Fresh from Chiang Mai, Thailand, here’s a post discussing what many would consider to be a controversial quote by WallStreetPlayboys.
“Follow the $$$ not your dreams.
Why?
You dreams are what you *would* be doing if you had money!”
Let’s analyze the motivation behind this. Following your passion means saying I like doing “X”, so, I’m going to do “X”. Unfortunately, following your passion often forgets to take into account the most important factor when considering a career — the market.
You don’t care if I like juggling. You want an entertaining performance for your child’s birthday party or corporate event. Similarly, I don’t care if you appreciate being able to work remotely. I just want someone to help me move my blog from one webhost to another.
Besides the possibility of earning a low wage or creating a business that fails, following your passion doesn’t even guarantee you’ll continue to be passionate about something. Consider the countless examples of people who liked cooking, but found they hated owning a restaurant.
In addition, consider that many employers advertise “doing something you love” as an excuse to pay you less. This is why WallStreetPlayboys is encouraging you to simply follow the $$$. Doing so, will provide you a life of material comfort.
By minimizing your expenses, it’s also possible to retire from a well paid corporate gig in a decade or less (WHAT? See how here). Of course, there’s also a balance to be struck.
I wouldn’t suggest you intentionally go into a field you hate simply because it’s well paid. Being an orthodontist is a pretty sweet gig, but if you hate school, downing an extra decade of your life in education may not be feasible to you.
The best gigs tend to be at the crossroad between compensation and purpose. Teaching English to children in Mexico may be spiritually fulfilling, but doing so is probably going to land you less than $1,000/month. Coding can pay well, but depending on the project, may not be meaningful.
If on the other hand, you designed webpages for English schools, you could feel you were making a contribution while also being well compensated. That my friend, is the quadrant you want to be operating in.