Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career

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Carly Watters, dreams, finding your passion, Larry Smith, TEDx Talk, writing

Blogger and literary agent Carly Watters recently shared a TEDx Talk by Larry Smith, Professor of Economics at University of Waterloo. In it, he discusses why people will fail to have a great career, and how passion plays a role in it. The video has gotten over five million views, and here’s the link:

 

I’ve talked about finding your passion before – I still think the phrase itself is overused, simply because it sprinkles fairy dust on an ideal instead of giving practical facts for pursuing a concrete goal. And how often do you hear about how much hard work is involved in pursuing your passion, assuming you’ve first identified it?

Larry Smith comes across as curmudgeonly in the video, but if you can put that aside, he has a few really good points. He puts a new spin on the whole “finding your passion” idea. Smith even says that people who’ve found their passion still won’t have a great career, because they’re living a life of excuses that build a wall of blocks between themselves and their true career. They’re hiding behind lofty ideals that mask fear.

Check it out and let me know what you think, both of the video and about the idea of “finding your passion.” Have you found yours? Are you actively pursuing it? If so, share how you got there!

Verrrry interesting…