62/365 Keeping Passion Separate From Work

By vinodnarayan on August 24, 2021 • ( 0 )

Before I start I want to tell you all that, this is what I think now and I might change my thought down the line when I understand life better. Like many others I also grew up hearing that ‘follow your passion’. If you start getting paid for what you like to do then you will never have to work a single day..

I have tried and failed. That said I should tell you that I am way more privileged than many… I was able to try it, not once but thrice. Taking a break and seeing if my passion can be my full time job. I failed miserably every single time. But something interesting did happen in the process.

During these three instances I was able to connect several dots. The first time I wanted to take writing which was a passion and see if I can make a career out of it, but it did not work… but this helped me enter the field of implementing large scale enterprise content management systems.. This was a needed break for me in my career that had been stagnant for a while. So I could in a small way bring my passion for content and my actual work of project management together.

But then I found that my passion for content was much beyond the actual work I do. Again work and passion became two separate things. But I continued my passion to write and went on to publish two collection of poetry. Work continued.

Next I thought of entering the video space, started a vlog and then took a break to see if that will work. Again it bombed.. did not work.. I went back to doing what people were willing to pay me for. By then I had been dabbling on agile for a while and that seemed an interesting concept for me and I started building this interest to take agile to life and teach people.

This short discovery phase did something interesting.. It added video making to my side activities.. not work but just as a passion. Later my videos went viral and I gained seats in places I had never dreamt of.. which is a different story.. yet I continued working….

Next I took another break after a few years and this time I was wanting to see if my passion for education and agile can help me make that my full time work.. again the pandemic along with my clear incapability to monetize put an end to that plan to make it full time. But during this time I created a course on Agile… built the concept of Minimal Agile… Created a community of active learners…. and I started podcasts. All on the side and not my full time activity. I continued to work

For me it looks like I need to keep my passion separate from work and yet be passionate about my work, what ever it is.

Today I work full time in the tech industry as an Agile Practitioner, Scrum Master and Coach. On the side as a passion I do several things… and it keeps expanding.

I blog daily, I make videos, I do online courses, I speak at events, I interact with students and educators, I run a community of active learners and I produce 4 podcasts that cover different interests of mine. Two of them I do daily. I am also pursuing acting after I got a chance to act in a movie. Still exploring new things to do. And I continue to Work….

So yes Passion got me where I am now, but my work and my passion are not necessarily the same things. Yes.. There are points where they intersect. I love my work but it has a very important role in my life which is to earn a living. Even if I don’t fully like it, I will do it. But for passion, I want to be doing it only for love of it. I never feel tired doing what I love. The moment I am making Monetization a key for it I fumble. So I like keeping them separate. Again it is just me.