Should people pursue what they love, or what they are good at?

Harry Stebbings · published Sep 18, 2023 · hedged

Passion often comes from being good at something, and one gets good by repetition, so the hard work comes before the enjoyment

No one enjoys the gym at first; you start enjoying it after going again and again

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Scott Farquhar · published Oct 9, 2023

Passion can also be built rather than found — as you get good at something you learn to love it more, so founders should try things on for size

Competence breeds affection for the work; he didn't start out loving bug tracking but grew into the larger mission

Scope: stated alongside the belief that you must love what you do

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Harry Stebbings · published Apr 11, 2025

People tend to come to love what they're good at, which makes early parental encouragement especially important — praising a child at something leads them to love it, invest more time, and get better.

Competence generates affection for the activity, which creates a virtuous loop of more practice and more skill.

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Jean-Michel Lemieux · published Mar 20, 2024

Career advice should be 'do something you're good at' rather than 'do something you love'

There's no wrong path if you keep doing something you're good at; his own guidance counselor spotted what he was good at and it worked out

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Harry Stebbings · published Apr 11, 2025

Scott Galloway advises people not to do what they love but to do what they're good at.

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Paul Graham · published Jun 2021

Whether you find something interesting is the best available test of whether it's worthwhile to work on.

You're the one doing the work, so no one is better positioned to judge its importance, and interest is the best predictor of importance available.

Scope: applies to judging one's own work; acknowledged as subjective

source How to Work Hard

Paul Graham · published Oct 2023

Because exceptional work requires genuine interest rather than mere diligence, a world of superlinear returns makes it even more valuable to know what you're interested in and to choose work that suits your circumstances.

Being an outlier requires getting nearly all the variables right, and interest is one of them; some work inherently demands time and energy best spent when young and childless.

source Superlinear Returns

Paul Graham · published Nov 2020 · hedged

Curiosity is more individual than fastidiousness about truth or resistance to being told what to think, so if your goal is discovering novel ideas your motto should be 'do what you're curious about' rather than 'do what you love'.

The other two traits are usually general when present, whereas different people are curious about very different things, so curiosity is the compass.

source Curiosity not love is the better compass for discovering novel ideas

Paul Graham · published Jun 2021

What you're suited for depends even more on your interests than your talents, and interests are harder to discover than talents.

A deep interest makes people work harder than any amount of discipline; there are fewer types of talent than interest, talents are judged early, and interests may not mature until your twenties or later, plus motives like money, prestige or parental pressure distort them.

source Interests not talents determine suitability though interests are harder to discover

Paul Graham · published Jul 2023

Work worth choosing must have three qualities—natural aptitude, deep interest, and scope to do great work—but in practice ambitious people need not worry much about the third, since they are already too conservative about it, so they can focus on finding something they have aptitude for and great interest in.

Ambitious people are if anything already too conservative about the ambitiousness of what they pick.

source Ambitious people neednt worry much about scope focus on aptitude and interest

Paul Graham · published Jul 2023 · hedged

A suitable field becomes increasingly interesting the more you learn about it; if it doesn't, it is probably not for you.

Fields differ greatly from their school versions, so they need a chance to reveal themselves, but growing interest is the reliable signal.

source Growing interest as you learn more signals the right field fit

Paul Graham · published Jul 2023

Great work does not come from years of diligent labor at things you hate; it comes from consistently focusing on something you find genuinely engaging while it's happening.

Great work requires an amount of time that seems unreasonable, which is only bearable if the work itself is engaging rather than a cost.

source Great work requires consistent genuine engagement not diligent labor at disliked work

Paul Graham · published Jul 2023 · hedged

Hard work on something you find genuinely interesting feels less burdensome than the work most of your peers do.

If you're on the right path you'll necessarily find the work very interesting.

source Hard work on genuinely interesting things feels less burdensome than work most peers do