I liked what VC Ben Horowitz (who wrote the excellent Hard Thing About Hard Things which I really enjoyed) has to say in this commencement address about why 'follow your passion' (something that has become a very popular convention) may not actually be the best career advice.
Whilst doing what you love may work out for some, it likely won't for everyone and may be less successful than you think. Passions are hard to prioritise, may well change over time, might be in areas that you're not actually good at, and it's a pretty egocentric way of approaching the world. Instead, says Ben, we should focus on what we can contribute and align that with our passions:
'Find the thing that you’re great at, put that into the world, contribute to others, help the world be better and that is the thing to follow'.
I'd also add that it's not always as easy as it seems to find what your real driving passion is. I'm not sure that I ever really knew what it was in my early career but I'm lucky enough to have found something that I'm good at and that I find fulfilling. Which has been less about following a passion, and more about developing one.
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