Scott Galloway isn’t the only high profile person to think that following your passion is BS. In a recent interview with Noah Smith, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz echoed that sentiment. From the interview:

Noah Smith: If you could give some advice — career advice, or otherwise — to a smart 23-year-old American today, what would it be?

Marc Andreessen: Don’t follow your passion. Seriously. Don’t follow your passion. Your passion is likely more dumb and useless than anything else. Your passion should be your hobby, not your work. Do it in your spare time.

Instead, at work, seek to contribute. Find the hottest, most vibrant part of the economy you can and figure out how you can contribute best and most. Make yourself of value to the people around you, to your customers and coworkers, and try to increase that value every day.

That’s not say that having a passion, or hobby, isn’t of value. Jacob Schroeder of Incognito Money Scribe lays out some of the researh showing that having a hobby makes for a better life. Schroeder writes:

For the average person, wealth is not derived from stock picking, a family inheritance or a winning lotto ticket. It’s built from work income. Generally, the more productive you are, the higher your earning potential and greater your means for saving and investing. Putting effort into something else other than work can essentially help boost your career and financial success.

You shouldn’t pick a hobby (or passion) with the goal of making you more money. The reason you should do it is to have a richer, fuller life. Which should be everyone’s goal.

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