Dear Bloggers, I’m Sick of Reading about Passion

Happy Friday!  Friday is most corporate-goers’ favorite day of the week.  Perhaps it consists of an unhealty breakfast from McDonalds, excitement about weekend plans or just the simple joy of knowing you don’t have to get up for work the next morning.

Since I’ve been away from my favorite blogs this week, I spent some time catching up with Google Reader early this morning.  After a very short time, I was thoroughly annoyed.  I was looking for some unique entertainment, to learn something I didn’t know, or to hear some good stories.  I found none of these things.

Every blog post seemed to be exactly the same:

• Pursue your passion!
• Escape the 9 to 5!
• Leave your job to travel the world!
• Buy this e-book!
• Live spontaneously!
• Be a positive person!
• 50 Days to your dreams!
• Pursue your passion!
• Cubical = Hell on Earth!

YUCK.  Not only is this advice the last thing I want to hear about on a Friday morning, every blog post on every blog sounded exactly the same.

Apparently I need to add some new blogs to my RSS feed (please give me some new ones, I’m dying here) and I need to delete some too.  Reading all of these posts made me feel like my generation is living in a weird bubble when it comes to their career.  Perhaps you could call it la la land. In addition, many of us see success in only one way- and we’re kind of harsh about those who don’t conform.

I’m all about making a million dollars a year pursuing your passion.  Who WOULDN’T be?!  Like Rich DeMatteo says in his recent post, I’m all about Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It (in fact, it’s one of my favorites that I recommend to everyone) but I do have some beef with this new hot button called “passion.” Definitely read Rich’s post because it really hits home with me.

What the hell does passion mean anyways?

I think we build the word up to be way more than it is.  Dictionary.com says passion is: any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.  Pretty simple definition.

The “p-word” is losing it’s fire.  It’s an idea.  Maybe it’s a fantasy.  It’s overused.  It provides false hope amidst a recession.  It sets internet marketers up to make money selling dreams rather than valuable products and services.

There is NOT one definition of success

Another point I’d like to make is that not everyone wants to work for themselves.  Not everyone wants to leave their day job to travel around the world.  Not everyone wants to sell all of their stuff and see where the wind takes them.  Some people- GASP!- love their corporate jobs and are very happy moving up the ladder that way.  Some people like money and want to buy nice cars with it.  Some people like getting advacned degrees and going back to school.

Let’s let everyone define their own version of success.

Success looks very different for everyone, and I feel that many Gen Y bloggers are painting the picture only one way.  Please stop.  You’re starting to make people feel like they are settling just because they aren’t freelance writers living on a beach in an exotic country…

Matt Cheuvront wrote a great post called “Breaking Away from Generation Now.” Matt works for himself and fully acknowledges that his lifestyle is not for everyone.   Thank you, Matt, for not making your readers fit into a little box.

As Rich says, Passion is PART of our career.  For many, passions are pursued outside of work.  And that’s ok!

Throw some fuel on the fire

• Do you feel the word “passion” is being overused in Gen Y blogs today?
• Do you feel like Gen Y defines success in only one way?
• What would you do if you had the option to:
  • A. Take a job you liked that paid you $15,000 more than you make now, or
  • B. Get a $10,000 salary cut to do something you are “passionate” about?
• Is taking the money such a bad thing?

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this rant.  Maybe I’m being unreasonable, but I had to share my thoughts.

Oh yeah, and please recommend some new blogs for me to subscribe to!