This article does not give you the standard advice: do what you love.
You should love what you do but you don’t necessarily have to do what you love. Oftentimes, the love comes by being successful in a thing.
But to be successful, you have to differentiate yourself in the 21st century. In business, it’s all about how much value you can provide to the community. The more value you give, the more successful you’ll become (and the more you’ll love what you do).
But it’s about the additional value that you provide–not the absolute value. For example, if you write a health blog that recommends healthy food and exercise, the absolute value is huge (life longer!) but the relative value is minuscule (millions of such articles have already been written).
Demand may be high but if supply is even higher, the value you provide to society becomes smaller and smaller. That’s why you should look at spaces where you have huge demand and limited supply. What are those places?
The ones which come with a high barrier of entry. Youtube videos are easy to make—everyone can do them—barrier of entry is low. It’s extremely hard to differentiate yourself as a Youtuber. Blogging is easy—everyone can set up a blog in minutes—barrier of entry is low. It’s therefore very hard to become a successful blogger these days.
But coding is complicated. Therefore, the barrier of entry is much higher. You have to spend years to become a good coder. Not everyone can do it. But the demand is huge. So, paradoxically, the harder something is, the easier it is to become successful by doing it.
Your one thing should be coding, solving complex and ugly problems, become a doctor of medicine. Do the hard things because it’s easier to succeed in those!