Don't follow your passion. Forge it instead.

Why you shouldn't turn what you love into your purpose and what to do about it.

Hello there beautiful people! My name is Ash Lamb, and this is The Visual Growth Letter. An illustrated newsletter about life and creativity.

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"Follow your passion!"

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This sacred 3-word phrase that a lot of life gurus use to hypnotize people who aren’t fulfilled with their day-to-day lives.

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I've believed in this idea for most of my life until I started questioning some of my core beliefs.

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I agree that if you want to achieve long-term success, you should focus on something you're genuinely interested in and curious about because otherwise, you would get off the rollercoaster as soon as things got hard.

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It doesn't have to be something you're head over heels in love with though, just something you like that has the potential to help and impact other people.

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Many people struggle to find their passion because they think it should be an immediate revelation, like love at first sight. But in reality, passion develops when you commit to something and become skilled at it over time.

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The more you do it, the better you get, and the more you enjoy it. So, passion is not a finding but a habit.

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While everyone has a natural unfair advantage for something, not giving yourself enough time to discover it can lead to jumping from one idea to another, thinking you're not good at anything.

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Last week, I came across a fascinating short documentary about Kurt Steiner, a man who chose something as seemingly "mundane" and straightforward as rock skipping and transformed it into a lifelong career.

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Everything may appear shallow when viewed with a superficial gaze, but if you open your mind and remain humble enough to delve deeper, you'll realize that even the most seemingly simple tasks can unfold into a vast reservoir of knowledge. This, I believe, is the key to genuine fulfillment.

Discovering a simple idea and pushing its boundaries as far as possible is where the gateway to a realm of possibilities lies. The true beauty of life is accessible only to those willing to explore its depths.

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Moreover, there's no need to feel pressured to turn your hobbies into side businesses. Some things enter your life to be practiced and savored in solitude. Not everything must be transformed into a source of income or commercialized. In fact, attempting to turn a beloved activity into a business can often strip away the enjoyment it originally brought.

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One of my greatest passions since childhood has been environmental illustration, and I once tried to convert it into a business by creating illustrations for fantasy children's books.

Even though I was on the path to establishing a small sustainable freelance business I ultimately decided that I would find greater happiness by preserving it as a hobby.

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I then sought out a different creative pursuit with the potential to become a commercial brand. That's when I conceived Visual Growth, a project that, while still rooted in creativity, aligns with the creator economy and self-development, making it more viable as a business. I also feel less emotionally attached to it because it's not my direct passion but rather an extension of it.

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When you distance yourself from your work, you gain the capacity to make better decisions because your identity isn't solely reliant on the success of your initial idea. You become open to exploring new avenues and trying different things without feeling like you're betraying your passion.

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Avoid idealizing any one idea. Instead of tying your self-worth to a specific pursuit, root it in your resilience to persist through challenges, even when most people give up.

Many individuals find themselves trapped for years trying to monetize a passion project due to their emotional attachment when they might have been better off pursuing something else with the potential to provide both financial rewards and personal fulfillment.

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For instance, if you love playing basketball, you don't have to aspire to be an NBA player, a path that can be grueling and unsatisfying for the majority. Instead, you could consider becoming a physiotherapist for professional basketball players and continue enjoying basketball with your local team in your spare time.

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While it's true that a select few may become top-tier athletes in the top 0.1%, most people would likely find greater happiness in an alternative life setup.

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Janis Ozolins, a friend in the creative industry, is passionate about mountain biking, yet he hasn’t tried to turn that into his career. Instead, he started creating visual ideas like myself and built a really cool business that gave him the freedom to go mountain biking whenever he wanted.

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I hope this proves useful to you my friend. Believe it or not, I’m as lost as anyone. I’m still getting to know myself and this is just an idea I came across this week. I change my mind all the time, so don’t take anything I share too seriously. Just some food for thought!

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Thank you so much for reading!

I truly appreciate your readership and support. Without you, this project wouldn't be the same. :)

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Feel free to reply to this email, and I'll respond!

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Great love and respect,

Ash Lambㅤ

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visualgrowth.com