The Pitfalls of Passion, Grit, and Privilege

Never go on a journey of self-discovery with an empty gas tank. - Anonymous

In 2012, some American college students came wanting to film a documentary on trans women in Jakarta, before quickly abandoning the idea at an event when a documentary videographer asked them how much their budget was, how much research they had done, what the scope was, and what message they had. In return, the students became very upset because their “passion” was crushed by cynicism.

Later on, this videographer–yours truly, if you hadn’t figured it out by the way–encountered a 19 year-old university student who was interested in media, development work, and NGOs. When we discussed some of the challenges and frustrations, she spoke with an air of self-certain authority that I “just needed more passion and it was obvious that I didn’t have enough”.

In both these scenarios, I was reminded of a late 2000s and early 2010s attitude of pursuing passion to live authentically, with the reason being that if you are chasing your passions, you will never have to work in your life because you are too busy having fun.

Reality check: this is simply not true. Passion alone will not tell you about the day-to-day operations even in your own personal life, let alone if you are running an organization, starting one, or even beginning an advocacy as a student. If we can describe passion as fuel, then remember that you can go on a journey of self-discovery and exploration, but without a map, a goal, or resources, you will quickly find yourself either with an empty tank or driving around in circles, achieving nothing.

A counterpoint to passion that grew out of the passion trend was to cultivate grit, which is the fortitude necessary to keep on forging ahead even when the flames of passion are dying embers. Grit is what tells you even if you no longer find your job fun to wake up to your alarm, get out of bed, roll up your sleeves and get back to work because what must be done isn’t going to do itself, especially for critical work.

Some people might say that it’s hard to move from a passionate mindset to a grit mindset, but remember this: passion can be seen as a privilege: in Central Java, there are laborers whose livelihood is carrying sulfur up and down the mountains, which is something that they are most definitely not passionate about, but without the privilege of an education or opportunities for them, they have no choice but to grit their teeth and do this work to support not only themselves, but their families and communities.

In other words: grit is something that you have in varying degrees, but you may not necessarily have the steadfast fortitude to bear it because you likely have expectations that you deserve better–as does everyone else! Some people may express or use grit better than others, but this is because of experience rather than attitude, though the latter certainly is helpful, and often influenced by the former.

Our founder Mikel Samaniego once gave a TED talk on how talent is universal, but opportunity is not. An important point he highlights is that opportunities are limited, and to even have a chance to consider an opportunity is a massive privilege and a blessing. Sadly, because of how limited they are, many people may never get a chance to not only use their talents, but discover them.

Exploring and discovery are keys to developing grit before passion because some people are lucky enough to know what they want after backpacking in Southeast Asia or Europe in college, and some people don’t know what they want or what they think they might enjoy even in their 50s. You develop grit not from suffering, but making the decision to wake up each and every day and check off all the boxes for the bare minimum requirements for work, health, and self-care, regardless of how excited or bored you are.

Passion, on the other hand, is spontaneous and can’t be taught or learned–it’s just something you have or you don’t. Even traveling itself or playing video games all day doesn’t necessarily mean you will find your passion–some people find travel too stressful, some who love video games discover that making or testing video games is still work, which means that they can’t take their time and enjoy themselves, they have to go with a professional mindset with deliverables expected from them.

When people use their passion, they are fun and inspiring–but when they lose their passions or they die out, they reflect a kind of burn out that shows that they either only have their grit to keep going, or become zombies trying to function. In the end, you need to ask yourself why you wake up every day to do what you do, passion or not, because true passion can inspire even when things are not fun by being reminders of your calling, whereas the excitement of the moment is a kind of false passion that is equivalent to a temporary distraction from boredom, for example, the many people who start vlogs thinking they’ll become social media stars only to decide it’s too much work and not as fun as they thought trying to become celebrities.

Let’s review some key points:

● Passion is finite; it is a fuel source, but in itself does nothing without structure or a plan

● Passion alone can’t solve your problems, but can kickstart a lot of ideas and be a good reminder of what your goals are when it is dwindling

● In the absence of passion, grit is necessary to keep on moving even when things are no longer fun

● Everyone has grit in one way or another, but how well they use it is dependent on them and their experience or maturity

● Some people do not have a chance to discover their passions because talent is universal, but opportunities are not

● Opportunities are a privilege, and being able to take an opportunity to explore, discover your talents, use them, and pursue them are privileges that few have

● Determine if you have true passion or false passion, which is what truly inspires you even when you’re not enjoying yourself versus what you do because it excites and stimulates you while you fear boredom or irrelevance

So while we can’t teach you passion or grit, we can give you a little food for thought as you explore it on your own and within your work. It’s on you to ask yourself the relevant questions for what matters to you, and you will never stop doing this even when you get to retirement age and really explore what it means to have grit or even discover your own passions if you haven’t found any yet.