I don't feel passionate about anything

How can you find a fulfilling career if you don't have any interests or passions? We will discuss the problem with the "finding your passion" approach and why there is a better way.

True passion is rare. It is even rarer early in life. Searching for a burning, obsessive passion to pull you into your dream job is a bad idea. You're setting yourself up for disappointment. The bar is simply too high and it is unlikely that you have a useful passion for your career path. One study found that 96% of people's passions are hobby-style activities like art or sports¹. That is not very helpful when you are wondering what to do with your life. Unless you already have a passion that compels you deeply and that engages you in a meaningful way stop looking for it.

People have the wrong idea about passion. We expect our daily job to be as engaging and rewarding as spending time on social media, video games, sports, or even on recreational drugs. These are the moments we associate with fulfillment and easy engagement. These examples are terrible yardsticks for how we want to feel in our jobs. Social media and video games are specifically designed to sap into our reward systems in the brain. They are easy to learn and provide constant positive rewards in form of likes and level-ups. Some neuroscientists suggest abstaining from video games or social media to reset your reward pathways². By reducing your time spent with these highly addictive activities your threshold for reward will reduce again. Smaller things will become more rewarding and meaningful again, including work.

Unless you're highly talented in a specific field passion and engagement don't come without hard work. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you had it the wrong way around. The trick is not to first find your passion and once you found it a deeply rewarding career will follow. The trick is to try something you might be mildly interested in and give it everything you have. Commit to this path for a few years and work hard until you reach a level of mastery.

Yes, if you have a deep passion or talent early on, mastery often follows that obsession. But most of us don't have any professionally useful passions³. Luckily for us, passion often follows mastery. This is good news for the majority of us. It gives us a roadmap towards a meaningful career. Cultivate a habit of doing things well. Tend to the things that already present themselves to you. You are most likely not paying enough attention to even notice what could eventually turn into a passion. It is hard to predict in advance what you will eventually grow to love. Stay open.

3 steps to a new career

There are only three steps to take charge of your career path.

1. Take the personality career test
2. Unlock your career matches
3. Find a meaningful career

Don't go chasing (waterfalls...) the elusive passions conjured up by your mind. Instead, pay attention to the small hints of certain things pulling your interest or curiosity. Forget the grand, golden-clad gates of passion and search for the modest windows of interest. Don't expect the world to provide you with one career path in a halo of revelation. Most success stories have nuanced and complicated beginnings, with many conflicting choices.

The passion mindset is lazy and selfish. You expect to find something you love doing without putting any work into it. The expectation always goes like this: once you hunt down your passion, success and happiness will follow. The focus is always on what the world can offer you, in this case, your dream job. That is not the way (my young Mandalorian).

Cal Newport describes the opposite idea of a craftsman mindset⁴. The craftsman focuses not on passion but on creating something of value. The focus is on what you can offer the world. You mindfully spend your time improving your skills. Day by day you get a tiny bit better. This focus on producing quality will compound over time. With time comes mastery, and with master comes passion. In other words: skill trumps passion.

Find your passion by working hard on things that interest you. Good luck.