Hmm. Fails the anecdata test for me. I know a lot of people who do things they're passionate about - linguists, filmmakers (including me) and novelists. Nearly all of them struggled for years to get to the point where they're full-time at their passion, taking various other jobs of varying degrees of crappiness. All of them are very happy with what they're doing now, and - crucially - also loved pursuing their passion when it wasn't bringing in the bacon.
There's a good idea here - "If you're passionate about something, consider doing something else that pays better to bring money in, at least whilst you're getting good at your passion" - but the "if you want to do something that is hard to achieve full-time status in, abandon it and do something easier" message is, from my experience, a massive overreach.
There's a good idea here - "If you're passionate about something, consider doing something else that pays better to bring money in, at least whilst you're getting good at your passion" - but the "if you want to do something that is hard to achieve full-time status in, abandon it and do something easier" message is, from my experience, a massive overreach.