Why "Follow Your Passion" is Bullshit (and What To Pursue Instead)
The Solopreneur Series Free Issue No. 6
The image above is my year on Strava in review. These are the most critical data points I have for my Solopreneur ventures.
Not Followers
Not Profits, nor revenue projections
Not costs, nor debt servicing.
It’s the number of hours, Strava says, that I was active (at least with the app logging my activities) — and, in which months.
Strava is an app (mainly on phones) that tracks activities. I’ve used it for years. It tracks walking, running, biking, and pretty much any other activity. It also has a GPS function that maps your activities.
It’s a great app for self-motivation and challenging yourself to beat times on certain segments of activity, or to simply log more time being active.
One feature I really appreciate is the year in review, which comes out this time of year. Here is how my activity this year breaks down 👇
The image above shows, there were only 2 days in May that I wasn’t doing an activity.
What did I log the most activity doing?
Walking (57%), with biking (gravel, road, and mountain) next (35%) - then alpine skiing. What’s not captured is paddle boarding and ice-skating. 👇
I walk a lot.
I set myself a challenge — which Strava can assist with — to walk 50 km per month. I achieved this in several months this year.
The dogs loved it. And, yes, we’re now down to one, not two dogs. But our older dog lived well beyond her breed’s life expectancy. Healthy food and lots of walks.
We subscribe to a similar plan for health and well-being.
I walk regularly with my wife Lisa. We call them Solopreneur strategy sessions. (She became a Solopreneur too — in June of this year)
The most mileage for the year, was biking — as it was for elevation gained as well — almost 60,000 metres (~200,000 feet). My year in summary looks like this 👇
I don’t share these stats to say “look at me! look at me!”… I share these stats because of this 👇
In mid-June 2021, I found myself hooked up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) cart in an emergency department. Six days previous, I’d been in the same hospital, to say goodbye to my mom (a story for another day).
It was in a hospital on isolated islands of the British Columbia NW coast (just south of Alaska).
It was the same hospital — at least an updated version — that my younger sister was born. The same hospital I’d visited a few times as a kid and young adult.
Hooked up to the ECG for the first time in my life, I was 48.
The globe was still in C-19 but restrictions were slowly lifting. At the time, I was still working as a senior administrative leader in healthcare. I was just coming out of over a year of pandemic emergency response and planning (at the same time).
About 6 months earlier, I’d also successfully defended a doctoral dissertation (in Education). I’d been a full-time doctoral student and researcher since mid-2015. And had started the program right about the same time, I took on a new job in healthcare (a sector I’d never worked in before).
This is on top of a complex household with 3 teens — in a double-blended family. And frequent sessional teaching contracts at the local community college (night classes). And, part-time faculty work (online courses) at a BC-based university.
These were some busy years.
Being so darn busy is often a ‘badge of honour’ (for some) — as ridiculous as that can be. It also meant that prioritizing my health and well-being often took a back seat.
There was always a paper that needed to be written, research to be done, phone calls with a demanding boss (frequently ‘after hours’), and so on.
Reflecting upon the Madness
When I think back and run some estimates — and especially through C-19 — I was working 200-hour months regularly (a standard month is 150-160 hours). This meant 50, 60, and sometimes even 70-hour weeks.
There was little possibility that I could have also worked in 30-60 hours of activity per month as well. I walked as often as I could — during lunch hours, or during conference calls in which I pretty much only needed to listen.
The work hours, study hours, teaching hours, and lack of activity added up.
Then in May 2021, our mom became ill. By early June she had passed.
This was added on to my sister's passing just before her 50th birthday, in 2016. Added on top of 6 grandparents between my wife and I, and a series of other deaths. It’s been a pretty tough run.
And, so… there I was hooked up to an ECG. I was 48. Experiencing a solid mass of stress. My mom had passed 6 days earlier in the same hospital.
I felt some shame for being the ding-dong in Emergency while our family grieved.
And, the fact, I was basically dragged into the hospital. My chest had felt heavy and tight for days. When I started having shortness of breath, that kicked me out of my stupid stubborn male valour.
The young doctor ran all the tests. She showed me an ultrasound of my heart beating.
“There’s your very healthy-looking heart beating away,” she said.
And, yup, there it was.
“Your heart looks great. There’s nothing in the tests showing that you may have had, or are in danger of a heart attack.
Do you have some stress in your life?”
“Ummmm…. well, ya,” I said sheepishly.
“I was just in here a few days ago, saying goodbye to our mom… and… and… and… and…. and … and … and…”
The Beginning of the End
That was — the beginning of the end.
I told myself I was NOT becoming another stat: “48-year-old drops dead of a massive heart attack”.
My wife told me the same thing. Maybe more sternly than I was with myself.
And, changes began.
By August, two months later, I had given up my senior leadership position, and taken a pay cut to take up a research-based position. I managed no one. (But I was in a windowless office).
By November, I had accepted a new position as director of a small team, back in higher education. Much slower pace. I had been headhunted into the role. And, I was hopeful the shift in sectors and a slower pace would assist.
Plus, ironically, they offered a higher salary than my previous leadership role in healthcare.
I started getting more physically active. Mountain biking more in the summer.
But…
… I quickly realized, I simply could not do office or cubicle life any longer. And, more changes began.
By April 2022, I was out. Full exit. Not much of a plan, but a lot of hope, and trust in my drive.
Building a Business of One
I’ve written in previous issues — Box Cutter Co. and The Solopreneur Series — that I did not have a clear plan. I did not have superlative strategies in place. I had a bit of a safety net, but it meant borrowing from future ‘pensions’.
What I had was a passion.
A passion for writing, researching, synthesizing, and occasionally teaching and public speaking (just not too much).
But this is where “follow your passion” mantras, platitudes, clichés, and bullshit will NOT kick in.
I’ve seen these shallow sayings pumped out across the Interweb and in various books over the years. (And, I’ve been reading books on these sorts of topics for 3 decades now)
There is far more to this absurd saying. Let’s break a few down.
Life is a Time-limited Game
For one, as mentioned in the last issue of Box Cutter Co., life is like a game — especially like video games. And it’s a time-limited offer.
Or, as I also shared, we can use the analogy of learning to ski.
For example, our teenage boys didn’t just magically start doing 360s in the air or backflipping on skis 👇
They progressed, bit by bit. They levelled-up.
They weren’t born with a passion for skiing and doing tricks.
All our kids started skiing when they were 2. Our boys started backflipping when they were 12 and 15. Years of levelling up.
They all love to ski now. But it hasn’t always been like that. They weren’t born with some innate skiing “passion” gene. It’s come because we did it, and do it a lot.
And, they’ve had lessons, coaching, time, practice, mileage, and — quite frankly — a lot of investment by parents (time and $). It’s been a conscious choice and investment in our household.
I’m also a Level II ski instructor and Level I ski coach. My wife has skied since she was little. We’ve provided a tonne of tips over the years. Plus we all tend to ski together, so they’ve been able to follow two pretty proficient skiers.
And we ski with other families, who also love to ski. One, in which both parents are also ski coaches. One who coached at the National and International level and another at the Provincial level — and both ski raced at pretty high levels.
They also provided tips, tricks and feedback.
Short story made longer… All 3 kids have a passion for skiing now — as teenagers — which is awesome. (We had hoped this would be the case)
But it was years of investment and years of levelling up bit by bit — and those have established a foundation for Passion.
Levelling-up leads to and feeds Passion
When you’re getting progressively better at something, it can be quite addictive. And the better you get the more you want to do it.
We’ve had similar experiences as skiing with mountain biking and our boys. They didn’t mind doing a little when they were younger. Not nearly as much as skiing — especially having to ride uphill. But, as we did more, they did more, and they got better.
Plus, they developed great body awareness from skiing. Comfort with speed.
And, with both sports, we’ve also made it a priority to have decent equipment. This means we keep our household quite simple. Skiing and biking don’t come cheap.
Years ago, we made a conscious choice and commitment to:
“Purchase and Invest in Experiences, Not Things”
And the joke (but not so jokingly) has been, that investing in these experiences and activities most likely means far fewer costs for addiction treatment or rehab when our kids become adults.
It also means we’ve been part of building passions for them to pursue as adults. They have skills, abilities, and experiences in which they can build upon — but maybe most importantly, take some pride in and have confidence about.
We find — in the world of teenagehood— that these are essential things to have.
And… all of this translates into Business too.
Building Business Around Lifestyles — Not Vice Versa
In my experiences and research — and it can sound cliché — is focus on building business enterprises (part-time or full-time) that are:
Purpose-driven
Values-based
This isn’t new information, nor ground-breaking realizations. It’s been said by many for years.
One of my favourite recent books and authors suggesting this is fellow Canadian Paul Jarvis in his 2018 book “Company of One: Why staying small is the next big thing for business”.
At the beginning of one of his chapters on Mindset, he says:
“How you think about work is important to how work gets done. To succeed as a company of one, you have to have a real underlying purpose. Your WHY matters as an unseen but ever-present element that drives your business”.
Jarvis shares that purpose is often almost more important than profit. And, that purpose is the lens through which one should perceive, sort, and make business decisions — from small to large.
Jarvis shares the example of Patagonia — and I fully agree. It’s a company driven by purpose and values (and passion gets to hitch along for the ride).
Passion is Important — but Values, Purpose, and Levelling-up are What will Fuel you Through
There are piles of articles, stories, blog posts, and otherwise that spew out the notion that relying on COURAGE and PASSION will fuel any business endeavour— especially Solopreneur.
And: “Follow your Passion”.
In 18 months of building a digital writing business, passion is a powerful motivator (no question) — but it’s not a long-term sustainable fuel.
And it tends to fizzle and lose ignition, when things get a little tougher, or business slows, or the winds change direction. Or, folks entered the world of the Creator Economy thinking they would be independently wealthy within the first 3 months.
Online platitudes and bullshit consistently oversimplify the complexity of finding success and fulfillment in digital entrepreneurship.
And 280 character or 1200 character posts are not very good for illuminating complexity, nor the reality of how much time these gigs take.
True, genuine, long-term satisfaction in business arises from some passion (to get the fire going), but its alignment with deeper purpose rooted in personal values and ethics — that will keep businesses (and business owners) burning for the long haul.
Purpose and values are the dual lenses for all business decisions, big or small - almost like binoculars or stereoscopes.
A business aligned with your purpose will sustain motivation, even through downturns and challenges. It's not just about drafting business plans and marketing strategies — it's about embedding your values and ethics into the very core of your business.
If you don't feel a profound connection to your business, neither will anyone else. It's this authentic alignment that resonates with others and underpins true, long-lasting success (another term well worth spending some time defining for one’s Self).
For me, purpose and values continue to drive what I’m building, what I’m writing, and the type of work I agree to take on.
I’m far more interested in thinking about and building an audience that I want to serve and engage with — not one built on bullshit promises of $30k/month in profits. Or 100,000 Followers on X (Twitter) in 30 days.
These quantitative Follower counts are ego goals. They are comparison-game goals. Not purpose-driven and values-based business building and both audience and client-serving.
That’s not to say building an audience and following isn’t important. It’s critical. But it’s the outcome, not the reason.
Box Cutter Co. 👉 Purpose and Values
Passion follows building skills and experiencing success — not vice versa.
Often, those successes can be small steps — like levelling up, developing skills, seeing the results of improving skills, and so on.
I was NOT born with a passion for writing, research, synthesizing and publishing. And, in fact, the school system did a darn good job of suppressing these right out of me. Schooling takes the “I” out of writing. Be objective, not subjective.
It makes research a drudgery, going through the motion task — not a passion for learning and thinking and analyzing.
Schooling drains out any Authenticity and Genuineness in favour of good little children lining up, putting their hands up, and all writing the same essays and book reports (so that it’s easier for marking and grading).
It breeds conformity, following rules, and losing creativity.
Yes, there are some positive benefits, but there are so many skills, abilities, and myths instilled through schooling that set most people up to become good-wage labour employees, following the policies and procedures, getting along like good little employees — and bowing to authority.
Thus, the a critical need for Box Cutter approaches and philosophies — Some healthy skepticism and ‘thinking about thinking’. Analysis and Synthesis.
A business built to support lifestyles
Box Cutter Co. is part of a multi-pronged set of strategies — Solopreneur and as part of our Co-founded Humanity Academy (marriage-preneurs?).
No matter the business or strategy, our deep commitment and purpose-driven, values-based approaches are about supporting healthy lifestyles — in our household and individually.
Sitting in an Emergency Room hooked up to an ECG at 48 — was an excellent ignition point for significant change.
From Emergency Room ECG to Purpose-Driven and Values-Based Solopreneurship
Box Cutter Co. is essentially my public Learning Journal as I build digital writing and creator businesses from scratch.
The two Free Solopreneur educational email courses I built and published (and many of you have taken) — are intended as a sharing what I’m learning, trying, and building.
The same goes for the seven Free 5-day Educational Emails we’ve built at Humanity Academy.
Freemium products are part of our values-based approach.
As is establishing Humanity Academy as a social enterprise. Mine, and our purposes and values are not about profit-driven, ego-maddening, 10-figure lives.
We are working to build businesses that support our lifestyles. We love biking, skiing, walking, travelling, writing, teaching, speaking, thinking and trying to — as cheesy as it sounds — leaving the world a little better than we arrived on it.
Spending, for example 63 hours on physical activities in May of this year — was exactly why I walked away from salary employment.
Being able to do a ride like this 👇 — my longest of the year (and in the last 20 years) — is exactly why I walked away from salary employment and started the long journey of building digital businesses of one.
About 70% of that ride was on gravel back roads. It was a spectacular day!
For 2024, we continue to plan to build businesses focussed on supporting the lifestyles we intend to lead — not vice versa. The Solopreneur Series will continue to share stories, systems and strategies for how that is going.
Keep in mind, it doesn’t require a trip to the ER to instigate change. ;)
That’s it for this week for The Solopreneur Series. In the meantime, please drop a comment answering or asking questions about these:
How about you — have you built, or building lifestyle-supporting businesses? What have you learned?
Are you looking to? What would like to learn?
Please send along any questions or comments. Re-post or re-share, send me feedback and/or steal at will.
"When you're getting progressively better at something, it can be quite addictive. And the better you get the more you want to do it"
I found myself articulating a similar thought to my 6-year-old (I wrote about it in this post below) as she's learning piano. Still not quite as successful as your boys on the skis, but I'm hopeful!
https://open.substack.com/pub/themanagementconsultant/p/continuous-growth-piano-lesson
Loved this and all the mini stories throughout the piece! Now it makes me want to download strava as well 🤣