Mark Cuban: "Don't Follow Your Passion"

filmguy123 said:
Yeah, too many people today follow the money instead of the things that give them wonder.

I'd say, follow your wonder to the point where it intersects with skill. At that point, invest all of your effort there.

It may or may not make you rich, but if it can make you a decent living, it will like you make you a deeply satisfied person with a strong sense of purpose.
Click to expand...

I worked for an Swedish based consultant for three years, designing experiential learning. I was and am still an admirer of Daniel Pink's book, "Drive". Since nobody reading this thread will go out and buy the book and read it, take ten minutes and watch this whiteboard video that summarizes the book. He and some people much smarter than most of us did studies and figured out EXACTLY what motivates the majority of people and it can be boiled down to three components, autonomy, mastery and purpose. While the book and video are geared toward employees, autonomy, mastery and purpose apply to all of us, freelancers, entrepreneurs and everyone else in between.

Pretty much what Daniel Pink wrote aligns with what you wrote above, very astute of you ;-)

 
Here is another commonly given piece of advice that I think is bad advice:

"Just be yourself!"

Well, no, not if you are a jerk.
 
OldCorpse said:
Hey, that's a very cool and thought provoking video... quite different from various simplistic ideologies.
Click to expand...

We based most of our sales team and executive training programs off of Pink's premise, I think he's an incredibly intelligent and insightful individual. His book and this video just seems to make sense to me about what actually motivates people in their work/life better than anything else I have read or heard.
 
Barry_Green said:
This is a guy who gets it. And it shows.

Sample quotes:


This applies to filmmaking just as much as it applies to anyone else. I've met so many who are so passionate about their 'dream' to be a filmmaker... but they suck. It's sad. They waste so much of their life chasing after something that they will never, ever, ever catch, instead of excelling at what they could be excellent at.

So what should you be doing instead? According to Cuban:


I've lived what he's talking about, and I can tell you -- he's spot on.

Another way of saying what he's saying -- writers write. That's all they do, because that's all they want to do, that's all they can do, that's all they will do... they can't not write. They don't "want to write", they don't dream about someday writing, they write and they write and they write and they write and they write. If that's not you, then guess what -- you're not a writer. It doesn't matter how much you "want" to be a writer... it doesn't matter how much you dream about it, or how passionate you are about it. It matters how much you do it. And the more you do it, the better you'll get at it, and, as Cuban said, it'll snowball.

And if this isn't you? If you suddenly realize you're in the wrong field? What now? Cry and moan because you're frustrated, or you've failed, or you've wasted your time? Of course not! Now is the time to celebrate, because finally the shackles are off, you can quit being what you're not, and you can now devote effort to being what you are.
Click to expand...
Thanks again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top