Passion is overrated, and it almost cost me my health and career

Almost every startup or business conference attendee has probably heard it countless times: "Follow your passion!" — Or — "Do what makes you happy!" And even if you don't frequent such events, you probably read about them online or hear them from others.

I am here to share my experience of how passion blinded us, made us try and justify wrong decisions, and almost robbed me of my health and career.

Passion is easy. Almost too easy.

Falling in love with passion is easy. The passion in business can be perceived as enchanting, charming even. It is often romanticized. The obsession with the "follow your passion" adage has gone so far that it has become universal career advice.

Why is it so tempting to fall in love with passion?

Firstly, it is an idea so broad and vague that it seems overly simple. Just "follow your passion" — how difficult is that? Sounds so easy! What exactly does it mean? Who cares?!

It is a dangerous deception to think that passion is all you need to succeed. Some people might even find themselves under the pressure of having a passion, which can make them feel inadequate.

And as heartbreaking as it may seem, you might not be really good at things you (think you) are passionate about.

By now, you might wonder — who are you, and what do you know about passion?

I am the guy who left a great job at a fantastic company to follow his passion, start his own company, and even have the word passion in its name. And for the next seven or eight years, I followed that passion "truly, madly, deeply."

Our story

The story goes something like this… With my cofounders, I built a company and a culture around it that put more value on passion and emotion than on some other things.

We did some great work, especially for our clients. And we did it for years, with me being there for eight of them.

But we also failed terribly while building our own product. We fell in love with it. We were, as we liked to tell ourselves, passionate about it.

Falling in love with passion

And that was the problem.

Following our passion clouded our judgment. In an eternal feedback loop, we got stuck. "Let's just add this feature — I am sure users will love it. Let's just invest 300 more people-hours!" Days, weeks, months, and even years passed by. Our competitors ran us over, but we were blinded by our passion.

We fell in love with our product.

We didn't even see the reality around us. We invested hundreds of thousands of dollars during the five years in this process, only to shut the product and project about a year after we launched it.

We reinvested all the profits we earned from our other services — living extremely modestly during that period. A price I'm still paying.

Convincing ourselves and our families that this is just a temporary thing. After all, we were following that damn passion. It has to pay off at some point, doesn't it?

Turns out that it doesn't.

Perfectionism

And we were slow. As founders, we believed in perfectionism.

"We can't possibly launch that thing without all the features and all the design finalized and refined. Our customers will see it and think that we are not capable and professional enough."

And iteration after iteration, thousands of hours after thousands of hours, we were driven by passion. Fooled by it. Enchanted and mesmerized.

And then, reality struck!

Wake up call

We launched our product, and while there was some commercial success, it was far from our expectations and hopes. For the team, for myself, it was a very anticlimactic finale to our passion-driven product development saga.

But in those moments of near-despair, something profoundly changed.

Faced with the reality and responsibility that was still around (people need their paychecks, clients need their projects delivered), I decided that passion cannot and should not be our (only) future driving force.

Upon further reflection and countless sleepless nights, I've understood that passion is incredibly selfish. It is all about YOU, what YOU like to do, and what makes YOU happy. It was a wake-up call.

After this experience, I decided to take a step back. My health deteriorated, and my relationships suffered (my friends and my girlfriend knew that the best). The toll was too high.

Awakening

Fast-forward to the present day. I am now running and building a new company, Point Jupiter. While we still have passion in our hearts, we also learned to use our brains.

I was ruthless when starting a new business and deciding areas on which we would focus.

Instead of passion, we followed meaningfulness, contribution, and common sense. We changed the approach when hiring people. We started our new company with new people.

A clean slate

A simple rebranding or a change of name would not be enough. We needed a profound change. One that would affect all aspects of our work — from leadership to processes, types of clients, deliverables…

And we achieved that. We are more efficient, deliver better services and products than ever, and are aware of the reality. We rely more on data, informed decisions, and structure than before.

We learned how to use passion, but more importantly, we learned not to get used by passion.

Use it, don't get used by it

To truthfully follow your passion — do what you are good at.

Develop yourself in ways where your contributions are meaningful and unselfish. Following the passion blindly will make you limit yourself while thinking that you are growing.

Don't make the same mistakes I did.

But don't throw away passion from your life

One of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences I am having right now is the fact that I am now witnessing my passion for the work I do, develop alongside that work.

Passion should be a consequence of great work, not the sole driving force. As such, it can be a powerful ally.

We are emotional beings, and passion is a part of our DNA — whether in romantic relationships or business. We all need it in our life. But we must be mindful of it.

Use your passion, but don't get used by it. Passion is not to be followed. It is to be found and developed.