There are those who believe passive income exists, and then there are those who actually live on this planet.
If the holy grail of a green button attached to a stream of money doesn’t exist, what should you pursue? The answer is, inevitably: Interesting work.
“But Todd, I’m not interested in anything.”
Fine. Let’s take the first step. The first step is NOT to sit in a room and wonder “what am I interested in?” The first step is to do things.
Do any (legal) thing. Get a job washing dishes. Take a lesson on Codecademy. Join a startup and cold-call customers. Book some book-reading time for yourself.
Action proceeds interest. It’s rarely the other way around.
The next step is NOT to ask “do I like this?”
The next step is to ask “WHAT do I like about this?”
Dream jobs are a fantasy. Instead, you’re looking for little moments of joy. Maybe you don’t like cold calls, but you like researching customers. Maybe you don’t like database coding, but you enjoy front-end design. Maybe you don’t love a whole book, but one idea from it tickles your interest.
The third step is to find more of those elements. Wake up. Do things. Follow the threads. Repeat this as often as you can.
Keep in mind, you’re not going to suddenly wake up with an all-consuming passion for anything.
You’re going to build it, one day at a time.
This article originally appeared in Medium.