Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. How many times have you been told to do what you love and the money will follow? Maybe you've heard follow your passion, do what you love, chase your desires. And while that sounds fabulous, let's be honest, isn't always realistic. This is old school mentality that is touted by coaches, leaders, and it's given at keynotes all the time.

And truthfully, it could be the message that is holding you back from ultimate success and moving forward. Let's talk about this. I know you were probably thinking, what the hell, Erica? You want me to be miserable?

Or maybe you're thinking, I'm gonna talk about following what makes the money. Come on. Neither of those things are true. But hear me out. There have been three Stanford researchers finding that have said this whole follow your bliss thing is a load of you know what.

Alright. So they didn't quite put it in those terms, but you know what I mean. So let's talk about it. First, when you say follow your passion, it's kind of like saying you only have one passion. Now y'all know I am a fitness fanatic.

And for those of you who don't know, I did spend over ten years in the fitness industry as a certified personal trainer, a yoga instructor, and a certified health education specialist. I poured myself into that work. I love everything about healthfulness. I also realized that if you're not Oprah's trainer, you're not going to get that far up straight. I had hit my growth ceiling when I worked for a large corporation, and I was capped out in the pay band with no room for growth before I was even 25 years old.

Now if I had only ever focused on my passion for fitness, I would have never uncovered my other passion. Yes. I could have opened a fitness studio, but that option didn't really entice me and it wasn't gonna be my thing. But that doesn't mean you stop exploring. These Stanford researchers say that when you focus on only one passion, you narrow your focus and it actually prevents you from uncovering other ideas.

It limits you in that way. So let's take my eight year old son, Hudson, for example. He loves baseball y'all. And if he only ever played baseball, he would be missing out on his love for basketball and football. He's even considering other sports like hockey and, well, pretty much anything besides soccer.

Don't ask me why he hates soccer, but here we are. If he had narrowed in on only baseball, he would be missing out on so much, which leads me directly to point two. Just because you have a passion for something doesn't mean you're good at it or that you can make money doing it. Alright. You know I love my son.

But baseball, let's just say, I don't think he's gonna be the next Babe Ruth. Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise me, but I'm not gonna take that to the bank y'all. I feel like this one is pretty easy to explore. You may have a passion for cooking and trying recipes, but Gordon Ramsay, you are not, and that is okay.

You can keep it as a passion, but find something else that provides you with financial security. Another reason why following your passion is BS and problematic is that people's passions change over time. Now in my adult years, I've become passionate about cooking and my kids. Y'all in my late twenties, I was passionate about partying and hanging out with my friends. While that was fun, it's not the primary thing that brings me joy.

If you were to focus on and monetize that passion, what happens when that passion changes? Do you stop your career and shift to something else every single time? What used to bring me joy and what I love has shifted multiple times over the years, and I'm sure yours has too. And I also know that my passions will continue to evolve and change over time again and again and again. So I don't want to lock myself in to my passion when that could change.

Now the last point that I have of why following your passion is just BS is that if you're not careful when you do monetize your passion and you're making money, that passion is now work. There are people out there who have the financial means to not only do the things they love and outsource the rest. You know, let's be clear, though. There's parts of everyone's job that they just. When I was a personal trainer, I loved fitness.

I've already said that. I was that crazy person that would always find time in my schedule for my workouts. And you know what I hated? I hated having to work out late. I also hated working out with others late, which meant that because this was a business, I had to accommodate others' schedules to make them money, which meant many of the workouts that I was in charge of leading were late workouts.

I absolutely love going in to work at the evening time. And I just wanted to relax and sit down with a good book, but that honestly never happened. In fact, I found myself working early mornings, and then I would have no clients during the normal working hours of nine to five. And then again, I'd have to come back to work and do more work after 5PM because that is when clients who have normal corporate jobs are free to work out. So my passion became work, and the parts that I love were less shiny and fun because the parts that I didn't like doing were huge.

Right? So you're probably like, great, Erica. So So if I'm not following my passion, what the hell am I supposed to do? But don't worry. I got you.

Work is work, and there's always going to be parts about work that you don't like. But if we like doing something and we're good at it, and there is a market for it, I want you to focus on it. Because I do want you to look towards the end game, which is most of us work to make money. Now I'm gonna be very real. I love helping.

People. I love being challenged and chasing after goals. But I would love to live a life where I can travel the world, sit on beaches, and do only the things that I love. Who wouldn't want that dream? Here's the bad news.

It's not realistic. So focus on what you're good at. If it's something that you like and you can make money at it, get for that right now. Those things that you love, maybe you're good at it, but you make money, figure out how to incorporate it in your life as a hobby or a passion project. My husband, Dan, loves baseball, but God knows at almost 50 years old, that ship has sailed.

So instead, he coaches my son's little league games, and he has so much fun. Because what we really all want is freedom, and that does come from financial security. So get out there and grind until you are in a place where you have financial freedom. Then you can do what you love and what you want while providing for yourself and your family. Do more of what energizes you and less of what drains you.

Yes. If you are earlier in your career, you may have to slog through some years of doing the work. But as you grow, as you climb, you will be able to hone your skills and do more of that energizing work and less of the work that demotivates you. So your task today, it's not to chase after your passions. It's not to figure out how to monetize your passion.

It is instead to live a purposeful life doing things that provide you freedom so that you can live a life you love. I want you to really live in the present moment. I want you to stop chasing, always chasing the next level, the next job and the next thing, whatever that is. And yes, y'all, you know, it's a sticky floor of mine. It is a challenge to be in growth mode, but also be present.

And I work at this by really compartmentalizing my time. So when I'm at work, I am in full on work mode. And when I'm with my kids, I really try to be in full on kid mode. I removed the email app from my phone to help me be more connected with my family when I'm not in front of my computer. That has helped me a lot.

I have learned that I can take off my Apple Watch, and that keeps me more present, and I did take off all of the notifications from my phone. It has been very liberating. But to bring it stop chasing your passions as a career goal. Stop believing the lie that you have been told for years and years and years that if you do what you love, the money will follow. Focus on living a purposeful life.

Now before you go, I wanna say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being part of my ceiling breaker crew. You are awesome. Now get out there and follow me on all the socials if you haven't already.

I wanna connect with you every talk to you soon.