The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life

A better approach to finding your passion is to lower the bar from perfect to interesting, then give yourself permission to pursue your interests with an open mind.

Relatedness: The final component of self-determination theory is one that binds us to others: the need to feel connected to and/or like you are a part of something larger. Humans are social animals.

Some studies show that up to 40 percent of our personality may be inherited. Professor C. Robert Cloninger, a psychiatrist at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, recently developed a system for evaluating the heritable part of personality, referred to as temperament. His research suggests that there is a link between

In the early 1970s, psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan developed a concept called self-determination theory that forever changed how the scientific community viewed motivation. Deci and Ryan found that, contrary to common wisdom (both then and, to a large extent, now), one’s drive to pursue activities is not predominantly reliant on externa

Embracing exploration is so important because the path to finding your passion can be long and circuitous, with many wrong turns in the direction of activities, jobs, or other opportunities that initially appeared exhilarating yet proved to be something else. But have the courage to keep on exploring.

People with fit mind-sets for passion are also more likely to give up on new pursuits at the first sign of challenge or disappointment, shrugging their shoulders and thinking, I guess this isn’t for me. Furthermore, studies show that individuals with fit mind-sets actually expect their passions to dwindle over time, setting themselves up for midlif

There is, of course, a different—and far better—kind of passion. It emerges when you become wrapped up in an activity primarily for the joy of doing the activity itself. When you experience success with humility and failure with temperate resolve. When your goal becomes your path and your path becomes your goal. When your passion is fueled by deep

“I was just letting my curiosity take me forward and engaging in the things I enjoyed and found interesting.” Fast-forward five years, and Neuman had paid off her law school debt (she was fortunate to have received a scholarship, so the debt wasn’t that massive) and found herself applying to PhD programs in philosophy.

couldn’t possibly do this” syndrome only grows stronger with age. It also creates a formidable sense of path dependency, or the narrative that you are on a certain path, and the best—if not only—option is to stay on it. But path dependency prevents you from exploring opportunities that could lead to a better and more fulfilling life. You’ll never k