Passion for Work?
What is it? How do I get it? Is it worth looking for?
I feel like everywhere I turn, I see the message “chase your passion” or the more traditional “work a 9–5 and climb the corporate ladder”. My struggle is I don’t know what I am passionate about, but at the same time, the ordinary 9–5 job working in a cubicle does not seem great either. So what should one do?
I recently read an article on the topic of passion in career choices in the Harvard Business Review. The article is called “3 Reasons It’s So Hard to Follow Your Passion” by Assistant Professor Jon Jachimowicz. The 3 reasons outlined in the article are:
- You don’t find passion, you develop it — According to the article many people believe that passion is a “have” or “have not”, something fixed. The truth is that you don’t have to discover passions instead you can develop them.
- Pursuing your passion is hard, especially since it can wane over time — Most people regard passion as pursuing what makes them happy. The author of the article makes the case that following your happiness will make you less inclined to persevere through hardship than if you believe passion is doing something “you care about”. Aligning your passion with your values will you take you further.
- Passion can lead you down the wrong path — There are limits to the benefits of passion in your career. Professor Jachimowicz found that passion only leads to better performance if people in your surrounding are also passionate about the same thing and the passion is appropriately expressed.
My Thoughts
As a kid you are often told to “follow your dreams”, insinuating that everyone will always know what their passion is. In my experience it is not always that easy, I have often pondered what my passion is and often come up empty. At the same time, I see people working on things they care about and they seem to be having a lot easier getting through hard times in their work. I read and enjoy Scott Galloway’s blog No Mercy/No Malice where he often talks about people telling you to follow your passion often already being wealthy and successful. Instead, he says you should find something that you are reasonably good at combined with something the world needs and you will get passionate as you reach further in the field. A similar sentiment can be found at the non-profit 80000 hours(Average amount of hours one spends on a career, daunting I know) where they say the bottom line for finding a dream job is to find work that you are good at and that helps others. This echoes the sentiment of the article by Professor Jachimowicz, align your career with your values and you will go further.
In Practice
So how do we apply this in practice? The truth is I am not entirely sure. I am still trying to figure it out myself. But what seems true across the board is that being good at what you do, while also improving and helping others is a good start. Now go out and find things you are good at. This can be easier said than done so here is my advice; try new and different things often and keep learning new things. Hopefully, you will find something that you enjoy doing and maybe you are good at and keep improving on that. Then try to figure out how you can leverage that to help others. If you have a hard time finding something you are naturally good at then start to learn a new skill. Look to develop skillsets that are unusual as they will be valued higher in society. Maybe you are not the best programmer, but you can combine decent programming with a great mind for business.
Summary
When thinking about your career try to open your mind to more factors than what makes you happy. Instead, try to do things that align with your values and helps you keep growing. You will develop a passion for your work as you improve. Keep learning and trying new things. This will make your life more fun as you continue to grow, while also improving your value on the job market.
