Why 'Follow Your Passion' is the Worst Advice You'll Ever Get
为什么“追随你的激情”是你得到的最糟糕的建议

"Follow your passion and you'll never work a day in your life." We've all heard it, right? It's the ultimate career advice. But what if I told you that this popular mantra is complete bullshit? Yes, you read that right. Here's why everything you've been told about passion is wrong—and what you should focus on instead.
“追随你的热情，你一生中就不会有一天在工作。”我们都听说过，对吧？这是终极的职业建议。但如果我告诉你这个流行的口头禅完全是胡说八道呢？是的，你没有看错。这就是为什么你所听到的关于激情的一切都是错误的——以及你应该关注的是什么。

How many times did you feel passionate about something, only to find out later that it was a fleeting interest? Remember that time you said “I’m for sure going to become a world-class chef after binge-watching 15 episodes of "MasterChef"? Or when you convinced yourself you were destined to be a rockstar, but then you gave up before the 10th guitar lessons? Yeah, I’ve been there too.
有多少次你对某件事充满热情，后来却发现那只是转瞬即逝的兴趣？还记得你那次说“看完15集《厨艺大师》我一定会成为世界级厨师吗？”或者当你确信自己注定要成为一名摇滚明星，但在第十节吉他课之前你就放弃了？是的，我也去过那里。

Think about it for a second. Your passions might be fun and all, but they rarely pay the bills. Do they even bring the satisfaction you’re looking for? Constantly chasing what you love can blind you to what you’re really good at and what the world needs from you.
想一想。你的热情可能很有趣，但它们很少能支付账单。他们能带来您所寻求的满足感吗？不断地追求你所爱的东西会让你看不到自己真正擅长的事情以及世界需要你做的事情。

So instead of following your passion, why not leverage the power of your dislikes?
因此，与其追随你的热情，为什么不利用你不喜欢的力量呢？

Sounds crazy? Stick with me, and I'll show you why focusing on what you hate might just be the most liberating and productive decision you'll ever make.
听起来很疯狂？跟着我，我会告诉你为什么专注于你讨厌的事情可能是你做过的最自由和最富有成效的决定。

When you’re blind and under water, it’s hard to see.
当你失明并在水下时，很难看见。

Last year, this time, I was a proud business owner. 10 employees, 37 contractors, Flipping 100+ homes per year. Sounds awesome, right?
去年，这一次，我是一名自豪的企业主。 10 名员工，37 名承包商，每年翻转 100 多套房屋。听起来很棒，对吧？

That was the most stressful, unfulfilling time of my life. I was under so much pressure that I didn’t even realize I needed to get unstuck.
那是我一生中压力最大、最没有成就感的时期。我承受着如此大的压力，以至于我什至没有意识到我需要摆脱困境。

I was too blind to see I was chasing the wrong things, and didn’t want to let go of the thing I built 6 years prior. I was miserable, but I wasn’t smart enough to realize that I hated:
我太盲目了，看不到自己在追求错误的东西，也不想放弃我 6 年前建立的东西。我很痛苦，但我不够聪明，没有意识到我讨厌：

• dealing with employees and being a boss.
  对待员工和做老板。

• handling client complaints.
  处理客户投诉。

• dealing with East Side Cleveland tenants all day.
  整天与克利夫兰东区的租户打交道。

• working on articles and videos I couldn't care less about.
  写文章和视频我一点也不关心。

It finally took a personal and professional burnout for me to realize that most of the things I was doing, I truly hated.
最终，当我经历了个人和职业的倦怠后，我才意识到我所做的大部分事情都是我真正讨厌的。

This brings us to a widespread misconception.. The Passion Fallacy. Or, as I like to call it: Society’s biggest myth.
这给我们带来了一个普遍的误解：激情谬误。或者，正如我喜欢称之为：社会最大的神话。

You know that mantra: "Follow your passion." You see it everywhere. Posters, quoted by self-help gurus, and proclaimed as the ultimate career advice. Society glorifies the idea of finding and following your passion like it’s some sort of holy grail. The underlying message is simple: if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you’re wasting your life.
你知道这句口头禅：“追随你的激情。”你到处都可以看到它。海报被自助专家引用，并宣称是终极职业建议。社会颂扬寻找并追随你的激情的想法，就像它是某种圣杯一样。其背后的信息很简单：如果你对自己所做的事情没有热情，那么你就是在浪费生命。

Think about how many speeches you’ve heard that go something like, "Find what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life." Yeah. Love the theory, but it’s also a load of crap.
想想你听过多少这样的演讲：“找到你所爱的，你一生中就不会再工作了。”是的。喜欢这个理论，但它也是一堆废话。

Let’s get real. Most people don’t have a single, all-consuming passion. And even if they do, turning that passion into a career is often a different story.
让我们面对现实吧。大多数人都没有单一的、全力以赴的热情。即使他们这样做了，将这种热情转化为职业通常也是另一回事。

You think Steve Jobs started Apple because he was passionate about building computers? No. His motive was the frustration with the lack of control over hardware and software integration.
您认为史蒂夫·乔布斯创立苹果公司是因为他热衷于制造计算机吗？不。他的动机是对缺乏对硬件和软件集成的控制感到沮丧。

Here’s the thing: when you chase your passion, you’re often setting yourself up for frustration. Why? Because passion alone isn’t enough. Passion can fade when faced with the realities of what it takes to succeed in that given field.
事情是这样的：当你追逐自己的激情时，你常常会让自己陷入挫折。为什么？因为仅有热情是不够的。当面对在特定领域取得成功所需的现实时，热情可能会消退。

Sometimes, making your passion your job can actually kill the joy you once found in it. The pressure to succeed can turn something you love into something you dread.
有时候，把你的热情当成工作实际上会扼杀你曾经在其中找到的快乐。成功的压力可能会把你喜欢的事情变成你害怕的事情。

Instead of obsessing over finding and following your passion, why not focus on what you hate?
与其沉迷于寻找和追随你的热情，为什么不专注于你讨厌的事情呢？

I know.. I know. This sound counterintuitive. Just hear me out.
我知道我知道。这听起来违反直觉。听我说完。

By identifying what you hate, you can gain clarity on what you should avoid. This negative clarity can often be more useful than the slippery search for passion. It helps you set boundaries and make decisions that align more closely with who you are.
通过确定你讨厌什么，你可以清楚地知道你应该避免什么。这种消极的清晰往往比盲目地寻找激情更有用。它可以帮助您设定界限并做出更符合您身份的决定。

What you need to understand is that passion is just one piece of the puzzle. You can’t forget about
你需要明白的是，激情只是拼图的一小部分。你不能忘记

• skills 技能

• market demand 市场需求

• personal values  个人价值观

So stop beating yourself up for not having a burning passion to follow. Embrace what you hate and use it to guide you towards a more fulfilling path.
所以，不要再因为没有强烈的热情而责备自己了。拥抱你所讨厌的事物，并用它来引导你走上一条更充实的道路。

The Power of Knowing What You Hate
知道自己讨厌什么的力量

When you know what you hate, you gain a powerful tool: clarity. Clarity to avoid unproductive paths. Clarity to set boundaries, and to make decisions that align with your true self.
当你知道自己讨厌什么时，你就获得了一个强大的工具：清晰。明确避免无效路径。清晰地设定界限，并做出符合真实自我的决定。

For instance, I realized I hated the bureaucratic nonsense of corporate life. So, I started looking for things that valued autonomy and creativity. I didn’t just want a different hobby; I wanted a different kind of life all together.
例如，我意识到我讨厌企业生活中官僚主义的废话。所以，我开始寻找那些重视自主性和创造力的东西。我不只是想要一个不同的爱好；我想要一起过一种不同的生活。

Psychological Insight: The Science Behind It
心理洞察力：背后的科学

Ever heard of Negativity Bias? This is your brain’s tendency to focus and remember more on negative experiences than positive ones. Sounds like a bad thing? Well, it isn’t—at least for our use case. Negative experiences stick with you longer and shape your behavior more than positive ones. It’s a real phenomenon studied by psychologists and has significant implications for how we navigate our lives.
听说过消极偏见吗？这是你的大脑倾向于更多地关注和记住消极经历而不是积极经历。听起来像是一件坏事？嗯，事实并非如此——至少对于我们的用例来说是这样。消极的经历比积极的经历更能影响你的行为，并且更能影响你的行为。这是心理学家研究的真实现象，对我们如何驾驭生活具有重大影响。

I’m sure you don’t recall every text message you’ve sent in your life. But you definitely remember the time you accidentally sent a “Alex is really a piece of shit for making us work until 7pm. I mean, does this loser not have a life?” rant about your annoying boss... to your annoying boss. 😶 
我确信您不记得一生中发送过的每条短信。但你一定记得有一次你不小心发了一条“Alex 真是个混蛋，让我们工作到晚上 7 点。我是说，这个失败者就没有生命了吗？”向你烦人的老板抱怨你烦人的老板。 😶

Avoidance Motivation is another powerful concept I think you should know about. It’s the drive to avoid negative outcomes rather than achieve positive ones. Think of it as a distant cousin to Negativity Bias. What this means is that you’re more motivated to avoid negative experiences than to seek positive ones.
回避动机是我认为你应该了解的另一个强大的概念。这是避免负面结果而不是实现积极结果的动力。可以将其视为消极偏见的远房表亲。这意味着你更愿意避免消极的经历而不是寻求积极的经历。

Why do you think you keep showing up to a job you hate? It’s obviously not because you love it. It’s because you want to avoid the negative outcome of getting fired. This powerful force should be harnessed to propel you towards better decisions.
你认为为什么你会一直从事你讨厌的工作？显然不是因为你喜欢它。这是因为您想避免被解雇的负面结果。应该利用这种强大的力量来推动您做出更好的决策。

Look at Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber. He didn’t start Uber because he was passionate about ride-sharing. He was fed up with the inefficiencies in the taxi industry.
看看 Uber 的创始人特拉维斯·卡兰尼克 (Travis Kalanick)。他创办 Uber 并不是因为他对拼车充满热情。他厌倦了出租车行业的低效率。

When you understand what you don’t want, you can more effectively pursue what you do want.
当你了解自己不想要什么时，你就能更有效地追求自己想要的东西。

By embracing what you hate, you gain the clarity and motivation needed to steer clear of unproductive paths and focus on what truly matters to you.
通过拥抱你讨厌的事情，你可以获得所需的清晰度和动力，从而避开无效的道路并专注于对你真正重要的事情。

Embrace Your Dislikes to Find Your Path
拥抱你的不喜欢，找到你的道路

Let’s talk about being brutally honest with yourself and pinpointing the pain points in your life. Think about the activities you do at work or in your business that you absolutely hate. You know, the ones you procrastinate on, the ones that suck the energy out of you and make time drag. I’ll go first.
让我们谈谈对自己极其诚实并找出生活中的痛点。想想你在工作或生意中所做的那些你绝对讨厌的活动。你知道，那些会让你拖延的事情，那些会耗尽你能量、拖垮你时间的事情。我先走了。

For me, it was my Tuesday morning meetings. 15+ people on the call, each with their hidden agendas, trying to do anything but take responsibility for not following processes put in place.
对我来说，这是我周二早上的会议。超过 15 个人参加了电话会议，每个人都有自己的隐藏议程，试图做任何事情，但不承担不遵循既定流程的责任。

Managing an out-of-state team of real estate contractors at a distance? Yeah, that was a good idea, buddy. No control over the outcome, which made relying on teams to provide results I was responsible for a living hell.
远程管理州外房地产承包商团队？是的，这是个好主意，伙计。无法控制结果，这使得依赖团队提供结果的我陷入了地狱般的境地。

The pressure of having all these employees? It became unbearable. When business was good, no problem. But during tough months, the thought of having all these families depending on the company's performance (me) to pay their bills was dreadful. Best part? Some thought it was the best time to ask for raises.
拥有这么多员工的压力？这变得难以忍受。生意好的时候，没问题。但在艰难的几个月里，一想到所有这些家庭都要依靠公司（我）的业绩来支付账单，就感到可怕。最好的部分？有些人认为现在是要求加薪的最佳时机。

Anyway, I made a list of the things I hated the most:
无论如何，我列出了我最讨厌的事情：

• Long, useless meetings with a lot of people. Meetings.
  与很多人进行漫长而无用的会议。会议。

• Relying out-of-state teams to provide results I was ultimately responsible for.
  依靠州外团队提供我最终负责的结果。

• Having a bunch of employees.
  拥有一批员工。

Once I identified what you I hate, finding the opposite become easier:
一旦我确定了我讨厌的你，找到相反的东西就变得更容易了：

• I will not have meetings.
  我不会开会。

• I will have a one person business.
  我将有一个人的生意。

• I will choose who I work with.
  我会选择和谁一起工作。

• I results I produce for my clients will be 100% in my control.
  我为客户提供的结果将 100% 在我的掌控之中。

Now, I focus on writing and consulting. No employees, no pointless meetings, no pressure from managing a large team. Just me, my thoughts, and my words.
现在，我专注于写作和咨询。没有员工，没有毫无意义的会议，没有管理大型团队的压力。只有我、我的想法和我的言语。

What’s the takeaway? 有什么收获？

By focusing on what you hate, you gain a level of clarity that the concept of “passion” just doesn’t provide. It’s like clearing away the clutter to see what’s truly important. When you identify and eliminate the things that drain you, you make room for those that energize and fulfill you.
通过专注于你讨厌的事情，你可以获得“激情”概念所无法提供的清晰度。这就像清除杂乱才能看到真正重要的东西。当你识别并消除那些让你精疲力尽的事情时，你就为那些让你充满活力和满足的事情腾出了空间。

Don’t follow your passion. Focus on what you hate.
不要追随你的热情。专注于你讨厌的事情。

Let your dislikes guide you to a more authentic, fulfilling life. Don’t settle for mediocrity and frustration. Take control, harness the power of what you hate, and use it to propel yourself towards real success.
让你的厌恶引导你走向更真实、更充实的生活。不要满足于平庸和挫折。控制住自己，利用你讨厌的事物的力量，并用它来推动自己走向真正的成功。

What Can You Do Next?
接下来你可以做什么？

Reflect: Take some time to identify the things in your life and work that you truly hate.
反思：花一些时间找出你生活和工作中真正讨厌的事情。

Act: Start eliminating these elements, one by one, and notice the clarity and energy that follow.
行动：开始一一消除这些元素，并注意随之而来的清晰度和能量。

Share: Join the conversation. Share your thoughts and experiences with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
分享：加入对话。在 Twitter 或 LinkedIn 上与我分享您的想法和经历。

Strategizingly yours, 有策略的你，

Ben. 本.

P.S. If you found this newsletter helpful, don’t be selfish. Forward it to a friend who needs to hear this message too.
附：如果您发现本时事通讯有帮助，请不要自私。转发给也需要听到此消息的朋友。

P.P.S Are you that friend? Well, your buddy is awesome for sharing. Why don't you subscribe and be the one spreading the wisdom next week?
P.P.S 你是那个朋友吗？嗯，你的朋友非常善于分享。您为什么不订阅并成为下周传播智慧的人呢？