The Sentinel Morning Post: Why Monetising Your Passion is a Terrible Idea

There is an established wisdom that says that if you love doing something, and if you are good at doing something, you should try to be paid for it. We've all heard the phrase to turn your passion into your job and you will never work a day in your life. But according to the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, this is some of the worst advice somebody can give you.

MacIntyre makes a distinction between an internal good and an external good. An internal good is the joy you get from just doing something or achieving at that something. Think of a runner who beats their personal best, the guitarist who nails a solo, or the content creator who makes a video they are proud of.

An external good though, is the payment you get for doing something. It is money, of course, but it is also prestige, status, or even power. The problem is that the two are incompatible because an external good requires a degree of competitiveness. You will get paid more or less in proportion to how good you are. To get an external good, you have to be competitive, hard-working, or even callous. You have to beat somebody else, and so turning an internal good into an external good will corrupt it.

Think of the musician who only plays their guitar for money or the content creator who only posts for likes. Slowly, the joy ebbs away and morphs into something more utilitarian. So, beware anybody who tells you to jump at the chance to monetise what you love. Because while the money might be great, what will you actually spend your money on if you no longer enjoy the things that you used to love?