Recently in LinkedIn posts, there have been some articles arguing that the “follow your passion” mantra turned out to be bad advice. Actually, it depends. It can be a great idea to go for whatever you love, provided 3 conditions are met:

1. You can build great competencies.
2. There is a market for these skills.
3. You accept the consequences of your choices.

Passion is a must: it’s the fuel of great skill development. It requires endless repetition to become good at anything. Passion provides the required resilience to support the sacrifice.

Markets are different. Some passions are harder to follow than others. Some industries pay well, some bad. Tennis pays spectacularly better than karate; no matter how amazing you are at chopping wood with karate kicks.

Therefore, choices have consequences. Just be aware. The salary for a teacher will never match that of an executive. No issue if you do not care about any of that. Just know that it is so.

Give your dream an “all out chance” but be honest with yourself. Set success criteria, “KPIs” (Key Performance Indicators). If you do not progress towards certain standards of performance, reconsider the road taken.

In the end, only you can decide what’s best for you (though our coaching will help you to make choices). If you want our advice on the head or heart question: USE BOTH. And if head and heart disagree, follow your heart.