How Passion Comes
In life we are often asked about passion. We hear hundreds of people saying you should follow your passion. Even in the Common App essays for college you can for sure find this question. But how can a 17 year old know his favorite thing if he has lived only a quarter of his life?
When I was 7 I went to a soccer game for the first time with my dad. I was a big fan of the Turkish team Galatasaray at that time. In our playground some kids were always gathering to kick a ball around, so for me it was relatively easy to get started. And most of the time when I tried to score, I scored. Then I asked my parents' permission to join Galatasaray's kids academy. For 2 years I desperately wanted to go every day, even on days when it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And I was good at it. Why? Because I was winning. If you asked 9 year old me what I was most passionate about, I would have said soccer. Let's call it football, because that is what the other 7 billion people call it.
Then one day I forgot my sneakers, and my coach appointed me as goalkeeper for that game. I couldn't save a single shot. Because of the disappointment of failing, I decided not to go back. The second thing I was really into was science, so the loop moved to science.
The reason I am telling this is that I understood something about life. In life we don't become passionate once and follow it for years. We evolve. For a kid, passion is whatever he thinks he is good at right now. And how do you measure it? Competitions, tournaments, and so on.
In my high school, based on one intellectual test, they used to say you are a biology olympiad student, you are a potential next IPhO winner (international physics olympiad), you have a chance to become the chemistry specialist, and so on. But everyone who started had zero passion at all. They just did something they could do more easily than others, and win at. After 3 or 4 years, if you asked those students what they are most passionate about, they would name the exact science they were good at winning in.
I believe life is different.
We humans always evolve and look for new passions. You may like chess when you are 12 and become passionate about history when you are 30. So here is my equation of passion:
- E0 is the environment you grew up in
- E1 is your present environment
- T is the time you have to try new things
- C is the capital you have to try them with
Assuming you are healthy and have a stable life, these are what lead you to find new things that will probably make you excited. The more you are exposed to, and the more time and capital you have to try, the more likely a new passion shows up.
The big question is how to make somebody passionate about something when he is not a kid anymore.
A 30 year old and a 12 year old are different in brain development and maturity, but both have expectations from life.
A 12 year old has more time to try new things and find his passion. By passion I mean curiosity, or interest.
A 30 year old needs more reasons to be passionate, because at that age you look for stability. And stability means two things: Having enough time and capital to try new things, and taking fewer risks, with fewer new things, a loop inside one life where you feel comfortable.
So for a 30 year old you probably need two things. First, a good compensation package to satisfy the stability requirement. Second, he needs to see the result of what he does, even if it is one small change that actually worked.
No matter what age we are, we can definitely find something new and become passionate about it, if we chase the things we are interested in, curious about, and would like to solve. Most people give up, saying they are not good at it, because there is no immediate result. But we humans get satisfaction when we prove to ourselves that something we made works.
Imagine cooking a dish and it turns out delicious. Did you know before cooking that it was going to be delicious? Say it was your first time cooking. Somehow it was actually tasty, and you got praised for your skills even though it was your first try. In your head you start thinking there is probably something in you that made you do well. Luck or fortune, it was meant to happen. After that, cooking becomes something you enjoy, because you are good at it. But if you had cooked 4 times and it was bad, you would probably give up on it, unless you were desperate.
What I understood is that to make others passionate, and to bring in the best people, you should ask one question: Other than high compensation, what can I offer this person?
Those who are already interested in the problem you solve will have the desire to join.
The hardest are those who are good at something, extremely good, but lack the passion. For this group you should show the passion through the result, the same way we found our favorite things as kids.
The most passionate people I have seen in life are those who are confident they can solve one problem, start by solving 1/1000 of it, and enjoy the process. Because even that 1/1000 is a result.