My fantastic Collegewise editor, Carolyn, sent me this article from author Cal Newport whom I’ve referenced frequently here. His new book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, argues that the adage that you should “follow your passion” is actually terrible advice. It rests on the belief that we each have our own preexisting calling we should discover and turn into a career we love, but that is not what Newport's research showed. His research showed that people who love their work discovered their passion after, not before they’d gotten their jobs. The more they focused on getting better at their jobs, the more passion they felt for what they were doing. "Passion is not something you follow," says Newport. "It’s something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world."
There’s a lot of application here for high school students during your college search. I talk a lot about finding the right colleges. But you’re not going to find a perfect college that will guarantee to delight you for four years. People who love their college experiences feel that way because of what they do while they are there. They don’t find perfect schools. They work to make schools perfect for them.
Sure, you shouldn’t pick a college that’s flat-out wrong for you, just as Newport wouldn’t claim that someone who hates numbers could become passionate about accounting. But this idea that passion and fulfillment come not from making perfect choices, but from what you do with the choices you make, is a powerful one worth considering.