Daily Reads-2020: Article-5

Article Title: ‘Find Your Passion’ Is Awful Advice

Article Summary

This article aims at providing the other side of the most said phrase – Follow your passion. It is common today for people to say that when one finds something that one loves to do, then work won’t be work, it would be fun. However, this thought clearly means that if you do something that feels like work, it means you don’t love it, which may be untrue. To understand this, two co-authors—Dweck and Greg Walton of Stanford—recently performed a study. The study suggests that the mindset that “passions are to be found” is a “fixed theory of interests” while the idea that “passion is meant to be developed” is a “growth theory”. Their experiment also found that stu-dents having fixed mindsets tend not to pay attention to lectures or ideas that mismatches their fixed interests.

Passions are not inherently available and just waiting to be discovered; it’s through a process of investment and development that you develop an abiding passion in a field. Further, having a “fixed mindset” makes one afraid of failure as opposed to having a “growth mindset”. Also, their studies suggested that when you’re told that your interests are somehow ingrained, you give up on new interests as soon as the going gets tough. It is important to notice that interests can be supported to develop. There is more than one way to attain a passion for work and for that it is important to cultivate a “growth mindset”.

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Words to learn from this Article:

Delineate – describe or portray (something) precisely
Abiding – lasting a long time; enduring
Inherent – existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute
Intimidate – frighten or overawe (someone), especially in order to make them do what one wants
Ingrained – (of a habit, belief, or attitude) firmly fixed or established; difficult to change