Forget passion, focus on process

Source: signalvnoise.com/posts/2904-forget-passion-focus-on-process

The problem with the “follow your passion” chorus: We can’t all love the products we work with. Someone has to do the jobs and sell the things that don’t seem sexy but make the world go round.

"跟随你的激情"的问题在于：我们不可能都喜欢伴随我们工作的产品。必须有人工作并销售那些看起来不性感但让世界运转起来的东西。

It’s something we’ve seen in our Bootstrapped, Profitable, and Proud series.Braintree processes credit cards.You won’t meet too many people who claim to “love” credit card processing. Even Braintree’s Bryan Johnson admits, “I’m not particularly passionate about payments, but I am passionate about trying to build a good company.” Johnson gets satisfaction from making customers happy, creating a workplace that employees enjoy, and improving “an unscrupulous and broken industry.”

InsuranceAgents.com sells insurance.Again, it’s tough to find anyone with a “passion” for insurance. Seth Kravitz of InsuranceAgents.com says, “Insurance is not an exciting industry, but that doesn’t mean the work can’t be meaningful. We had to find ways to make the work more fun, make the environment more family like, and show people the positive impact of what they do.”

Both these companies have succeeded by dropping the “follow your passion” idea and focusing instead on process.

The problems with passion 激情的问题

Part of this is recognizing that, despite its wonders, there are also problems with passion. For one thing, most people’s passions aren’t that unique. That’s why it’s so hard to succeed in the restaurant business or as a professional dancer; You’re competing against everyone else with that same dream.

对于激情要意识到，除了它的奇迹部分，也存在很多问题。其中一点就是，大部分人的激情并不独特。这就是为什么在餐饮生意或作为专业舞者非常难成功的原因；你和其他具有同样梦想的人竞争。

Also, turning a passion into a business is a good way to kill the passion. You might love music. But become a music critic and you’re going to have to listen to hundreds of albums every month. Including a lot of stuff you hate. By the end of it, you might just discover that you can’t stand the thing you used to love. Kravitz says, “I love reading books, but I would hate to be a book reviewer. What you love to do in your personal life, many times doesn’t translate well into a business.”

并且，将激情转换成生意是杀死激情的好方法。你可能喜欢音乐。但是要成为音乐评论员，每个月都要听上百首唱片，包括那些你讨厌的音乐。最后，也许你发现根本承受不了你过去喜欢的事。Kravitz说，“我喜欢阅读，但我讨厌成为书评人员。你在日常生活里喜欢的事情，很多时候并不能很好地转化为生意。”

How not what 

So does this mean we’re all doomed to a life of ditch digging drudgery? No. It’s about redefining passion. Instead of working with a thing you love, think about how to work in a way you love.

如此以来，是不是意味着我们注定一生无法摆脱繁重无聊的工作呢？不是。需要重新定义激情。不是做你喜欢做的事情，而是考虑如何以你喜欢的方式工作。

It’s something Amy Hoy talks about in Don’t Follow Your Passion. Here’s her take on The Cute Little Café Syndrome:

If you want to run a successful café — and enjoy it — you need to love a lot more than coffee. You’ve also gotta get some kind of pleasure, even grim satisfaction, out of the daily grind. (Ha ha.) Which means, of course, interacting with customers, hiring & managing wait staff, handling the day-to-day necessities like ordering supplies, cleaning, paying rent, marketing your butt off, and dealing with customers who want to squat on your valuable tables all day for just $2 of brew.

Amy hoy 在 Don't Follow Your Passion这篇文章讲过类似的事情。以下是她的部分访谈：

如果你开了一家咖啡店，并且很享受，你要喜欢很多咖啡以外的事情。你可以从日常工作中得到某些快感，甚至是令人不快的满意感觉。（哈哈）意思是，和顾客沟通，雇佣&管理员工，处理日常必须的工作如订货，打扫卫生，支付租金，营销，和应付那些只喝$2的咖啡就想坐一天的顾客。

Take your cues from this “daily grind” example and how companies like Braintree and InsuranceAgents.com succeed. Find meaning in what you’re doing. Work to improve your industry. Get joy from making a customer’s day. Surround yourself with the kinds of people and environment that keep you engaged. Figure out the details and day-to-day process that keep you stimulated. Focus on how you execute and making continual improvements. Get off on how you sell, not what you sell.

从这些“例行苦事”的例子里，还有像Braintree 和Insurance Agnets.com这样成功的公司里学到些东西。从你正在做的事情里寻找到意义。努力提高你的专业。从搞定客户中得到乐趣。将自己放置于使自己保持专注的各种人和环境里。将重心放在如何执行以及持续进步上。从如何销售上寻找乐趣，而不是从卖什么上寻找。

It might not be the romantic ideal of “passion.” But if it provides you with sustainable joy and profit that you can count on, you’ll still be way ahead of the curve (and have extra resources and free time to spend doing whatever you want).

它也许不是“激情”的浪漫含义。但如果他可以为你带来持续的快乐以及你可以数的到的利润，你仍处于领先地位（并且有额外的资源和可以花在任何你想做的事情上的自由时间）

第一阶段：

忘掉激情，侧重于过程。现实生活里，我们太高估“激情”的作用。以至于“没有兴趣”更多的是自己不想做事情的借口。

如果一件事情，你只当做业余爱好，就可以只做喜欢的部分。但是，如果想把这件事情当做生意来经营，那么只做喜欢的部分就远远不够了。

第二阶段：

让自己不痛苦的方式是“苦中作乐”。

把目标集中在“如何做事情”上，而不是“事情”本身。在商业里，你的产品或服务本身也许没那么大的吸引力，但是顾客需要。这并不妨碍你做出一家伟大的公司。