GRADS: DON’T FOLLOW YOUR PASSION. BE SENSIBLE.

TV personality Mike Rowe, from “Dirty Jobs”, has some pretty unconventional advice for recent graduates: He says, “Don’t follow your passion.” Rowe delivered a video commencement speech for website PragerU that urges young people to find their success by breaking the mold. He says, “When people follow their passion, they miss out on all kinds of opportunities they didn’t even know existed. Just because you’re passionate about something doesn’t mean you won’t suck at it.” He said that hosting “Dirty Jobs” has led him to meet hundreds of skilled tradesmen “who followed opportunity, not passion, and prospered as a result.” For instance, Rowe told the story of a multimillionaire septic tank cleaner who explained his success by saying, “I looked around to see where everyone else was headed, and then I went the opposite way.” Rowe also illustrated his point with examples from his own life. While growing up, he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a handyman. He invested himself in classes and workshops, but his grandfather recommended that he find something else more suited to his talents. “Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you,” Rowe concluded.
* Thanks, but this is my only life. I don’t want to spend it being sensible.
* Anyway, most success comes down to luck, and who you know.
* PragerU? What do they do there – make spaghetti sauce mixing Prego and Ragu?
* Look, here’s my advice: Try doing something you really want to do, then after that dream crashes, find something you’re good at.
* Just look at the nitwit concepts on “Shark Tank” if you want to see what following your passion gets you.
* Besides, if you don’t want passion, just get married.
* I hate it when a career path works for someone so they have to lecture all of us about it.
* That’s like Steph Curry saying we should all learn how to shoot the basketball because it worked for him.
* Also, I’ve had it with Mike Rowe’s hat.
* PHONE TOPIC: Did you try a career, only to find that you sucked at it?