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Not Exactly.
“Do what you love and the money will follow”. No doubt, you’ve heard this before, most likely from a deal-of-the-day guru or a “life coach”. For most people, “do what you love” doesn’t work as a strategy to create great wealth. It is another myth fostered by hypocritical gurus and so-called life coaches who are probably 3 clients away from broke.
If you were like me, “do what you love” is not an option. Few people have the skill to make a career out of “do what you love” which is why the Fastlane is so important as an alternative.
Think about what you love and then think, will someone pay for it? Are you good enough to make money doing it? Most likely, you aren’t.
I love to play basketball, but I suck at it. I can’t parlay my love of basketball into a career. I love to play piano, but again, I suck at it. Many things I love to do, but I suck at them! If I ever was to pursue a career in any of these “loves”, I’d need unlimited time and money because no one would pay me a dime do it. Who wants to endure that ineptness?
Which brings me to my unfinished book.
I love to write. The book represents a dream of “doing what I love” and that dream was made possible by the Fastlane. If I needed an unfinished book to pay for my mortgage, I’m not sure it would. You see, “doing what you love” for money often isn’t good enough because we aren’t good enough. Or, so many people are “doing what they love” that the marketspace for that activity/product is saturated resulting in depressed prices.
People pay to have their needs and wants solved — they don’t pay to satisfy your need of “doing what you love”. People pay for solutions; not for your enjoyment.
FASTLANE ACCELERANT
The marketplace doesn’t care about your love of whatever. The marketplace gives credence to those who have the power to provide solutions and solve needs. If “doing what you love” doesn’t fill a need, no one will pay you to do it.My book and my enjoyment to write it was possible because I didn’t need the confirmation of money to authenticate if I was skilled at it. If that sentence is too complicated to understand, you get my point. Maybe I’m just not good enough. Whether I sell 10 books or 10 million, my book is a testament to “doing what I love”, regardless if I’m good at it. The Fastlane allowed “money” to be removed from the equation. Now, I don’t need to get paid to “do what I love”. I just do it.
If you can’t parlay your love of something into an activity that someone will pay for, it doesn’t work. Lebron James gets paid to play basketball because he is good at it. The destination of the Fastlane is to remove the confirmation of money from your “do what you love” activity. Because of the Fastlane, and if my ankles allowed it, I could play basketball 7 days a week. I don’t need to get paid to “do what I love” because I can do it for FREE.
What about you? What things do you love? Video games? Homeschooling your kids? Sculpting art? Day trading? Volunteering for church?
If you are one of the lucky few who can earn an income from a specific activity that you love, kudos to you. And congratulations … you might not need a Fastlane and a Slowlane just might suffice.
But for those of us who can’t transform our loves into income, there are other alternatives paved by the Fastlane.
That method involves repositioning your goals and visions into a greater end — that end will transform your daily life into something that you will enjoy. If you can’t get paid doing a specific activity, you need to identify a specific “WHY” or “end goal” which makes your daily activity a means to the end. What is your WHY? Why are you doing this? Why go Fastlane?
For me, my “WHYS” read like this …
- “I want to be my own boss”
- “I want to pay my mother’s mortgage off”
- “I want to wake-up in the morning without an alarm clock”
- “I want to someday write a book without the pressure of money”.
These WHY’s can turn your daily activities into motivation — the “do what you love” metamorphosis required to move into the Fastlane.
What are your WHYS?
MJ
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When I was in my 20's, they laughed and said I was nuts. "MJ! You're dreaming!" Then, I got the last laugh. I retired in my 30's and now live a dream. Those same people now whore their life away for a paycheck only to reclaim their salvation on the weekend. With a correctly executed Fastlane plan, everyday of your life can be your weekend.
Great (and timely) article MJ! I’m wrestling with this exact topic today and literally 2 hours ago I was told to just do what I love. Well, guess what? As you said, that’s not going to work right now because I’m not going to get paid to vacation and golf – yet. I’m using fastlane concepts to achieve the “Why’s” that I already have defined, but it still takes time, energy, and persistence. I’m printing this article out – perfect timing for me and 100% right on the mark! Thanks.
Thank you! I’ve yet to find a way to turn red wine, old movies and travel into financial freedom! This is further validation to me that sometimes the winning formula is NOT doing what we love, but doing what others WON’T so that we may someday do what others CAN’T. (If it were all roses and lollipops, they probably wouldn’t call it “work”.)
Great article!
Why is the only motivator. The stuff is great to have but you will never have it unless you know why you want it!
The pain of seeing your mother struggle with her mortgage is enough to motivate me to keep pushing!
http://www.joelcomm.com/do_what_you_love_not_a_job.html
Thanks for keeping it real
Totally right…why.
There is nothing wrong with trying ‘what u love’ but if it failes, try something else that you love or if that failes try whatever you see that movitates you to succeed… even if its something you hate.
Trick is to not hate it so much that you end up failing in other ways.
I tend to succeed because I learn new ways to do new things all the time.
If you can’t do what you love, perhaps loving what you do will help make your work easier.
Peace,
michael e. v. knight