Before you want to murder me in cold blood, please let me explain...
You live in a world where you have been taught that somehow your mind (often referred to as your 'head') is at opposition with your emotions (often referred to as our heart).
You hear and (sometimes) say things like:
"I need to stop living in my head and start living with my heart"
"I need to stop thinking and just follow my heart"
I think you get the point... and if you don't, just do a google search and you will see a whole plethora of advice that in essence boils down to...
"Your emotions are superior to your thinking when making the most important decisions in your life like your professional pursuit or your romantic interest."
Did I mention that it's really bad advice?
Listen, I know it sounds romantic... "I'm going to start this business that changes the world" or "I'm going convert this charming bad boy or bad girl into the love of my life." but things will come tumbling down if you don't answer the next question...
How?
How are you going to....?
Let me state this question as a principle.
"Ideation without execution is delusion" -Robin Sharma
Let me get one thing straight in your mind... I believe the purpose of your life is to pursue and achieve happiness without getting in the way of anyone else's happiness...
So I believe you should pursue things that bring you happiness or that you are passionate about...
But how do you know what those things are?
How do you know if you'd like them?
How do you know if you can make a living doing them?
How do you know if anyone would buy your product?
Does that rugged bad boy or bad girl want to be converted?
How are you going to raise the money for your business?
Make no mistake about it...
Even considering following a potential passion takes more thought that you would ever imagine.
Your deepest desire will be smashed and thrown back into your face if you don't have a strategy and an execution plan to get the job done.
And despite the fact that someone on the internet told you that they succeeded ONLY by following their heart... they left the part out about all the planning and strategizing they did to find success. (And if they didn't do it I guarantee someone on their team did!)
Your heart and your head are not disconnected...
It's true that you experience your emotions. You don't experience thoughts... you think them.
So when something happens in your life you feel angry, happy, depressed...
And it's easy to think that your emotions are caused by that event directly.
But it goes deeper...
Your emotions are actually caused by the quality of your thinking. Or, put a different way...
Your thoughts have programmed your emotional reaction to things.
Have you ever wondered why you can go to a movie and cry your eyes out where the person sitting next to you thought the very same movie that you saw was boring and angered them?
It's because you think different things.
Haven't you noticed that your emotional state has changed throughout your life and you feel differently about different things then you did when you were younger?
My point is simply this...
Don't discount your thinking just because someone told you to. Especially some stranger on the internet.
That's just bad advice.
So what should you do?
Use both, since you have them.
If you think you would really love something, then try it. If you want to pursue it, great... THINK and create a plan to make it happen.