Mike Rowe: Don't Pursue Your Passion. Chase Opportunity. The 'Dirty Jobs' star shares his thoughts on passion and how it sometimes gets in the way of success.
By Jason Fell
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Success in business depends on opportunity, not a person's passion. Whether you agree or disagree, that's what Dirty Jobs star Mike Rowe believes.
Before you fly off the handle, calling bullshit, let's allow him to explain. What Rowe means is that when you put your passion first, ahead of opportunity, you often times create obstacles to achieving real success.
"When you follow your passion, when you follow your dream, when you grow up being told that you're a precious little snowflake and all you have to do is look inward and identify that thing in you that you want more than anything else, that's a trap," he says.
Related: Mike Rowe From 'Dirty Jobs': Don't Follow Your Passion, Live It
Rowe, of course, spent eight seasons as the host of Dirty Jobs, working alongside countless entrepreneurs -- getting his hands dirty in all sorts of grimy jobs like shoveling garbage, milking camels and even personally testing shark repellent.
The second season of Rowe's new show, Somebody's Gotta Do It, premeired on CNN last night.
You "take your passion with you," Rowe says, but true success is when you pursue a great idea or opportunity.
"The people I've met on my journeys, by and large, didn't set out to realize their dream," he says. "They looked around for an opportunity. They identified the opportunity. They exploited the opportunity. They worked at the opportunity. Then they got good at the opportunity. Then they figured out how to love it."
Does Rowe think passion is necessary at all for success? Check out the video above to find out.
