Follow your heart, not the money, study says

It’s a question that strikes fear into the heart of millennials: Should you pursue a job that will earn you a secure living, or should you pursue you passions? Well, thanks to a new study from Tel Aviv University, it seems that we finally have an answer: Passion.
“Given the economic reality today, people commonly face trade-offs as they make decisions that pit the two sides of careers — the ‘heart,’ or intrinsic side, and the ‘head,’ or extrinsic side — against one another,” said Dr. Daniel Heller of TAU’s Recanati School of Business in a statement. “We wanted to examine people who chose to follow more challenging career paths, such as those in the arts, and assess their chances of ‘making it.'”
Published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the study followed 450 high school music students who participated in two elite summer music programs in the US. For 11 years, they monitored their progress from teens to adults to professional musicians.
“We found that participants with stronger callings toward music in adolescence were likely to assess their musical abilities more favorably and were more likely to pursue music professionally as adults regardless of actual musical ability,” said Dr. Heller.
In other words, talent means little if one is passionate—because such a drive often led to a greater perceived ability that wasn’t reflected in natural ability. They also found that young people who felt a stronger sense of calling were more likely to take risks and less likely to give up, ultimately leading to jobs in their chosen field. Lastly, those who felt a passion for their interests while they were teenagers were more likely to be successful in their adulthood as compared to those who discovered their passion later.
Passion doesn’t guarantee stable job
This doesn’t mean that passion will guarantee you a stable job, however. Often, it may lead to a greater sense of satisfaction but will have less returns in the way of money.
“If you experience a strong calling, you need to be cognizant of your relative preferences for intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards and potential trade-offs between the two, then decide accordingly,” said Dr. Heller. “However, we found that, in certain fields, one’s drive or passion afforded a competitive advantage over others, even when unrelated to objective ability or talent.
“In general, society benefits from an excess of talented people competing for a limited number of positions in winner-take-all labor markets,” Dr. Heller added. “Individuals who ‘win’ in this market are exemplary. Although individuals entering this type of market eventually ‘lose’ in extrinsic terms by definition, they still benefit from intrinsic rewards and garner subjective value and well-being, such as the satisfaction derived from attempting to fulfil their calling, even for a short time.”
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