#61 Why you won't pursue your passion with Larry Smith

What do these statements all have in common? “Well great careers are really and truly for most people a matter of luck.” “People who pursue their passions are geniuses.” “I would do this but I’m not weird.” “Nice, normal people don’t have passion” They’re all real (and absurd) excuses people give for not doing what they need to do to have a great career. These excuses were exposed by self-confessed career obsessed, Larry Smith - a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada in his serious(ly) funny 2011 TEDx talk in 2011. And it seems he hit the mark - his talk has reached a whopping 5.5 million views to date! As a powerful storyteller and a well-known advocate for youth-leadership, Larry dedicated his life to teaching because as a student he always thought: “I could do it better”. A large part of his time is also spent coaching his students to find careers that they will truly love by helping them avoid a lifetime devoted to an ‘interest’ rather than a passion. But make no mistakes, Larry doesn’t say it will be easy - having worked with 10% of the Waterloo alumni (with his students heading to Facebook, Google and Microsoft) and over 500 startup founders, he knows a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to having a great career. He still teaches to this day (because it is his passion) and has just released a new book: “No Fears, No Excuses: What you need to do to have a great career” (Random House Penguin) which is available across all reputable bookstores and online. IN TODAY'S EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN How an economics professor developed a passion for career guidance How you can identify your passion An economist’s thoughts on a citizen’s wage The difference between a passion and an interest Why all our jobs won’t all be replaced by robots Why people do bad things (according to Adam Smith…) How to design a TED talk that goes viral! The two things you need to launch a successful business How to be true to yourself Subscribe now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/unconventionalists-mark-leruste/id1029651449?mt=2 SHOW NOTES http://www.theunconventionalists.com/episode/61 GET IN TOUCH Website: www.theunconventionalists.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/markleruste Twitter: www.twitter.com/markleruste YouTube: www.youtube.com/markleruste