“When we romanticize anything, we also neglect substance and chase superficiality. This misleading charm of glamour makes us overlook what holds real value.”
- You’ll find startup guys who daydream of Zuckerberg’s fame or crave the entrepreneur title – but quite a few care about the work.
- You’ll come across performance artists wanting to act cool and gain fame. Not many who deeply revere their art.
- You’ll see students join media as working with celebrities excites them or because it’s a trendy career. Very few are bothered about the slogging.
Glamour often beats real work because it glorifies results and undermines the actuality. So, those gains motivate people more than anything.
Still, glamour isn’t an inspiring reason
We can choose careers or pursue something based on how shiny it appears – but that’s often not the reality.
We don’t realize this until our infatuation with external influences fades and we lose interest. The impulses that we acted on begin to feel baseless. The glamour turns out to be an illusion.
All bubbles burst.
We fall prey to gimmicks and lead a life that only touches the surface of things – until we change things around for the better. In short, it pays off to search for something meaningful than glamour.
Look for other reasons instead
Chase what you love and do the work. It’s always nice when you aren’t easily distracted by shiny options. The good part? The boring stuff still works.
Don’t ask whether your work or chosen lifestyle looks good on the outside. Rather, ask if you feel happy doing it, whether it feels meaningful, and whether you’re becoming the person you wished to be.
You’ll treasure what you do. You’ll be proud of your decisions. And far more content – when you do it for yourself.