The first group ended up being right. The second group has all the burnouts many of whom eventually decided to pursue those passions anyway, and the burnouts didn't make as much money as they thought because to do well in anything you have to be somewhat interested in it. Obviously, the people who were passionate about the law or finance or tech or whatever made all the money. And some people who were passionate about the things that weren't supposed to make any money figured out ways to make a ton of money in those areas.

But I think the advice to our kids is clear, don't pursue anything you aren't passionate about.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47584720)

Yeah, and luckily, the things that hormone-addled and incredibly naive 18 year old kids with underdeveloped prefontal cortexes and almost no real world life experience tend to be "passionate" about (money be damned!) also tend to be the same things they are still "passionate" about at 40 when their hormones have leveled out and their brains have finished developing and they're starting to think about things like "long term financial stability" and "ability to support a family" and they have waaaaay more practical life experience under their belt which means they've had time to become more jaded about how the world really works and what is actually important / achievable on an individual level.

*blankest stare in fucking history*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47584726)

The only other meaningful variable is work ethic.

Good work ethic + passion = almost guaranteed success

Bad work ethic + passion = poor but more likely to be happy, "hey at least i tried," can always find a dumb $100k job to support family

Good work ethic + no passion = recipe for burnout and misery, unlikely to achieve top of the profession money or prestige. Truly a waste of life

Bad work ethic + no passion = poor & miserable, obviously this is the worst place to be

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47584745)

Some people are more passionate than others, in general, and would be able to divert that passion to whatever career they ended up in. being "passionate" or "driven" is more important than the particular object of the passion. If you're just a low energy guy you're not likely to succeed in whatever, then it's easy to turn around and say "oh it's because I got bad advice and picked the wrong thing"

That's not to say picking the right career for you is pointless, but it's secondary.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47584761)

Then I graduated and started to work in biglaw, nope, it really is only good for people who love to argue about meaningless shit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586011)

1. So passionate about environmental justice -> fuck that let’s get some deals done and get paid!

2. So passionate about some esoteric academic nonsense -> completed PhD, permanently unemployed, on drugs, living in mom’s basement.

3. People who wanted to go to med school and actually did, who now have more money than you and are probably still uptight Type A drones but what else were they going to do?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47585306)

Of course no one wants to do shit like be a lawyer or an accountant. Most of the population doesn't have the internal drive, or more importantly the competitiveness, to be the top 5%. If you do, and if you can figure out how the "system" works so you can get ahead, you'll be successful. And most people who are the top of their field not only get paid, they're ultimately pretty happy.

People who burnout just suck. Or they got beat by someone better.

Being a middling lawyer sucks ass. I left that a decade ago and found some weird niche on the business side. I'd quit tomorrow if I had "fuck you" money so it's not passion that drives me.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47585945)

yeah man, it's lack of "competitiveness" that makes people avoid being the 55 year old millionaire partner getting scolded like a little bitch at 10am tuesday by the junior JPM banker for some missing good standing certificate on line 73 of the closing checklist

the choice isnt bimodal, there's a continuum b/w passion and success (or more derogatorily, spending your time solely dedicated to money w/o concerns for things such as principles , self esteem or free time)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586019)

You can't have internal drive or competitiveness about something you aren't at least a little passionate about, and the incremental drive and competitiveness required as you climb up the ranks makes that a Herculean effort for all but the passionate.

"If you do, and if you can figure out how the "system" works so you can get ahead, you'll be successful."

You won't give a shit about how the system works so you can get ahead if you are indifferent about the system in the first place.

"And most people who are the top of their field not only get paid, they're ultimately pretty happy."

I would count them among the passionate if that's the case. The world is too competitive to be at the top of almost any field by simply winging it based on work ethic and intelligence alone. Do you deny this?

"People who burnout just suck. Or they got beat by someone better."

Yes, they suck at that particular thing and don't like that particular thing. That's what burnout is. They would've been better off pursuing something else that aligned better with their skills and interests.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586351)

I just know I can legitimately say ive never had any "passion" for any job, at least not the sort where I find the work intrinsically meaningful or interesting. I just ended up where I did out of law school and decided that whatever happened my goal was to try to kick the shit out of anyone else. I like to compete but I hate the work and always have. There is no kind of work that I see myself enjoying, so fuck it might as well stack cash and provide best I can for the family.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586426)

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Sweetwater-5/salaries?job_category=sales#:~:text=How%20much%20does%20Sweetwater%20%2D%20Sales,per%20hour%20for%20Account%20Coordinator.

"The average Sweetwater salary ranges from approximately $49,039 per year for Sales Engineer to $93,399 per year for Sales"

Oh wow, a guy who played guitars managed to get a job not playing the guitar in sales. He makes less money in a year than I ever have. Wow, great job chasing your passion dude, enjoy your pennies.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47587322)

Also Sweetwatermos all have to relocate to Ft Wayne where the CoL is virtually nothing, taxes are low, and a lot more sticks to your fingers. Ljl at thinking this isn't an amazing life for a creative. Also you're well known by definition and anything you do creatively will get a ton of buzz just by you knowing so many professional musicians. Sometimes these guys end up working with famous artists too. You can take time off to engineer someone's record. I mean, it's a life. It sounds so much better than law it's not even close. Imagine having to cuck for some Jew checking commas all day vs hang out with rock stars and do sales and live in a big house in Indiana.

This will probably offend you a lot too but a lot of them are devout Christians and a huge chunk of MI revenue comes from worship bands. I can already sense your Jew horns screeching in pain. Oh my God, some 22 year old Purdue grad had to start at 50k guaranteed in a low CoL area before building a portfolio of business! The horror! You better email the partners and give them an update on your contract review, stat!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47587373)

At HUG, many/most of the jocks went into some generic finance job. Definitely not because they were passionate about finance, just because it was kind of the consensus next step. Today, a few are doing incredibly well (including some surprises), but most are grinding out a pretty standard UMC existence, generally in an expensive city. The thing is, most of these guys didn't seem particularly passionate about anything, except of course for playing water polo or whatever and maybe for partying. Not sure what they would have done if they had followed their passion. Been a prep school lacrosse coach?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586047)

I have a friend that studied economics in college and right after, abandoned it and became a chef because that's what he cared about. He now owns 2 hugely successful restaurants in LA, he doesn't cook for a living anymore but he manages those places with his partners and seems a helluva lot happier than others who worked at Deloitte or whatever and became finance or accounting cogs.

I also don't think you have to be as passionate as that guy, you can mildly care about something more than the blind choice that most people make when they select law or finance or medicine or tech. I'd venture to guess you'd be happier than most of those people in the latter group given enough time.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586389)

“Follow your dreams, son! Everything will work out”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586060)

OP is not an exception

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586175)

People who are passionate about anthropology or women’s studies tend to fuck up the first prong of this, which is to find something that is useful to the world.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586242)

people who buy a house they love end up better off financially than those who buy "deals" because they end up staying in them much longer, taking better care of them, and ultimately build more equity than people who are constantly buying and selling.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586382)

do what can make you money.

do your passion shit on your own time

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47586827)

People who followed their passions in arts, culture, cooking, environmental, social justice: 1% chance you end up with a stellar life and 99% chance you ended up broke or underpaid in your 30s while living in HCOL areas.

People who followed the dull grinder route in finance or law or corporate America: 95% chance of ending up with solidly UMC lives. They may still complain about cost of living but they're still maxing retirement, saving for college, living in good neighborhoods with good schools, affording vacations and decent cars and not stressing out about paying bills.

Safer to follow the dull grinder route.

Went to an Ivy where the first group had a higher than 1% likelihood of doing well but plenty flamed out. Virtually everyone in the second group is doing well.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47587117)

Red pill: blue collarmos with hustle destroy Ivymos with 0 grit. I've seen it so many times. I have been to many HYP mixers. Yeah a disproportionate amount of them work for Goldman and have nice UMC lives but some of them live with their parents and do menial jobs. It's more about what you're made of than the school on the masthead.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5517935&forum_id=2#47587265)