Can following your passion lead to suckatude?

“Just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean you won’t suck at it” Mike Rowe

I grew up with a passion for music.  My greatest thrill as a youth were the times when I was performing as part of the high school choir, show choir, or the marching band. What an amazing feeling to be in front of hundreds of people and to relish in the accolades of their feedback at the end of each performance. As a senior, my peers were even so kind to vote me as “best male singer”.  

There was only one problem. I actually kind of sucked.

In spite of my great passion for music and my strong desire to be good with an instrument or an amazing singer, I did not possess any innate ability to be any good. I have a terrible voice, poor rhythm and a lack of psychomotor skills. Heck, even after four years in the high school band I was never able to fully memorize and play the school fight song. Now that is bad.

Had I followed this passion for music without a realization of my actual ability, I surely would have failed.

This is one reason I am such a fan of Mike Rowe’s advice on this video. It is okay to have a passion and to follow your dreams. The real key when it comes to our careers is to align passion and dreams with our abilities.




There are people that discover this secret early in life and go on to find fulfillment through an easy path.  For many people, however, the juncture between ability, passion, and dreams happen only after years of trial. For others, this critical path to fulfillment is never realized due to too much time wasted following the passions and dreams dictated by our societal norms while ignoring their natural gifts.

It has been my observation that to be a real success and experience happiness, we must find what we are good at doing and then become the best we can at doing it.  

I agree with Mike. Find your talent and then your dreams as well as your passion will come.

What do you think?


Oh and by the way, if you happen to find yourself standing near me at church during the time everyone is singing. My apologies in advance. 

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