Hey friends,

In the last edition of the newsletter, I mentioned that I was working on a big writing project. Well, that’s still where I’m directing a majority of my creative attention toward, and in due time, I’ll share more details here. I feel like I’ve grown so much as a result of working on it, and perhaps you’ll sense that when you get to read it as well.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a reflection on an important topic: what it means to follow your passion.

One of the ways we’ve rebelled against the industrialization of work is to encourage people to do what they love. The premise is that you are a unique individual with agency, so if you fully exercise that agency, you’ll be able to do work that feels like play.

The problem, however, is that passion-driven work requires you to convince others of the importance of your passion as well. Otherwise, it is just a hobby. This is a nuance that is often missed, but is crucial to address if you want your work to be a source of contentment.

In today’s brief reflection, we’ll explore what it means to embrace the sacrifices that accompany any meaningful pursuit, and the necessity of doing so. So when you’re ready, let’s dive right in:

​The Fallacy of Passion​

A Program I Enjoyed

​Ultraspeaking — Public speaking is often viewed with so much fear because uncertainty is at its peak. So the tendency here is to reduce that uncertainty by preparing every second of a speech, memorizing every detail of a slide, and hoping that you don’t mess up when you deliver your talk. This relentless chain of worry is what we tend to default to.

Well, there’s a better (and healthier) approach, and detailing that approach is what Ultraspeaking is all about.

The team gifted me a free pass to their Creator Cohort, and while I was initially hesitant to join (April was a particularly busy month), I’m glad I did. What I saw with this program was a refreshingly fun and reflective approach to teaching, which also manifested in how they view the art of public speaking. The thesis is that if you lower the pressure you put on yourself, you’re able to access what you’re feeling in the moment, and it’s through being in the moment where the best of yourself shines through. It sounds simple in theory, but it takes practice to understand.

Much of the program focuses on giving you that space to practice through games and repetitions. One of the games, for example, asks you to go through a series of rapid-fire analogies (i.e. “Dishes are like diapers because…”) so you can practice what it’s like to make connections before the fear of judgment even has the chance to kick in. Rather than thinking about how sensical your analogy was, the mere fact that you addressed it keeps you flowing through them. And paradoxically, you’ll find that connections start happening more fluidly as your concern about their coherence begins to fade.

The program is full of reframes like this, and though this cohort was just 2 sessions long, I walked away with many great insights. All this to say that I enjoyed my time with the program, and if you’re looking to reshape your relationship with the art of public speaking, then you can learn more about Ultraspeaking here.

An Illustrated Insight

The above graph is from my story, The Arc of the Practical Creator, and I wanted to share it here because it provides a more nuanced view of what it means to convert your passion into your work.

What the graph shows is that there is a balance you have to attain between the pursuit of a creative endeavor (the “Creativity” x-axis) and the money you earn from your various lines of work (the “Practicality” y-axis). In brief, there are three stages, with each one representing a texture of patience you have to embody:

Stage 1 (Tolerance) — This is when you’re working at a day job while also working on your creative endeavor. This is important because in this stage, you have a job that acts as a patron of your art, so you don’t have to worry about making money from your craft.

This stage is labeled “Tolerance” because that’s the healthiest attitude to adopt toward your day job. Instead of hating it, you'll be grateful that it's funding the creative work you’re doing on nights and weekends.

Stage 2 (Resilience) — After you’ve saved up a healthy nest egg, it’s quite possible that you’ve made the leap to pursue your passion full-time. And while this may sound like the dream, the truth is that there will be a plateau where the effort you’re putting in doesn’t produce the outcomes you’re expecting.

This stage is labeled “Resilience” because the determination to push through has to accompany your pursuit. And because you have an adequate amount of savings (from Stage 1), you can do this for a prolonged period of time as you experiment your way through the plateau.

Stage 3 (Balance) — This is when things finally start to click, and the fruits of your efforts are producing tangible results. You start developing the confidence to call your creative endeavor a career, while also knowing that there will be many challenges to face.

This stage is labeled “Balance” because you realize that no matter how much success you’ve garnered, there is a humility that you must embody. That’s because there is no “harder” or “easier” in any creative endeavor. There is just challenge - and that’s the point.

The Arc of the Practical Creator is a reader favorite, so if you want a more detailed dive into what I described above, feel free to read the whole thing here.

A Thought I’ve Been Pondering

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between knowledge and understanding. Here’s something I shared about the topic on Twitter/X, which many people resonated with:

You can read Seneca a hundred times and think you're now prepared for calamity, but that's just knowledge disguised as understanding. One actual calamity will prove how little those hundred readings did to prepare you for the rush of emotions that strike you upon first contact.

It's no secret that I read a lot, but it's also no secret that I don't take these words too seriously. No matter how much wisdom you gain from the pages of your favorite author, if you haven't experienced the visceral events that led to that wisdom yourself, then it's just knowledge. Sure, you can leverage the hard-earned wisdom of others to help you, but understanding only happens when you earn that wisdom in the tumultuous arena of real life.

A Brief Parting Question

People like to say that “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” The purpose of today’s reflection is to highlight just how wrong that statement is.

How have you seen this play out in your life? What’s an example of doing what you love, but also seeing just how much work it is? And what makes you feel like ultimately, it’s all worth it?

As always, hit reply to share any thoughts, to respond to the parting question, or to simply say hello. I love hearing from you.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share this email with anyone who might enjoy it. Have a great rest of your week!

-Lawrence Yeo

P.S. Thanks to all the lovely people who support the blog on Patreon! It means so much. If you’d like to support More To That and get access to book recommendations, exclusive AMAs, offline posts, and other reflections, join as a patron today.

P.P.S. If you want to learn how to write reflections like the one I shared today, check out The Examined Writer. It’s 3 hours of self-paced material, all designed to elevate your writing practice.

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