his passion. The core message is to have the courage to change direction toward what makes you feel alive, regardless of uncertainty or perceived loss. He ends with a call for viewers to share their own stories, subscribe, and engage with the channel.
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Should I study business in school? So I got a great question from one of my YouTube viewers, love you guys, Syed, who wrote in to say, business has been one of those things that I love going into when I was older, being an accountant or something. However, art was my hobby. I'm doing B.Tech art at the moment in college and now I hate it. It's not something I want to carry on with in the future. I'm thinking to apply to business and accounting or business degree at university, but I'm not sure if I would find it hard with this sudden jump. Please, please, please, can you make a video or response to let me know if it's a good idea? This is an amazing question and one that I think a lot of people struggle through if it's thinking about going into university or any major life decision. You know, the big decisions in life are stressful. They're scary. They require boldness, and it means that you have to act with your heart. Okay, if you are thinking about, you know, what to study in school, if you're thinking about who to marry, you're thinking about what business to get into, all the big life decisions that you make should be with the heart and not your head. And so, thinking about this question, if you hate art, okay, art was your hobby, you go to university, you start taking art, and now you hate it. What most people would do is continue on, right? 'Cause it's a smart thing to do, it's a safe thing to do, it's what society tells you to do. You go on, you graduate, you get a job, you stay in art, and you're the rest of your life in art, and you're doing something that you hate every day of your life. And it takes a lot of guts, it takes a lot of courage to say, "That's not for me. I don't want to waste the rest of my life doing something that I hate. I don't want to live for the weekends and the evenings. I want to do something important with my life. I want to feel happy about what I'm doing and the value I'm contributing to the world. And I'm going to try something else." And too many people hang on for too long. If it's hanging on to a university course, hanging on to a relationship, hanging on to a business, Hanging on to an idea, hanging on to anything. We hang on. We hang on too long because of everything that's been put in. All of that time, all of that investment, everything that we've put in, we try to make it work. Hanging on to that employee, we try to make it work. But you gotta let go of that sunk cost. That is a sunk cost. You can't get that time or money back. You make a decision based on what you want to do now and where you want to go. Forget about everything that's been put into it. If you are not feeling this idea anymore, if you don't want to be in art anymore, then stop being in art and go to business if that's where you want to go. You have to always follow your flow. You have to do something that gets you excited, that makes you come alive. And if that's leaving art and going to business, then do it and have the courage to jump off and chase a life that you want to live. Chase a life that's worth living instead of doing the safe thing that society tells you to do. I want to share two quick examples for you. The first is the classic one. It's the Steve Jobs example. He went to university and he was on, you know, the fast track to success, and he left university, dropped out, and everybody thought he was nuts. Why are you dropping out? And he dropped out of his classes so he could drop in on other classes like learning about fonts and calligraphy and writing. And people thought he was nuts. What? Why do you— why are you going into Fonts? Why do you care about handwriting? It was just something he was interested in. He had no idea how it was going to work out. He was just interested in it and he wanted to learn. Fast forward, when the Macintosh came out, it was the first computer to have beautiful fonts. Every other computer had the standard boring lame fonts and the Mac had beautiful fonts. And that came because Steve Jobs understood fonts because he took that class. Because he wasn't afraid to drop out of something that he hated and drop in on something that he loved. Even though he had no idea how it was going to work out. You can look backwards on his life and say, "Oh, that made total sense," and look, look how that led to him being a successful entrepreneur. But you can't look forward with absolute certainty. Steve Jobs didn't look at that and say, "This is how I'm going to make myself a success. This is how taking a class on fonts is going to add value and meaning to my life." He had no idea, but he did it because he was excited and passionate about it. It made him come alive, and so he followed that. And you need to do the same thing. Business may be your path. It may not be, but you won't know until you get off the art track because art is not for you. Another quick example from my past: when I was growing up, my parents really wanted me to do piano, and I didn't mind piano. You know, I like the songs, I like, I like understanding how the notes work, but I didn't like the music. You know, I was going through the conservatory and they have a strict regimen of the songs, and I didn't like any of the songs, and I was practicing just to practice the songs, and I didn't like any of the music that I was playing. And, and it got to the point where I wouldn't practice anymore, and I wasn't passing my exams, and, and I wasn't happy, right? Like, I wasn't happy doing what I was doing. And I sat down with my parents, and both my sisters were continuing on, they were doing their classical training. And I said, you know, I want to find another way to do this because I'm not enjoying this. This is not a happy moment. Moment in my life. And what we agreed on was I would continue on in piano, which I still like, but I would get to pick my own music. And I remember they bought me this piano book of theme songs from popular TV shows, and now I got to play the theme songs to— at the time was Cheers and Jeopardy, and I'm dating myself here, but now I liked it again. You know, now I had fun, now I enjoyed the music, I enjoyed the songs, and Even though I wasn't doing the conservatory path anymore, I was doing something that got me excited again. And so I believe that you should be living a life that makes you excited. You should be doing a business that gets you excited. You should be studying material that gets you excited. You should be with a life partner that gets you excited. You should be in a city that gets you excited, right? You want to be surrounded by things that get you excited, that make you the best version of you. And if anything isn't, if anything is boring, if anything is making you hate something like you're saying in this, this question, right? You hate this, then cut it out from your life. Don't be afraid of everything that you've lost getting into it. Don't be afraid of the uncertainty that is ahead because I can guarantee you that by continuing to do things that you hate, you will not be leading a happy life. And by chasing things that you love and that you're interested in, That's the path to success. Believe. For those of you watching the video, you can subscribe to the channel, see more just like it. If you have advice on how you've overcome painful moments in your life, or if you have hated something, how have you moved on from that? How have you gotten past it to, to realize your dreams in another area? I'd love to hear from you. I'm sure Saeed would love to hear from you as well. Leave a comment below. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you soon.
Hi, Raquel English here with Mermaid Junkie TV. Are you on Evan's newsletter subscription? If not, you should be. I read every single one, and you should too.
