Why I Chose Money Over Passion (And Why It Worked)

Hey there,

Yoela here, coming at you from Japan where a late-night Instagram scroll turned into an existential rethink of everything we're told about success.

It started with this:

Look familiar? The classic three circles: Things I like to do, Things I'm good at, and Things that make money. You've probably seen some version of this "find your passion" diagram floating around.

But here's the plot twist: my journey completely flipped this model on its head.

Let me be blunt: I started with money. Not passion. Not purpose. Just pure survival instinct and a promise to never let my family be poor again.

The traditional advice? "Follow your passion and the money will follow." My reality? Chase the money, develop skills, and watch passion grow from mastery.

And guess what? Science backs this up.

A fascinating Stanford study found that passion typically develops AFTER gaining competence, not before. Their research showed that people who believe they need to "find their passion" tend to give up when faced with difficulties. Meanwhile, those who focus on developing skills first end up with stronger, more sustainable passions.

People who believe interests can grow (growth theory) show more enthusiasm for topics that align with their existing interests (“matched” topics) but are also slightly more open to “mismatched” topics than those with a fixed mindset. In contrast, people with a fixed theory of interest (who think interests are set) show lower and more consistent interest across all topics, regardless of how well the topics match their preferences.

In other words, mastery leads to passion more often than passion leads to mastery.

My journey looked like this:

Phase 1: Chase Money

• Learn skills that pay

• Take every opportunity

• Focus on survival

Phase 2: Develop Mastery

• Get really good at what pays

• Build expertise

• Understand your strengths

Phase 3: Discover Passion

• Find joy in mastery

• Identify true interests

• Develop authentic drive

This realization hit hard recently when reflecting on my company's direction. We were doing what looked good on paper - acquiring companies, playing the traditional growth game.

But when I mapped it against this Venn diagram, something wasn't adding up. The real magic has always been in building from scratch. Taking raw ideas, incubating them, watching them grow.

Here's what nobody tells you:

• You can't know what you love until you've lived enough to discover it

• You can't know what you're truly good at until you've worked alongside better people

• But you can always identify what makes money - that's just math

Look at that "Things I do" hovering outside the circles in the diagram. How many of us spend our lives doing things that don't fit into any category? That's what happens when we follow conventional wisdom instead of questioning it.

The anti-status quo truth? Your path to passion might start with practicality. And that's okay.

Next time someone tells you to "follow your passion," ask yourself: Do I even know what my passion is? Or do I need to build something real first and let passion find me?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you found your overlap? Or are you still chasing someone else's dream?

Until next time,

Yoela