"Never give up on a book until you've read at least the first 50 pages." One of my junior high school English teachers said this to our class, and it has stuck with me and become much more than just about reading.
I think of this phrase often these days because of the prevailing philosophies in education and life that we all keep hearing.
Prevailing Education Philosophy: Rote memorization is horrible. Students should always be taught material to which they can immediately and personally relate, and in which they innately have a high level of interest.
Prevailing Life Philosophy: Follow your passion. (With the implication being that your passion should be something big, bold, glamorous.) This is the only way to be happy.
Here's why these two philosophies are inadvertently setting up our young people for misery.
In education, sometimes students have to memorize some facts before they can move on to the more meaningful concepts. People need to memorize the times tables before they can do higher math. We need to know the map of the United States before we can understand the history of the country. Musicians need to learn the scales before they can be real guitar heroes.
In other words, we all need to read the first 50 pages of the book, where we meet the characters and get the setting before we can care about what happens later in the plot. The most satisfying learning comes from working toward gradual discovery.
Not getting the basics first is like saying every joke should only be the punchline, every song should only be the crescendo or hook, every story should only be the climax. But none of these things works without the buildup first. Being airlifted to the peak of a mountain is not a satisfying accomplishment; climbing there is.
And that brings us to the whole "follow your passion" slogan. People are not born having a passion, and happiness is not an ongoing passionate state. You don't follow passion; passion follows you and the time, effort, and work that you invest in something.
Even people who become passionate about a certain job or activity aren't passionate about every minute of it. A pilot may be passionate about flying, but not about the time he has to wait around in the airport or on the runway waiting for clearance. A teacher may be passionate about being in the classroom, but not about all the paperwork, planning, and conferences.
When I was in college, I had a job working in the cash office of a discount department store. I had to balance out all of the cash registers, find the reasons for any discrepancies, put together the deposit, and make sure the safe balanced out each night. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS JOB. It was satisfying accomplishing a task well. I found it interesting and the time went by fast. Was I passionate about it? Um, I guess not. Was I happy when I was working? Yes.
Real happiness comes from self-satisfaction in a task. Real learning comes from making your way through the tougher parts to get to the aha! In life, we all need to get through the first 50 pages, because it pays off in a really good read.
So, don't follow your passion. And while you're at it, do something boring for awhile.
