Gal Gadot poses at the premiere of “Wonder Woman” in Los Angeles, California, May 25, 2017.
Mario Anzuoni | Reuters
She’s young, glamorous and front and center at every multiplex in the country. He’s older, discreet and usually in front of a screen only when he’s presenting a new iPhone. But Gal Gadot, star of the summer’s first blockbuster, the record-setting “Wonder Woman,” and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, agree on the way to achieve success in your career.
“The day you don’t enjoy it, you should stop,” Gadot told nine-year-old Lilly Aspell, who plays the role of young Princess Diana in the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Aspell says, ”[Gadot] told me to only act if you enjoy it, as it can really show in your performance.”
Though he’s operating in an entirely different field, Apple CEO Tim Cook offers the same words of wisdom. He recently told students at the University of Glasgow, “Don’t work for money … You’ll never be happy.”
Instead, he said, “you have to find the intersection of doing something you’re passionate about and at the same time something that is in the service of other people.”
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Authentic excitement for the work animates Cook just as it drives Gadot. It’s what has kept him going and helped her power through the rejections that nearly compelled her to quit acting.
The actor Sam Elliott, of Netflix series “Grace and Frankie” and “The Ranch,” agrees. “My security comes from the fact that I’ve never done a job for money,” he tells The Guardian. “I’ve always basically made my own decisions. And I think I’ve done reasonably well.
“I have people that I get feedback from, get opinions from, keep me on the track, so to speak. But to me, it’s all about what’s on the page. It’s not about working for money,” he says. “It’s just something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid.”
How do you find your passion, if you haven’t quite identified it yet? Try this visual trick, recommended by former Google career coach Jenny Blake.
