Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / "Follow Your Passion" Is Terrible Career Advice - Jonathan Brush
Transcript
- speaker-0: There was work prior to the fall. To do work, to do productive work is a blessing. And so we should want to do that. And so we teach students that there's actually a formula for that. When you have autonomy, which means that you control the work that you do and how to do it. And when you do work that you think makes a difference in the world, and when that work pays your bills, almost always people say they love their job. speaker-1: You know, one thing that I did want to kind of touch on is that, you know, we're talking about this focus on success and how we can kinda go there. Well, then I feel like we have this pendulum swing of like, get this done, perfect college, go for this. This job pays the most so you can be rich, successful, and powerful. ⁓ and then we also have the side of things where people are talking about like, just follow your passion, just follow what you like, you know, just Let's just do only the things that you like because that's all we should do. So so how do we find a happy media there? And like, you know, kind of essentially like what what's wrong with that advice? speaker-0: Yeah, I'm not a happy medium guy. So just brace yourself. ⁓ I know I'm good. That's fine. I think I maybe use this the last one. I that follow your passion so you never work another day in your life. That is just a big pile of stinking garbage. Like I just can't stand that. That's portable advice. It's given by well-meaning people who gen generally hate their jobs. ⁓ and so you should smile and nod because those people are made in the image of God. And then you should just absolutely just reject that in your life and not listen to them. ⁓ so and here's the reason why. If if you ask 18 year olds, 16 year olds, 17 year olds to follow their passion, and then what what happens is you have a bunch of kids who say, I want to be a rock star, I want to ride a mountain bike for Red Bull, or my favorite, you know, I'll you know, as I was a director of admissions for a private college, I'd be in the middle of Nebraska and somebody would say, You know, I hate math and I hate science, but I want to be a marine biologist. Tell me about your marine biology program. And I'd be like, You hate math and science. Like, yeah, but I want to make a living swimming with dolphins. Honestly, if I could swim with dolphins, I may not be on podcasts right now. And so I mean, like, but that. But the point is, is that it when you ask students that, they go with hobbies because that's the only thing they can think to be passionate about. Now, here's the interesting thing. I grew up riding horses. I rode horses professionally. I have have made my hobby my my living. And I also live in an area where there's lots of Olympic level mountain bikers who get paid to do that and all those kinds of things. And those jobs require work. Mountain bikers, you know, everybody rides horses, breaks their collarbone. Everybody who rides mountain bikes breaks their collarbone and a bunch of other bones as well. They also live out of a, you know, a Subaru outback for half the time. ⁓ they're constantly, you know, trying to get up sponsorships and all I mean, like there's labor involved in those things. And so I'm not saying they're you shouldn't make a living doing that. I'm just saying it's not always as fun as people think. And so here's what I would tell students ⁓ and say, like, look, the drop the whole passion thing, but also hear me clearly. I think it is important for you to find work that you love. Like I think that that's a blessing. And God I I think I tell people at the time, you know, there was work prior to the fall. Labor came after the fall. But to do work, to do productive work is a blessing. And so we should want to do that. And so we teach students that there's actually a formula for that. When you have autonomy, which means that you control the work that you do and how to do it. And when you do work that you think makes a difference in the world, and when that work pays your bills, almost always people say they love their job. And so then the question is, what do you trade for those things? Well, you trade skill for autonomy and you trade experience for finding work that you love. And so we talked earlier that that takes time, but it takes less time if you know that's what you're trying to do. So drop trying to find a job with a hobby, unless you're called to that and it's working out for you, and that's fine. And instead think about what can I do right now that will build skill? And what can I do right now that will build experience? And if I keep asking that question. And and we tell train our students and have an attitude of mastery, which means that, you know, whatever job I'm doing, I'm gonna look around and say, what can I get better at than everybody else here? Not as a competition, but as a way to measure excellence, then the sooner you start the process, the sooner you'll trade skill for autonomy and the sooner you'll trade experience work that makes a difference, and the sooner you'll find work that you love. And and and you know, almost always people find work that they love in places they didn't expect. You know, if you had told me at 18, That I would have a job that I was so passionate about that I just get up every morning, I pinch myself, and I'm so excited, I can't believe I do it. And it was being the CEO of an education company. I've been like, what? I mean, this is an 18-year-old who's riding $100,000 steeplechase horses, right? And so, like the to to think that I would walk away from the horses, and I didn't walk away, I ran away from them because I love the horses. It was the horse people that I had issues with. ⁓ and then I could work with, I could work with, you know, and I would do this. That doesn't make sense. But yet, if you think about it, I definitely believe this job makes a difference. I'm passionate about that. And as a CEO, I I have less autonomy than you would think. But but I do choose it how to do my work. ⁓ and you know, it barely, but it pays the bills. And and do I love my work? I can't tell you in language how much I love my work. ⁓ but that's not just true for me. Those are pretty universal. speaker-1: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by Liberty HealthShare. Choosing to homeschool is about making intentional decisions for your family. Liberty HealthShare is another way families across the country are choosing a different path, one that offers a community-centered approach to health care cost sharing that can help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars while getting the medical care your family needs. Learn more at Liberty HealthShare.org. That's LibertyHealthShare.org.