Do You Have a Passion Project?#

I’m always fascinated when I hear or read about someone who devotes significant time and effort into what they call their passion project. I mean, how do they come up with those ideas? What makes something a passion project?

Dictionary.com defines a passion as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. So someone’s passion project is borne out of their intense enthusiasm for whatever that project is. But how do they find that? I mean, I have a lot of interests. I spend inordinate amounts of time on some of those interests (computers and related technology, for example) but I would not call those passion projects. Nor would I even say I have a passion for technology. There are many in the open-source community that are quite passionate about the philosophy of open-source. Some to the point of being extremist. I appreciate the open-source philosophy and try, whenever possible to support it. I use open-source software and generally look for open-source options when looking for software. But am I passionate about it? No, not really. Am I going to go out and proselytize for it? Nope. Nor am I going to look down on those who choose not to prioritize open-source software.

Similarly, I am supporter of Linux and BSD operating systems. Does that mean that I only use Linux or BSD? Of course not. I regularly use Mac OS and have no problems with doing so. ¹ So, while I am an active user and supporter of Linux and BSD I am not passionate about it.

Maybe my perception of what it means to be passionate about something is skewed. To me being passionate about something means that you want to know all you can know. You dig deep. You constantly strive to build your knowledge. And more, you want to share that with others. You want them to feel as passionately about the object of your passion as you do. So being passionate isn’t just about your own pursuit of that interest but seeking to instill in others that same sense of passion.

And that’s just something I don’t feel. Yes, I like, even prefer, open-source software and strive to know more about it. To dig deeper into it. But I don’t really care whether others are as enamored of it as I am. More to the point, even though I spend a great deal of time working with it, I am not driven to know all the minor details. It’s enough for me to understand how it works and how I can use it to accomplish my other tasks and goals. I mean I’ve been working with Linux for 25 years and only recently have I really begun to dig into the details and study to build my knowledge and competence in using it.

But I am a bit jealous of those folks who have found their passion and are driven to dig more deeply into it. I remember being in awe of my doctoral classmates who early on knew what their dissertation research would focus on. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to research! So, having that kind of clarity of purpose – of passion – would absolutely have been beneficial to me and probably saved me a couple of years of work. But I just don’t feel that kind of passion.

It occurs to me that perhaps my inability to identify a passion is related to my ADD tendencies. Having ADD means that you are intensely interested in a topic for a short period of time before moving onto the next shiny object. While you’re focused on that topic you do spend a lot of time and energy trying to learn all you can, though that effort, at least for me, is often unfocused. But almost as quickly as you pick up a topic, you drop it. For example, it will be interesting to see if I actually complete this 100 days of writing or if I lose interest in it as quickly as I developed that interest.

On the other hand, maybe I do have passion projects but simply don’t see them as such. Maybe, because they are ’normal’ to me, I just see them as the things I’m interested in and only others perceive my interest as being a passion project. Hmmm…

Going back to my original question about how people find their passions. My answer is, “Hell if I know!” But then, again, maybe it’s just me. Maybe everyone else does have things that they’re absolutely passionate about. Guess I’ll never figure that one out!