Replacing ‘Follow Your Passion’ with ‘Finding Your Purpose’
For years, I’ve been fed a singular, seductive piece of advice: ‘follow your passion.’ It sounds poetic. It looks great on a graduation card. But as I’ve navigated my own career and watched the landscape of what I do now evolve, I’ve come to realize that passion, while a powerful engine, is a fickle compass. If we want to build something that lasts, something that actually matters, we need to stop chasing what we love and start finding what we are called to do. We need to substitute passion for purpose.
My passion has always been music. Since I was young, the drums, the guitar, and the pure expression of performing have been my sanctuary. If I had strictly followed that passion, my life would look very different today. I might still be chasing a specific feeling or a fleeting high from a performance. But passion is internal. It’s about how something makes ‘me’ feel. Purpose, on the other hand, is external. It’s about the impact I can have on ‘you’.
Will I follow that passion again? I think I already am!
What I do now at Scott Price Media is my purpose.
The shift happened when I stopped asking, ‘What makes me happy?’ and started asking, ‘How can I be most useful?’ Music is still a part of who I am, but my purpose is found in the work I do here, telling stories, building connections, and creating a platform that serves a greater community. Passion is a fire that can burn out if not fed. However, purpose is the hearth that keeps the house warm long after the flames have settled.
When you follow your passion, you are a consumer of your own emotions. When you find your purpose, you become a contributor to the world. It isn’t always easy, and it isn’t always “fun” in the traditional sense, but it is deeply fulfilling. I didn’t lose my love for music. I simply found a higher calling for my energy.
The goal of a life well-lived isn’t just to do what you love. It’s to do what you were meant to do. When I started this I wasn’t just following a feeling. I am fulfilling a mission that I’ve found, that is much more harmonious than any song I could ever write.
