How To Identify A Passion Vs. A Hobby (And Why It Matters)

November 7, 2022Kent R.

Passions. Hobbies. Interests.

These are terms that get thrown around a lot, and they are often used interchangeably. So it's no wonder that many people misunderstand the difference between them. And that misunderstanding can make the desire to find your passion even more challenging than it already is.

On this episode of the Stop Hating Mondays Podcast, we're getting into passion and hobbies, the difference between them, and why it matters.

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TRANSCRIPT

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Caanan

Passions. Hobbies. Interests.

On this episode would stop hitting Monday's podcast. We're getting into passion and hobbies, the difference between them, and why it matters.

Caanan

Most of the people. We interact with are looking to find their passion.

Kent

That's right.

Caanan

So this message from Janine stood out because she has a different problem. She wrote, “I have multiple passions. How do I stay focused?” I think a lot of listeners who are trying to find their passion are probably thinking, “nice problem to have Janine.”

Kent

Yeah, yeah. This is at the heart and core of so much of what we do. People want to feel that passion for something. And really, the best thing I can do in answer to Janine's question is to say go look at our previous episodes on passion because. This is critical. Passion is not something you pick out of thin air and decide, “his is a passion!” Because that's what you see all over the Internet, on TV, in movies, on social media. This person is a beer enthusiast. This person is a photographer.

You want passion like you see other people having passion.

True passion is a great uniting of your strengths, your values, and what you know about your life. The different, what we call “pieces” of your life. We talk about this a lot in our workbook Stop Hating Mondays, in addition to the aforementioned previous podcast episodes. So it's important to know that something is a passion only if it unites your strengths, your values, and your knowledge about your life. Anything else is a hobby or an interest, and that's just fine.

The problem is, most people think that every single thing they're interested in is a passion. Or they want to make things that they're merely interested in a passion. So, the first thing I would say to Janine is, “do you really have multiple passions?” Most people do, but I have a feeling that Janine could use some help in figuring out: OK, what's a passion. Ehat's a hobby?

Caanan

A client recently asked an interesting question about hobbies when we were doing her personal branding project. I don't know why this took me by surprise, but she said, “should my hobbies be related to my work?”

Kent

Yeah, this is this thing where everybody in this culture feels they need to be a 10 and everything they do. Because again, everything they see everybody else doing is at a 10, you know? Remember social media, you're just giving the highlights reel.

Caanan

It's being presented as a 10, yeah.

Kent

So in a perfect world, your truest passion or your truest passions are definitely feeding in the work you do. It might be adjacent, but because a true passion is that uniting of your strengths and your values and your ability to apply those strengths and values to the different facets of your life, if you're also doing work that is aligned with your strengths and values and self-knowledge, there's at the very least going to be some overlap. And again we talk about this in our workbook Stop hating Mondays. Given that, I actually think it's beneficial if hobbies and interests are not related, and I'll kind of turn this on its head to explain. So many people try to turn what are hobbies into passion, and they have immense frustration because they're not a better piano player or a better runner or a better accountant or a better communicator. They're trying to make what's really a hobby or an interest a passion.

Caanan

Well, I have another real downside of that… If it isn't a true passion, it's just an interest or a hobby and you try to “monetize I” and make it your business – if it doesn't work out, not only have you failed at that business, but you've lost a genuine interest.

Kent

Yeah, exactly. So to answer that question. It's great if you know your passion, you're in the right lane for your work and then your hobbies and interests. Be a mediocre cook. Be a bad flag football player. Be a mediocre automobile enthusiast. It doesn't matter. The best advice I can give is to quit trying to make yourself an expert at everything. Realize certain things are just interests and hobbies, that you don't have a natural strength – or but that you're growing a strength for – takes a lot of pressure off.

Caanan

That's good advice. Well, based on what you just said, this is going to make a lot of sense. We talk a lot to clients about removing productivity from certain facets of life. So I feel like this is the perfect time to share that general thinking. You were kind of doing it but…

Kent

Yeah, you have no ne, some great singular question and something we get a lot and something that plays big into the corporate consulting projects we do. This last decades been rough, and especially these last years with the pandemic and people realizing they need to take time to clear their heads and you know, kind of get in touch with what's happening in the world and with what's important. The more you're doing stuff just for the sake of doing – removing productivity as a bar, as you said, Caanan. Just doing things for the sake of doing things. Cooking, gardening, walking, whatever they're all a part of a well lived life, not just your career and the goals associated with those or your passions and quite likely the goals attached with those. You want a good buffet of things that you tinker with and experiment with just for the sake of doing it.