Follow your passion is terrible advice.

Passion follows excellence, not the other way around.

Try getting up at 4AM to do things you absolutely hate. What's more impressive than following your passion is learning to turn the mundane, the detestable, the soul crushing grind into fuel. That's when everything changes.

I had a teammate who legitimately hated football. You could see it in his face every morning. Always angry, always upset, but never complained. Always showed up. Even if he reeked of alcohol from the night before.

"It's a means to an end," he'd say. "Get the money and get the f—- out."

Came from nothing. Saw football not as his calling, but as his escape route. Only a tool.

He understood something most people never figure out: you don't need to love what you do. You just need to use what you do.

While other players talked about "love of the game," he talked about love of his family. He found purpose in paychecks. He turned obligation into opportunity. Turned what he hated into what he needed most. Resentment became results.

The passion “follow your dreams” crowd never talks about this: sometimes the most passionate thing you can do is hate what you're doing and do it excellently anyway.