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Is Passion the P in PhD?



If you have 'passion' for something, it means you haven't really pushed yourself hard enough to see its dark side. You haven't tasted failure. You think you're good at something, so you really like it. You like the feeling of being good at something. That's 'passion'.

Doing a PhD makes you taste failure. A lot of it. You realize that you aren't actually good at said area. You realize that you are actually really, really bad at it. No matter how much 'passion' you thought you had, one day you are going to clutch at your hair and (with genuine passion this time) cry out "I HATE THIS." The 'passion' that you thought you had now reveals itself to be the biggest lie you were ever told (by yourself).

'Passion' is not an indicator of whether you should do a PhD. It is an indicator of how much you are wallowed in your comfort zone. It is an indicator of how flat you are about to fall on your face.

You should do a PhD only if you want to be a rare expert who is able to make novel and enduring intellectual contributions to the world.

Even the most 'passionate' PhD students will see their 'passion' dry up within the first 2-3 years. Do they quit? Some do, but most push on. Why? 

Because they have been humbled. Out of the shell of false passion comes a newfound humility that drives a dogged desire to learn, and to improve. They are no longer under any illusions that they are good at what they do. But they want to become good, they want to become great. And in finally achieving the milestone of a PhD, they know that they are only a small step towards someday making a difference to the world.

And then perhaps there is the birth of a new passion, not 'passion' borne out of minor, insignificant successes and cheap praise from people who don't know better, but a passion borne out of humility and driven towards the greater good, whether it is increasing humanity's body of knowledge and understanding of the world, or developing never-before-seen technologies to improve the lives of our less fortunate neighbours.

So no, you don't need 'passion' to pursue a PhD, because no matter how much of it you think you have, it will run out very quickly. But if you have at least a vague sense of wanting to be part of a global intellectual struggle, in which you will be constantly pushed and challenged, in which you will be smashed to bits then healed whole in a never-ending cycle, in which your own successes will forever be minuscule compared to the vastness of human ignorance and suffering yet unresolved, then I think you will be an excellent PhD.
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