If you’re going for what you want in this life, you want to make sure you do it right. You want to make money. You want to have a house. You want to have a family, and you want to have a retirement, presuming you’re reasonably normal. If you’re young in today’s age, this might seem difficult, or maybe even out of reach. But it isn’t, and you can even achieve these things while following your passion. All it requires is knowing what you’re doing, making a plan, and executing. Using this methodology, I’ve come up with a framework that will allow me to live in a poor country and achieve an above average net worth by my 30s.
Know yourself and your talents
If you don’t know and understand yourself, you’re not going to get anywhere. This applies to areas of life outside of your career. The first step to following your passion is to experience life. Pick up some scrapes and bruises. Make friends and try new things. This way, once you’re ready to choose a career path, you’ll have a good idea of what you like and what you’re skilled at.
Find out how your passion can make you money
Knowing how you can make money doing something you enjoy is really the key to success. Unfortunately, not everyone has this opportunity. This means that you should work as hard as possible and try lots of different things if you have a high tolerance for work. Provided you’re on the straight and narrow, you will likely find a high powered or high earning position in which you can at least somewhat follow your passion. The other way to go is knowing what you’re passionate about and knowing how much money people in your industry make. Once you know that, you can follow the people who are hitting the same income goals as you.
Do what you’re best at
If you’re good at it and like it, do it. In life, you want to maximize your chances of success. Pick something you’re skilled at and then branch off into what you enjoy the most. Or, if you’re really great at something that doesn’t pay well, such as music, create a plan for monetization that doesn’t directly involve your profession. Sticking with the example of a musician, they tend to sell branded merchandise.
Make sure to get an education
Getting an education is how you hedge your bets. Getting at least an associate’s degree will allow you to high-quality white-collar work that will help you get paid more than average. Me personally, I’m not sure how far I’m going to take my education, but I do know that I want to be able to work a good job and invest money during my 30s. Since I already have a blog, this will allow me to become well-off with a fair bit of ease. This means that studying hard is what will allow me to get the most out of life, provided I’ve written those blog posts. I spent one year writing this blog, so that I would be able to spend a larger portion of the next 2-4 years studying than working. So far, so good. I’m on track to be able to follow my passion in my free time while earning a living.
Know when to quit
This is also really important. Most people have no clue when to quit. They either stop too early, or they get wrapped up in the sunk cost fallacy. Basically, the reason people tell you to never give up is that most good workers have no concept of the amount of effort it takes to succeed on a massive scale. Ironically, they’ve gotten to used to the instant gratification that comes with school and work. But there still is a time to give up. Check the stats for your industry in order to find out. With a blog, you should be making some headway after about 200 articles or so. You should certainly be making money with 300+. Sometimes quitting doesn’t mean throwing in the towel completely. Sometimes people just need to start fresh and rework an old idea. Not all failures doom you to eternal suffering.
What I did
I knew that I wanted to write and live overseas. I had spent my teens and 20s learning about making money online and watched quite a few people ride the economic wave to success. I didn’t capitalize but instead came up with a measured plan for success, spanning about 5 years. I’ve executed the first part of it, and everything’s gone well so far. But I still have a lot of work ahead of me. All things considered though, if I keep working hard, and am able to stay in good health, I’ll be able to live a great life while still doing what I want. I had help along this journey, and I’m grateful for what it’s yielding. If you’re reading this blog post, it means I’m following my passion and succeeding.
If you can spend even 25% of your working life following your passion, you’ll be a successful man as far as I’m concerned. You’ll make more money than most, have more free time than most, and enjoy your work more than most. Even if you don’t end up making a lot, you’ll be able to optimize for lifestyle and happiness. Dating will also be easier, as you’ll know yourself better and have different ways of curating your lifestyle. It’s possible to follow your passion, even in the age of AI. You just need to be smart about it and apply yourself. If you have a plan, are careful, and make sure to execute, you should be able to find some success. It’s better than living a life that involves doing work that you don’t enjoy, and that’s regardless of whether you could have gotten rich doing something else.
Thanks for paying attention.
