I think anyone who advertises a "one size fits all" strategy is selling books, not offering advice.

Drive by Dan Pink is well worth reading. Here's a taste:

Beyond that, the real question is this: what do you want out of life?

I wanted to be a musician, dammit. Problem was, I really like synths and piano and shit and any sort of music like that was forbidden in my house growing up. No pianos, no piano music. So I was pretty far behind to begin with.

Then, while learning to mix my own synth stuff, I took a course on mixing. When I transferred down to Seattle I ended up mixing in clubs. Still not a rawk star by any stretch of the imagination, but about 50 hours a week were spent amongst those who were trying to be (and more than a few that actually were - I'n'I got stories).

The most important thing I learned is that for 99% of the people who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be rawk stars, the best they'll ever get is "cover band." And yeah - they're making music for a living. But I bought an SY-99 off a dude with an Ensturzende Neubauten tattoo that played in a reggae cover band for a living. You think he really liked playing Marley four nights a week?

On the flip side, I didn't have to make any money with his keyboard. So was I "following my passion" when I goofed around for four hours at a time on a Yamaha while also designing shock/pace leads for biomedical implantation? I say FUCK YES BITCH because

A) I was having a helluva good time

and

B) biomedical engineering made me feel a lot more passionate than HVAC.

It's all a balance. You need to focus on the shit that feeds your dreams and the shit that feeds your belly. Always try to align the two. Always figure out ways to bring them closer together. Do that and you can't go wrong. Abide by some wonk who says "don't follow your passion?"

That's how tragedies happen. Like, literally Death of a Salesman and Ordinary People and American Beauty.