Regularly, some CEO or other business-type gets up and spews about you finding and living your passion, now that is sound advice as far as it goes and I would like to slam my fist down the throat of the the next smug bastard who says this, for it is what he is not saying about opportunities created by the investment environment that tells you if it is possible to pursue any passion you may have and be able to survive doing so.
The fact is the environment that pays for what people have to offer as skill and passion has few places that reward it, and fewer as time goes on. This is due to a real loss of opportunity created by integration of ownership and leveraging of reward, a "winner take all" effect, like American Idol, a pseudo-democracy driven by marketing. You will notice that there are no Classical musicians on that show and so if Classical Music is your passion, as it is mine, then either your passion has no place in the market, or you must work much harder to find your place. What these guys who say "Live Your Passion" are really telling you is: "Look, I happen to love making money in a way that is obviously rewarded by the Market." that is NOT "I have this love of something which I can pursue and also survive." The instinct to fit into a market need or a need I can create in the market, is what he is talking about, not having a preexisting love and finding a niche, or it just so happens that HIS passion matches a market niche. What he is actually talking about is that most people have to find a place in the market and do something they have no passion about because the market doesn't support their passion, not that they don't have any passion. The reason fewer passions are filled is because investors are a Conservative and largely clueless lot, who are more and more restricted to sure-bets, low hanging fruit, and who are districted by sales pitches because they haven't a real clue as to value.
There are fewer niches today than there were several years ago. This would be fixed by disintegration of the oligarchies that control things now. This may happen as a collapse of the world economy, and if we get through that calamity, we may be able to find those that support our passion, for we can't be heard over the din of the monopolies.
Of course, another choice is to take a vow of poverty and say that I'd rather consume much less from the economy for the freedom to spend time on my passion. That should send a chill down the spine of the marketers and corporations who want to dictate demand and create addicted consumers; the idea of someone thumbing their nose at the power structure and checking out. If more people did that, their power would be gone. Eco-disaster will destroy the status-quo, anyway. You might as well live your passion.
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