Jan Jachimowicz

That makes a lot of sense.

But the students then are very quick to add.

And later on,

when I'm in my 40s, in my 50s or 60s, then I'm gonna change and then I'm gonna pursue work that's really meaningful to me.

What they underestimate is that when they are in their 40s, 50s or 60s, who they are has fundamentally changed.

The people that they have surrounded themselves with for the last 20, 30 years of their career will be very different to who they were perhaps at that moment in time.

Their values will be impacted by that.

Their lifestyle has changed.

And then switching back actually becomes a lot more difficult and challenging.

So many of the conversations I've had with alums who are in their 50s and 60s who are telling me, I remember when I was in my 20s and I wanted to pursue what I was passionate about and I put it off.

What they tell me now is I wish I had started earlier.

I wish I had found a way, even if I couldn't do it in my work, I wish I had found a way

to continue developing that sense, to find ways to experiment and explore so that when I finally had the time to actually make that the main attention that I could focus on, that I knew what to do and how to do it.

I think that we have elevated the pursuit of passion to such a high moral level where we are a good person for pursuing our passion and vice versa.

We're seen as a morally bad person if we don't pursue our passion.

And I think that that is a wrong expectation to have.

At best, I think it's unhelpful.

And at worst, I think it actively makes the pursuit of passion more challenging for the people who enter that.

Let me explain why.

I think that when we tell people you should pursue your passion,