I recently started freelance writing again after a hiatus, and I’m a lot more passionate about it now than when I did it the first time. Why is that?
My First Round of Freelance Writing
I started writing for MakeUseOf in July of 2022, and I applied to write in their section all about Macs, like Apple computers. I am a knowledgeable Mac user, so I pursued this role, but after literally 7 or 8 articles, I ran out of ideas—I’d only been using a Mac for 7 months at that point, and there’s only so much I could think of that hadn’t been covered yet. Other circumstances came up too, so I bowed out but left the door open.
Returning to MakeUseOf
Fast forward to February of this year, and I contacted their HR asking if I could come back but instead write for the Creative section, which entails stuff like photography, audio, video, content creation, things like that, rather than the Mac section.
They agreed, I got reinstated as a writer, and I have quite literally written up more article pitches in the one week than I did in the entirety of my previous time with MakeUseOf—stuff like editing workflows I use every day but aren’t covered in their existing articles, audio tips for creators, OBS tutorials. I have had a glut of ideas.
On the surface, it may appear as though I’m following my passion to pursue writing about things that I enjoy, but it’s more complicated than that. Rather than following my passion, I built my passion, and this ended up being a natural next step.
Building Passion (over Following it)
Many successful people say that following your passion is the best way to have a successful career. I agree with the idea that you should strive to enjoy what you do and pursue work that interests you, but I also believe turning your hobbies and interests into a career is a great way to lose passion for those things. “Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life” works for some people, but for many, the reality is that rather than enjoying work, the things you enjoy become work.
As such, I am a proponent of instead building passion for what you do for work, even if you don’t love it at first, rather than following your passion as a career.
I wasn’t passionate about cameras or audio or streaming gear 3 years ago. I bought a camera and learned how to use audio gear to make high-quality YouTube videos, and I became a streaming tech nerd while working at AVerMedia and becoming an expert on their products as well as the competitive landscape of Elgato, Logitech, and other companies.
I got good at these things, and that helped me develop passion for them. Now, these are legitimate skills to apply to my career, and the best part is that I know I enjoy working with these tools and talking about them. With MakeUseOf, it’s a place for me to get paid to talk about things I’ve already built passion for through my career (as well as pre-organize thoughts to make videos on similar topics).
How to Build Passion in Your Career
How can you build passion in your career? Most of what I’m discussing you can read more about in Cal Newport’s book So Good They Can’t Ignore You.
First, realize that the idea of following your passion implies that you’re always missing something—there may always be something that sparks more interest, and if you lose your passion for something, what next? It can make committing to a career path difficult when there is pressure to always feel intensely passionate about what you do.
Instead, bring your passion with you wherever you go and for whatever you do. Commit to improving skills and finding joy in developing that mastery. Sure, not every job or skill is right for you, and you shouldn’t always commit wholeheartedly to something (knowing when to quit is important), but it’s hard to find passion in something if you don’t give it a fair shake.
I don’t play the ocarina because I’m following my passion. I bought one out of curiosity, then developed passion for the instrument because I got good at it after commiting. I didn’t start my career as a niche expert in audio and video as it relates to content creators, but I had to learn at my last job. If I was going to learn anyway, I might as well try to be passionate about it. And guess what, just trying to be passionate about something and commiting to learning and improving it really makes you passionate about it!
The point is, don’t look for your passion with the next shiny new fun thing. Bring your passion wherever you go, and try to be passionate about whatever you do while committing to improve those skills. Cal Newport calls it the craftsman mindset. However, I think he takes too much of a black and white approach in his philosophy. Just because you following your passion is generally bad advice doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue work that you do feel passionately about. That said, the point that you should generally be passionate and build passion and skill rather than solely following passion is a message I can get behind.
Follow Your Curiosity
Rather than following your passion, follow your curiosity. Curiosity is lower stakes—you don’t need to love something to be curious about it. The coolest things I’ve ever done have been a result of the curiosity mindset, like playing the ocarina, joining Ocabanda, starting a YouTube channel, or even arranging a successful brand deal with the Smash Bros tournament Genesis 8.
Be curious, and build passion for whatever you do through getting good and really trying to be a passionate person. It’s worked for me in my career and return to freelance writing, and I bet it can work for you.
Andy Cormier 