Melvin Feller Looks at the Following Your Passion and Your Efforts

Melvin Feller Looks at the Following Your Passion and Your Efforts

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

Melvin Feller Business Ministries Group in Burkburnett and Dallas Texas and Lawton Oklahoma. Our mission is to call and equip a generation of Christian entrepreneurs to do business as ministry. We provide workshops and resources that help companies discover how to do business God’s way. When the heart of a business is service rather than self it can be transformed into a fruitful business ministry earning a profit and being of service to the community and their customers. Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree in business organizations.


I hear it all the time from people. “I’m passionate about it.” “I’m not going to quit, it’s my passion”. Alternatively, I hear it as advice to students and others “Follow your passion”.
What a bunch of malarkey. ”Follow Your Passion” is easily the worst advice you could ever give or get.

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

Why? Because everyone is passionate about something. Usually more than one thing. We are born with it. There are always going to be things we love to do. That we dream about doing. That we really want to do with our lives. Those passions are not worth a nickel.
Think about all the things you have been passionate about in your life. Think about all those passions that you considered making a career out of or building a company around. How many were/are there?

Why did you bounce from one to another? Why were you not able to make a career or business out of any of those passions? On the other hand, if you have been able to
have some success, what was the key to the success? Was it the passion or the effort you put in to your job or company?

If you really want to know where you destiny lies, look at where you apply your time.

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

Time is the most valuable asset you do not own. You may or may not realize it yet, but how you use or do not use your time is going to be the best indication of where your future is going to take you.


Let me make this as clear as possible
When you work hard at something, you become good at it.
When you become good at doing something, you will enjoy it more.
When you enjoy doing something, there is a very good chance you will become passionate or more passionate about it
When you are good at something, passionate and work even harder to excel and be the best at it, good things happen.


Do not follow your passions rather follow your effort. It will lead you to your passions and to your success however you define it.

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

Here is why I am so adamant about what I have written above. For those who were heeding the advice “follow your passion”, get ready for a new school of thought. Experts are saying that following one‘s passion to achieve success is bad advice because we had it backwards. Instead, we should follow our strengths. When we master a skill, the passion follows. In other words, develop a passion, not follow it.


Follow your passion (or dream or bliss) was a popular motivational advice for a while, it was a mantra for the baby boomers.


In his 2003 commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin, Michael Dell (founder of Dell Technologies) told the class: “The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I’ve learned that it’s possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning.”

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

At a 2005 commencement speech at Harvard, Steve Jobs encouraged graduating students to pursue their passion: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. In addition, the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you have not found it yet, keep looking. Do not settle. As with all matters of the heart, you will know when you find it. In addition, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
Renowned journalist Katie Couric said, “Be passionate. Do what you love, even if you don’t love it every day.” in her 2007 Commencement Speech at Williams College.

Now a new wave of thinking is spreading.

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

A well-known businessperson who advises against following one’s passion is Mark Cuban.


Mr. Cuban explains his reasoning. If you pursue something, that you are excited about but do not excel at, then your chance for success is low.
He advises instead to focus your time and efforts on something you are competent at. Eventually you will be successful.


“In order to be one of the best, you have to put in effort. So don’t follow your passions, follow your effort,” says Cuban. “The one thing in life that you can control is your effort.”
Another businessperson who advises against pursing one’s passion is Jeff Chapin, the co-founder of the mattress company Casper.


He says, “Passion is whimsical” and “follow your passion” sounds a lot like “go do your hobby”. In addition, an important thing to keep in mind is that you could ruin your hobby when you turn your passion into a job.

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

Mr. Chapin’s strategy for figuring out a career path: Figure out what problems you have an advantage at solving. Start with a simple problem. If you can fix it, find another one. Then do it again.
“The process will reveal your strengths and where you can add value,” he explains. “Always keep learning and taking on more complex problems. The success will follow.”


I know for me, when I find something engaging, it absorbs me, ignites my enthusiasm, fuels my curiosity, and drives my commitment to mastery. It is not an activity but a combination of characteristics in a particular activity. That’s passion.”

Following Your Passion and Your Efforts by Melvin Feller

I am glad I’m seeing this advice after years of beating myself up for not having a passion to follow. Because very few of us are born with a passion and have the genius skills to turn it into a record-breaking career like Steve Jobs or Michael Dell. Right?
I hope this insight helped you to figure out what to do with your life. At the very least, if you felt disadvantaged for not having an inborn lifelong passion, I hope you now feel more confident pursuing success. Good luck!


Further Reading
Casper co-founder: Don’t follow your passion — do this instead https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/22/casper-co-founder-how-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-your-life.html
Stanford researchers: ‘Follow your passion’ advice could make you less successful https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/22/stanford-researchers-following-your-passion-makes-you-less-successful.html
‘Following Your Passion’ Is Dead — Here’s What To Replace It With https://www.forbes.com/sites/michalbohanes/2018/07/05/following-your-passion-is-dead-heres-what-to-replace-it-with/#3e85e8157f83
Why ‘Follow Your Passion’ Is Terrible Advice https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creative-leadership/201812/why-follow-your-passion-is-terrible-advice

Melvin Feller Business Organization Graduate Candidate and Business Coach

Melvin Feller Business Consultants Ministries Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.