I'm also not a fan of Ted Talks for the most part. It's been a while since I've watched any, but I've always come away with the impression that it's self-important pseudo intellectuals pontificating on cringy topics or unrealistic ideals to other self-important pseudo intellectuals that make up the crowd.
But let me tell you how I REALLY feel!!!!
On one level, I can relate to this guy. I'm in my late 40's and have worked in software my entire career. There was a time when I would almost say I enjoyed it but, for the most part, I find it unfulfilling and would much rather be a luthier building guitars—a tangible object. Here's where I'm going to disagree with him though...
At one point, I was as passionate about photography as guitar, so much so that I did professional photography on the side. I sold in fine art galleries, calendars, post cards, etc. Initially I thought to myself, "Self, this is amazing. You have an opportunity to make a passion into a career and you'll be stoked to go to work every day." What I came to find out is that was an illusion. "The process," as this guy put it, changed.
I used to create photos that I wanted... for me. However, once I started selling, I would be setting up to take a photo and ask myself, "But will this sell? Will anyone care?" It wasn't the same. The process changed. I wasn't doing it for me anymore.
I also learned that running my own business was not the same as occupying my time in a hobby. I had to manage ordering and shipping prints and framing. I had to deal with licensing and contracts. I had to process photos from service oriented things (i.e. weddings, engagements, senior photos, corporate events)... in other words, things I didn't care about... I had to do accounting, invoicing, pay taxes... No thank you. I had to keep after galleries to make sure they weren't cheating me. Fine art galleries are more dishonest than used car selling. It sounds crazy, but it's true.
Even if we strip this down to a much simpler level. Does the person working with their hands in the Fender factory feel so much more fulfilled from their work more so than the person working behind a computer screen? I think it's mostly a "grass is greener" fantasy that we tell ourselves. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I suspect they are just that: exceptions.
You caught me on a grumpy day. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some teenagers that are 10ft from my lawn that I should probably yell at!
EDIT... one more story... My amazing wife said to me one day after a hard day in front of the screen, "What if you went to a luthier school?" I told her that I once took one of my Warmoth builds to a luthier for some fret work (before Double A's helpful videos) and the luthier said, "Wow, this guitar is absolutely stunning. Typically people bring cobbled together pieces of crap for me to work on." That told me that he's in the same position I was with photography. He wasn't building guitars that he loved for himself. He was building what other people wanted from him which is mostly with no sense of design vision or taste. I doubt he received one ounce of the satisfaction he would've received if he was building one for himself.
