--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice…" description: "\"“Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg" --- # Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it… ![“Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predictor of job satisfaction is mentally engaging work. It’s the nature of the job itself. It’s not got that much to do with you. . . . It’s whether the…” quote by Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg) > ““Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predictor of job satisfaction is mentally engaging work. It’s the nature of the job itself. It’s not got that much to do with you. . . . It’s whether the job provides a lot of variety, gives you good feedback, allows you to exercise autonomy, contributes to the wider world—Is it actually meaningful? Is it making the world better?—and also, whether it allows you to exercise a skill that you’ve developed.” \* Most gifted books for life improvement and general effectiveness Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. This book is a friendly and accessible introduction to mindfulness meditation, and includes an 8-week guided meditation course. Will completed this course, and it had a significant impact on his life. The Power of Persuasion by Robert Levine. The ability to be convincing, sell ideas, and persuade other people is a meta-skill that transfers to many areas of your life. This book didn’t become that popular, but it’s the best book on persuasion that Will has found. It’s much more in-depth than other options in the genre. \* Advice to your 20-year-old self? “One is emphasizing that you have 80,000 working hours in the course of your life. It’s incredibly important to work out how best to spend them, and what you’re doing at the moment—20-year-old Will—is just kind of drifting and thinking. \[You’re\] not spending very much time thinking about this kind of macro optimization. You might be thinking about ‘How can I do my coursework as well as possible?’ and micro optimization, but not really thinking about ‘What are actually my ultimate goals in life, and how can I optimize toward them?’ “An analogy I use is, if you’re going out for dinner, it’s going to take you a couple of hours. You spend 5 minutes working out where to go for dinner. It seems reasonable to spend 5% of your time on how to spend the remaining 95%. If you did that with your career, that would be 4,000 hours, or 2 working years. And actually, I think that’s a pretty legitimate thing to do—spending that length of time trying to work out how should you be spending the rest of your life.”” [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Job satisfaction depends more on engaging work, autonomy, feedback, and meaning than on following passion. **In simple terms:** Focus on work qualities, not just passion. Key Takeaway Seek roles with variety, feedback, autonomy, and impact. Themes career design meaningful work autonomy Mood practical reflective Type advice career self‑help When to use this quote - career planning - skill development - job search - performance reviews Key Concepts job satisfaction theory psychology of work Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of your job give you the most satisfaction? - How can you increase autonomy in your current role? A Different Perspective Passion can still be a useful guide for some. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Follow your passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/follow-your-passion/) [Goals In Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals-in-life-2/) [Job satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/job-satisfaction/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Power of persuasion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-of-persuasion/) [Rest of your life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rest-of-your-life/) [Terrible Advice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible-advice/) [Ultimate goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ultimate-goal/) ## Related quotes > [“Advice to your 20-year-old self? “I would say, ‘Write everything down because it’s all very fleeting.’ I would say, ‘Keep a journal,’ which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/advice-to-your-20-year-old-self-i-would-say-write-everything-down/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [At a certain point in your career - I mean, part of the answer is a personal answer, which is that at a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/at-a-certain-point-in-your-career-i-mean-part-of-the-answer-is-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I've heard claims that we can wish our way to perfect, permanent wellness, but I haven't seen any proof of that. Sickness and death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-carter/i-ve-heard-claims-that-we-can-wish-our-way-to-perfect-permanent/) Brian Carter > [I had a lot of really terrible advice early in my writing career, and I cheesed off people without even knowing it, all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/i-had-a-lot-of-really-terrible-advice-early-in-my-writing-career-and-2/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [There is a lot of terrible advice in the world. It's all over TikTok, Instagram, and social media in general.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brett-cooper/there-is-a-lot-of-terrible-advice-in-the-world-it-s-all-over-tiktok/) [Brett Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brett-cooper/) > [I had a lot of really terrible advice early in my writing career and I cheesed off people without even knowing it, all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/i-had-a-lot-of-really-terrible-advice-early-in-my-writing-career-and/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [People always say, 'Write what you know', but I've always found that to be terrible advice. It's quite limiting, what you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-toltz/people-always-say-write-what-you-know-but-i-ve-always-found-that-to/) [Steve Toltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-toltz/) > [Advice is not really very useful. People gave me terrible advice, and I guess I was just smart enough to ignore some of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-morrison/advice-is-not-really-very-useful-people-gave-me-terrible-advice-and-i/) [Travis Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-morrison/) > [“Haven't you ever heard people say just be yourself? That’s terrible advice! What if a man was a drunken, illiterate bigot? Being himself would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-daigle/haven-t-you-ever-heard-people-say-just-be-yourself-that-s-terrible/) Arthur Daigle > [“Why are they trying to kill me?” he squealed, cupping his hands over his head. “They’re not,” I told him. “They’re trying to kill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-schaefer/why-are-they-trying-to-kill-me-he-squealed-cupping-his-hands-over-his/) [Craig Schaefer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-schaefer/) > [“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People come into our lives for a reason; nothing is a coincidence,” Helen finally said, after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teodora-kostova/i-believe-that-everything-happens-for-a-reason-people-come-into-our/) [Teodora Kostova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teodora-kostova/) > [“People tell you to write what you know, but I've found that writing what you know is much harder than making it up. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-walton/people-tell-you-to-write-what-you-know-but-i-ve-found-that-writing/) [Jo Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-walton/) > [If you will take my advice you will think little of Socrates, and a great deal more of truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-you-will-take-my-advice-you-will-think-little-of-socrates-and-a/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Being in charge sometimes means making people mad. Some days you have to overrule even the best advice, because you think it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/being-in-charge-sometimes-means-making-people-mad-some-days-you-have/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [Sometimes when I get asked by younger wrestlers, 'Do you have any advice for me? What do you think you can help me on?'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rey-mysterio/sometimes-when-i-get-asked-by-younger-wrestlers-do-you-have-any/) [Rey Mysterio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rey-mysterio/) ## More by Timothy Ferriss > [“First of all, if we’re serious all the time, we’ll wear out before we get the truly serious stuff done. Second, if this book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/first-of-all-if-we-re-serious-all-the-time-we-ll-wear-out-before-we/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-is-the-book-or-books-you-ve-given-most-as-a-gift-and-why-or-what/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore? Nobody really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-advice-would-you-give-to-a-smart-driven-college-student-about-to/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed-of things—the people on the edge see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/out-on-the-edge-you-see-all-kinds-of-things-you-can-t-see-from-the/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“information without emotion isn’t retained.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/information-without-emotion-isn-t-retained/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“Pure hell forces action, but anything less can be endured with enough clever rationalization.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/pure-hell-forces-action-but-anything-less-can-be-endured-with-enough/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? Most of the game is about persistence.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-advice-would-you-give-to-a-smart-driven-college-student-about-to-2/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/don-t-aim-at-success-the-more-you-aim-at-it-and-make-it-a-target-the/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“conscious thinking is largely asking and answering questions in your own head. If you want confusion and heartache, ask vague questions. If you want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/conscious-thinking-is-largely-asking-and-answering-questions-in-your/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“What bullshit excuses do you have for not going after whatever it is that you want? Please,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-bullshit-excuses-do-you-have-for-not-going-after-whatever-it-is/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“The fishing is best where the fewest go,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-fishing-is-best-where-the-fewest-go/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“Using people to leverage a refined process multiplies production; using people as a solution to a poor process multiplies problems.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/using-people-to-leverage-a-refined-process-multiplies-production/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“Being financially rich and having the ability to live like a millionaire are fundamentally two very different things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/being-financially-rich-and-having-the-ability-to-live-like-a/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“What are the top-three activities that I use to fill time to feel as though I’ve been productive? These are usually used to postpone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-are-the-top-three-activities-that-i-use-to-fill-time-to-feel-as/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-factory-of-the-future-will-have-only-two-employees-a-man-and-a/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) [Explore all 310 Timothy Ferriss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) ## More Follow your passion quotes > [If you follow your passion, you'll never work a day in your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bennett/if-you-follow-your-passion-you-ll-never-work-a-day-in-your-life/) [Tony Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bennett/) > [You're already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/you-re-already-naked-there-is-no-reason-not-to-follow-your-heart/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [The key to success is to be honest, follow your passion and not someone else's path.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/urvashi-rautela/the-key-to-success-is-to-be-honest-follow-your-passion-and-not/) [Urvashi Rautela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/urvashi-rautela/) > [If you follow your bliss...the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/if-you-follow-your-bliss-the-life-that-you-ought-to-be-living-is-the/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Design the life you want to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-roy/design-the-life-you-want-to-live/) [Rachel Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-roy/) > [Follow your passion, we’re often told. But how do you find your passion? Let me put it another way: what is it that breaks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/follow-your-passion-we-re-often-told-but-how-do-you-find-your-passion/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [“RULE #1 Don’t Follow Your Passion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-newport/rule-1-don-t-follow-your-passion/) [Cal Newport](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-newport/) > [Be the kind of person others admire, can count on, trust, and enjoy spending time with. After you have developed that reputation, people will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-winget/be-the-kind-of-person-others-admire-can-count-on-trust-and-enjoy/) [Larry Winget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-winget/) > [“You gotta follow your passion in life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kailin-gow/you-gotta-follow-your-passion-in-life/) [Kailin Gow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kailin-gow/) > [To me, money is independence. It gives you freedom to do what you really want to do. It allows you to not be dependent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-mansueto/to-me-money-is-independence-it-gives-you-freedom-to-do-what-you/) [Joe Mansueto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-mansueto/) > [“Follow your passion” is bad advice. I reached this conclusion after spending a year researching a basic question: What makes people love what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jocelyn-k-glei/follow-your-passion-is-bad-advice-i-reached-this-conclusion-after/) [Jocelyn K. Glei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jocelyn-k-glei/) > [No matter what happens, no matter how far you seem to be away from where you want to be, never stop believing that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/les-brown/no-matter-what-happens-no-matter-how-far-you-seem-to-be-away-from/) [Les Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/les-brown/) > [The distance between your dream and reality is called action. Follow your passion and face your fear. The rewards are awesome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-distance-between-your-dream-and-reality-is-called-action-follow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Passion always finds a way. Follow your passion and everything else will work out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iliza-shlesinger/passion-always-finds-a-way-follow-your-passion-and-everything-else/) [Iliza Shlesinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iliza-shlesinger/) > [Follow your passion and you'll be successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duane-ludwig/follow-your-passion-and-you-ll-be-successful/) Duane Ludwig [Browse all 96 Follow your passion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/follow-your-passion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predictor of job satisfaction is mentally engaging work. It’s the nature of the job itself. It’s not got that much to do with you. . . . It’s whether the job provides a lot of variety, gives you good feedback, allows you to exercise autonomy, contributes to the wider world—Is it actually meaningful? Is it making the world better?—and also, whether it allows you to exercise a skill that you’ve developed.” * Most gifted books for life improvement and general effectiveness Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. This book is a friendly and accessible introduction to mindfulness meditation, and includes an 8-week guided meditation course. Will completed this course, and it had a significant impact on his life. The Power of Persuasion by Robert Levine. The ability to be convincing, sell ideas, and persuade other people is a meta-skill that transfers to many areas of your life. This book didn’t become that popular, but it’s the best book on persuasion that Will has found. It’s much more in-depth than other options in the genre. * Advice to your 20-year-old self? “One is emphasizing that you have 80,000 working hours in the course of your life. It’s incredibly important to work out how best to spend them, and what you’re doing at the moment—20-year-old Will—is just kind of drifting and thinking. [You’re] not spending very much time thinking about this kind of macro optimization. You might be thinking about ‘How can I do my coursework as well as possible?’ and micro optimization, but not really thinking about ‘What are actually my ultimate goals in life, and how can I optimize toward them?’ “An analogy I use is, if you’re going out for dinner, it’s going to take you a couple of hours. You spend 5 minutes working out where to go for dinner. It seems reasonable to spend 5% of your time on how to spend the remaining 95%. If you did that with your career, that would be 4,000 hours, or 2 working years. And actually, I think that’s a pretty legitimate thing to do—spending that length of time trying to work out how should you be spending the rest of your life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Timothy Ferriss" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i-think-it-misconstrues-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Follow your passion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i-think-it-misconstrues-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/335/timothy-ferriss-973_follow-your-passion_follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i_1073856.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice “I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career…” — Timothy Ferriss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Timothy Ferriss", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Follow Your Passion” Is Terrible Advice...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i-think-it-misconstrues-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice-i-think-it-misconstrues-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```