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"Never Do What You Love"

Name: "Never Do What You Love"
Uploaded: 2025-08-25T20:00:23+00:00
Duration: 39 s
Channel: Shanli Liu, CPA, CTP
Description: In this brief monologue, the speaker recounts a formative mentor who advised against pursuing what you love, arguing that passion can turn into work and…

25 Aug 2025 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, the speaker recounts a formative mentor who advised against pursuing what you love, arguing that passion can turn into work and diminish enjoyment. The mentor exemplified this philosophy by building and operating three to four retail stores, generating a modest passive income of roughly $30‑$40 k per month, and retiring at 28. For the next two decades he lived off that income, playing golf five days a week, spending extensive time with his children, and describing his life as “slaying the dragon of life.” The speaker expresses wholehearted agreement with the mentor’s stance that not following one’s passion can lead to a more fulfilling, balanced life.

Chapters

I had this mentor really early on in my career who said, never do what you love because then it becomes work. And so just a completely counter take. And this guy was a guy who just had a normal— he had 3 or 4 stores that he ran and he retired at age 28 and not as a gazillionaire. I think he made something in the neighborhood of probably like $30,000 or $40,000 a month, you know, take home. And for 20 years he did nothing besides collect his money once a month. And then he played golf 5 days a week and he got to hang out and basically be there for the entirety of his kids. And he loved that. And that was— that he accomplished. He used to tell me, he's like, I slayed the dragon of life. I wholeheartedly agree with the, the not following your passion piece.