Comments on: Should Your Major Be Your Passion?

By: Jillian

Jillian — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:16:57 +0000

So what if you were forced into a University Degree by your family? Now what?! How do i survive now that I absolutely despise the course and want to drop out but have already invested 3 long years into the program!?

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:36:36 +0000

So a lot of this ‘passion’ thing has something to do with the belief that you’re good -or not. You will feel you’re flying high if the subject proves to be in your capacity, or if someone is constantly praising you.

An astute point. I’ve lost track of the pre-meds who write me after their first hard orgo class to report that medicine maybe isn’t their passion. They’re confusing hardness for lack of connection. My article on dream majors becoming nightmares is a good discussion of these points.

By: Kling

Kling — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:38:49 +0000

I am quite sure that people are not understanding the word passion. I’ve felt a great deal of interest in a lot of things when I studied them, but I relised they were short-term because my interest mostly developed from the knowledge that I was fnding the area easy, and that it seem s to fit me. But such things come and go. You might start learning more and realise it’s not the thing for you, just because it wasn’t as easy, and thus ‘fun’ as it was before. Now psychlogy comes along, and you review the reation betwen you and that subject area, and either decide that the subject was terrible and boring anyway, or that it isn’t the one for you, or like the more optimistic, that you are just relaxing and not putting in the effort. Im currently doing History of Art now, and I’ve always been great at art, and have rarely had to put up with the feeling that Im not good enough or will have no hope. There were other things I considered, but I just wouldn’t be good enough and I WILL feel doomed if i studied. So a lot of this ‘passion’ thing has something to do with the belief that you’re good -or not. You will feel you’re flying high if the subject proves to be in your capacity, or if someone is constantly praising you.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:40:17 +0000

I agree with the overall sentiment here that the college major is both under- and over-stated. College and university student affairs folks realize that the content of students’ learning will be obsolete in roughly five years. So mastery of the material is not really the point. Rather it’s a powerful example of “how” v. “what.” The study of a major subject in college provides opportunity to develop intellectual and practical skills that would take many, many years of trial and error to learn otherwise, regardless of whether one chooses to study philosophy, biology, art history, or business. In the same vein, the process of *deciding* on a major is itself an excellent research project, come-to-jesus moment of self-reflection, and practice in tough decision making.

By: rt

rt — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:54:40 +0000

This is a personal opinion”
My father picked my major for me. Partially because there was no particular major that I was inclining towards.
Initially had a mental block that there was no way I would like the major I was doing as my father had picked it for me. However, gradually, I decided to become patient and focus on learning on the major and thinking positively of the major. It was only then that I realized that it was because of the wonders of the knowlegde passed by that major that my father had asked me to pick it.He had done the same major in college and had felt that if I pursued it too, there would be a lot to learn(my father is a firm believer in learning in anything done and taken up in life)
In short, dont dismiss your parent’s opinion. Almost always parents have a very good reason on why they ask their child to pick one major over another. Give it thought, and more than thought give it patience. MAKE SURE there is no mental block against your parent’s major choice. Only when you feel that you have given it plenty of time to that major(and heart) to that major can you decide if you like. Give it time with an OPTIMISTIC mind and see how the major guides you. Almost always, if you get your heart to like the major, the mind automatically learns more and likes it. Thats how true passion develops. It’s impossible to hate knowledge, regardless of how boring the major may be. All it takes it a positive mind to approach the major and to build a liking for the major in your heart and you are bound to like the major. I know this is cliched, but its all about getting yourself to be patient and love it, and then you will excel in it.
Parents often know about their children’s abilities more than the child himself and always have their welfare in ming

By: July

July — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:45:33 +0000

I agree with the point that work is work whether one is passionate about it or not. A perfect example of this is ballet dancer. They dedicate their whole life (no exaggeration there) to one thing that they love. Dancing. But behind all that frills and en pointe shoes, there is the pain of bruised and crooked feet and constant fatigue and hunger, not to mention the stress involved. To be really good, one needs to have passion, but without work, there really is no point in having passion.

By: Concojones

Concojones — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:07:07 +0000

Hi Cal,

Thanks for your reply! However, the issue is more subtle than it may seem. Before I provide the details, let me first explain why I’m bringing it up: not because I need help (I already graduated…), rather because it seems interesting to confront your (sensible) theory with an experience that seems to contradict it. Here we go (FYI, I live in Europe):

- year 1: I choose engineering after some parental pressure (my 2nd choice, after agriculture)
- years 1-2: I am probably the only student who loves every single course with no exceptions. I do not regret having forgone agriculture.
- year 3: Time to choose a specialization; I choose an alternative to my preferred specialization, for strategic reasons (supposedly more creative work after graduation; my own choice)
- year 3: an entrepreneurial side activity gets out of control, I skip lessons and I have to retake exams in Summer. Some of the courses were said to be impossible to study all by yourself but I manage. I say to myself: what a pity I don’t have more time to properly study them, this is hugely interesting!
- year 4: with the side activity scaled back, I focus on courses again, and for the first time some of them bore me (seem meaningless, a waste of time). Others are still super-interesting, but their number decreases. No relation between course difficulty and my interest in it. Procrastination appears.
- year 5: no interesting courses, except for one. Deep procrastination. But I graduate.
- start working in a different career (business). Feels better.

My personal best guess of the underlying cause: a combination of 1. an increasing number of topics that had no inherent appeal to me, and 2. the discovery of a greener pasture (business, which would become my career).

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:07:24 +0000

Why you think one hate what he do when he master it?

I don’t understand your question.

By: Loai Najati

Loai Najati — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:01:11 +0000

Why you think one hate what he do when he master it?. He can consider it a challenge despite the fact that it’s hard.

Thomas Edison tried many times to invent the light bulb. But,he said:
“I’ve never spent a day working, I was just playing”.

But, mastering can be somewhat boring. But, it’s not so boring that you will hate it.

Don’t you agree with me. Finally, thanks for all your great posts. Waiting for your replay…

By: Study Hacks

Study Hacks — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:18:40 +0000

Towards the end of my engineering study, I kind of lost interest, or rather, I discovered something more interesting and many engineering courses seemed all of a sudden so dull and irrelevant

You should read my post on when dream majors turn into nightmares. One of the big ideas is that the process of mastering something eventually becomes hard, and, when it becomes, hard, it no longer seems fun and other things seem infinitely more rewarding. So long as you originally chose the path for intrinsic reasons, however, pushing through to real mastery can reward you with real passion.

Perhaps the semantic issue here is confusing short-term interest for deep-seated appreciation for a pursuit?