Darnold9999
Contributor
TSandM:The advice to figure out what you love and go in that direction is pretty good advice, within limits. But you have to be aware that, if you do what you love to earn a living, it becomes work. You have to do the parts of it that you don't like, and you have to do it when you don't feel like it. This is the reason I never went into professional horse training, although I could have. I did not want riding to become a chore. I don't want diving to become a chore, either . . . I don't want to instruct, even if I should acquire the skills to do so (dubious).
I see this far too often. Musicians, particularly in the classical side, that spend years and years training, practicing, auditioning to find that once they finally get that orchestra gig that playing the same music over and over and over is work. Some can retain the passion, but others cannot. Others spend enourmous amounts if time and energy and fail to make it, the competition is unbelievable. Too many people have the passion and not enough places where you can make a living with it.
Writers that spend 10 years getting that first book published - then find that turning out the next four on a contract, doing all the publicity work, the "business" of writing all becomes work. Same thing applies. Way too many people who have a passion for writing, not enough demand for those skills to soak up all those people - so people end up doing it for free.
Computer geeks who find that writing software in a big project as part of a team is not the same as writing cool utilities by yourself for fun.
Lawyers that start out wanting to defend the oppressed that find that their criminal clients are by and large not very nice people and that putting them behind bars is not such a bad idea.
I keep my music as a hobby(all consuming as it is - playing in the pit orchestra for Theatre Under the Stars every other evening for most of the summer for virtually free is my definition of all consuming), my diving as a hobby(not quite so all consuming - the music cuts into the diving - going to have to give up some of the work stuff) and keep the "solving problems", which I still have a passion for, in my work life - and choose the computer biz because it changes so much - hard to get bored when what you knew yesterday has little relevance to what you need to apply it to tomorrow.
Having said all that - doing something you hate just for the money is WAY worse. Been there done that - don't want the Tshirt.
Something to consider is to look at the underlying fundamentals of who you are as a person. It took me a long time to figure this one out. For example I don't so much like computers as I like to take a problem/issue and figure out a practical solution. Once I have the solution I really don't care if it gets implemented. Figuring it out is what turns my crank, not making it happen. Could apply that "skill" pretty much anywhere, but it took me a long time to learn that that is what I like - managing projects, people, not so much. Design the project - making sure the design will actually work I love, but the moment I know that it will work, someone else can take it from there, I have lost interest.
Lots of time climbing a career ladder to find out that I didn't like what I was expected to do when I got higher on the ladder. Sometimes climbing that career ladder takes you away from the things you are best at/love to do.