Published Date: August 27, 2006

In an e-mail interview published on gapingvoid, Seth Godin answered a series of questions. The response to one really caught my attention. When asked what motivates him to increase his workload, Seth answered by saying this:

ANSWER: It’s not a workload! Look, there are 8 million millionaires in the USA. Why do these people go to work every day? Why not downsize appropriately and just sit on the beach? Because they’re too smart. They realize that the purpose of living isn’t to bake in the sun until you die. I write and speak and experiment because that’s what I do. I’m thrilled to have the chance to do it every day. Any day I’m not thrilled, I’ll stop.

As a result of the transparency of blogging, a lot of people have realized, almost as an aside, that people do what they love to do. It’s just now you get to see it on your screen. Sometimes those things appear to have no financial incentives (raising goldfish) and sometimes they do. But let’s be clear… unless you work for Goldman Sachs or are selling drugs on a street corner in Topeka, you’re almost certainly not in this, whatever this is, for the money.

Most of the time, for most people, in most industries, it’s not REALLY about the money.

It still puzzles me that more people don’t get this point. The vast majority of people that are extremely financially successful are truly passionate about what they do. My advice? Find something you are passionate about- the rest will take care of itself.

Regarding career field placement (which should align with passion), where you end is often times different than where you start. Entering college, I wanted to be a computer programmer. Advanced calculus, physics, and chemistry classes quickly changed my mind. I then turned toward construction management only to abandon that for business administration. I interned for Tim Reha at Venture All Stars, now working on New Media Synergy, who gave me a taste of the small business environment. It was largely thanks to that exposure that I knew I wanted to be involved with a small and upcoming internet company. Thankfully, Tim clued me into Zillow and I ended up with a job after hounding our recruiter for an interview for a couple weeks (thanks for finally giving in Annie!). Zillow is still hiring- so CLICK HERE if you’re interesting in joining us! Now, my background is a mix of technology and business, which is great given that I work at a web company on the business side. It took me awhile to determine my true passions and goals, but once I did, my whole mindset changed. Success is so much easier with passion!