Be passionate about something that isn’t your job

There’s a recurring trope from the tech Ponzi schemers that you need to hustle in your youth. Work weekends. Work unpaid. Climb the ladder. It’s what they did, so it’s the only way.

It’s not.

Be passionate about your job. Be passionate about solving your customer’s problems. And be passionate about understanding and representing all your users.

But also be passionate about something else. Something that inspires you to leave the office. Something that satisfies a dream. Don’t narrow down your life to just your job.

Go surfing. Play in a band. Crochet. Spend time with your family and friends. Reset your ideas of what’s normal in working life, because the Ponzi scheme relies on you giving everything to your job, and convincing the next generation to do that too. Because the alternative is to look up and look around.

If you feel you need to work for free at the weekends, volunteer at a homeless shelter, not for a corporation.

Use your weekends for hobbies, for relaxation, for catching up with people in other industries and finding out that these opinions only exist in echo chambers.

Work your brain. Get new ideas. Reset your mind.

Watch TV.

Read books. Walk in the wilderness. Get out of the glare of the screens, and the superstars.

And don’t forget to wear sunscreen.

For more, listen to this podcast on making the most of your leisure time