Measure passion not progress

[melvin]

I agree with the warning. I've experienced this myself. At one point in my life I had a girlfriend. Any time when I'd bounce an idea off with her it was met with criticism. I know that my ideas have holes and that they are very open to critique, but it drains the life out of someone when you hear criticism every time and never some positive reinforcement. The idea was that she'd give criticism in order to improve the idea, but whenever I listened to her tone, I never got the idea that it got conveyed in that way. There was some miscommunication on how her criticism was meant to be taken. I also didn't always experience the criticism as constructive (sometimes I did experience it that way). Ultimately, I stopped telling her my ideas, but my spirit got drained.

Contrast this to an entrepreneurial friend of mine. The first thing he did was build on the merits of the idea. And I think that's what you should do. Because when I think about any FAANG company, I could should down all of those ideas with a similar style of criticism that my girlfriend from back in the day used.

It wasn't only her. It was also people that I looked up to and listened to. The people that I looked up to were wealthy, smart and kind but quite conservative (financially speaking, not politically speaking, and in their position they should be financially conservative). So I got financial conservatism 101 advice. Rationally, it's sound advice. But in retrospect it fucked with my emotions and I simply wasted a year applying to jobs. I wasted a year because I put the bar high but only have 60 to 80% of my soul in it.

That sounds like a lot, but when you put 100% of your soul into something, then crazy shit happens. Stuff like: you're breaking your own scale and now the 60 to 80% of yesteryear is now 30 to 40% when you're looking at your new scale. Or you get energy from what you do instead that it takes energy. I find working on stuff that takes energy amazing as it teaches me something about life and it builds a form of character. But a person is so much more productive if what that person does *gives* energy instead of taking it.

I agree with the warning, mostly. As you can see, I had a friend who definitely helped with his advice. But most people didn't help.

I'm not sure if you should follow your passion though, because while all of this is amazing, I've seen 2 caveats:
- Amazing musicians who lived below the poverty line. It's nice to make music but they were rationing their meals.
- Horribile musicians who thought they were amazing and lived a 100% for music. You see them come by on music competition shows.

So I think with this advice some simple economic theory should be in order. Are you in a winner takes all market, or in a more egalitarian market (i.e. programming)? Do you care about not eating every day? In other words: what are your financial needs? Also, how much are you willing to sacrifice? Following your passion may mean not seeing your family, friends and significant other for a long time. It could also mean that you get to see them more and be more connected (it really depends on what you're passionate about), but to my understanding: Einstein, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk had or are having issues in this department.

Finally, this message is too easy. The word "passion" biases us to "follow your passion". Which implies to follow one thing. That's easy to remember. But what if you want to balance 5 things? Why not have a more nuanced discussion on balancing multiple areas of life? Also, there is a darkside of passion. I've already stated a potential social darkside, but your health as well. When I'm passionate, I can't sleep because my mind races about the thing I'm passionate about. I ignore all else, it's like drugs except I'm being productive and creating somekind of app just for the sake of it. Is that really what you want your life to be like? I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the moments I've been passionately working on my computer graphics engine in 2012, doodledocs.com in 2019 and hacking on hackethebox.eu in 2020. But I haven't spoken to people in those months as well, I averaged 5 to 6 hours of sleep per day, had horrible exercise and eating habits. I could've done better at that but it's hard since I'm not passionate about exercise or healthy eating, I like it, but when I'm passionate then everything else has to move.

I think a warning on "live your life with passion" with the above comments should be stated as well.

[jfescobarbjf]

Lex always inspiring!. An educated and disciplined man.

[helius]

First time I hear this and all of a sudden it makes so much sense! Thank you Lex. Thank you for the inspiring videos.

[arcaliasgiants]

Amen to this sage advice, thank you Dr Fridman.

[w]

An extremely underappreciated, yet simple, piece of advice.

Thanks Lex. Keep inspiring.

[ckames]

Lex these videos are excellent. SO important right now, your passion is inspiring

[danieltucunduva]

Is this an ad? Because I have to see the whole talk now.
:)

[ryanlim]

For me, progress reinforces my passion. Therefore you should also focus on progress. Progress does help figure out what you like especially if you don't feel like having any passion. (Not necessarily, but it is true for me)

[trancongnguyen]

watching this video makes a good start for a day!

[balogunakanbi]

Thanks for this, I've been really feeling down for the past 2 months. I've always been worried about moving at a slow pace trying to learn ML/DL, so much distractions, the passion is fading, but then I'd try all my best to rekindle that fire.

[peacerespect]

Love what you do. Enjoy the processing. For example, clean your desk and make it wonderful to do your work.

[peacerespect]

Golden rules: No complain, No criticism, No excuse.

[Tuviguitar]

Thank you for this birthday present c:

[nestorlopez]

Jesuz Lex,
After Watching your #100 Episode, it is evident that your Dads romanticism perspective on the world and life has been passed on to you...beautiful.

[honestinsky]

Excellent post Lex, thank you, much appreciated. You have one of the best channels : )

[jakubzneba]

“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. >>Attachment<< leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”

[omgwateverlol]

great advice in times of need like this

[XYReason]

My stoic thinking about this is: you can be passionate, but you shouldn't depend on it.

[Jannikheu]

Yes, passion for something is important and in a similar way people should be paid I think. A fair measure here would be: Progress/Intelligence or Progress/Physical ability or a weighted average of the two depending on the job.

[Vladeeer]

I like how some financially stable people are telling others to live their life and enjoy themselves

Edit : can agree with the 2nd point - love your close once, but walk your own path