So, what do you do?
A question often asked that may not be what you want to answer when it comes to describing to others about yourself and about what you like in life.
As I am trying to get more into writing this evening, I decided to get a bit of inspiration first. I think that before you write something meaningful you have to be convinced and excited that what you have to say is important.
Over a few years now I have been practicing minimalism. It has been quite an experience that has changed my life, perhaps not in big ways, but in ways that have allowed me to enjoy more what I do with my time.
I decided then to check what’s new at The Minimalists as that has been my main source of inspiration to be more minimalist. I found a new post there to read and I must say that I haven’t even finished reading the 20 Questions for a Minimalist, but I found the inspiration I was looking for as I read the answer to question #2:
…the next time someone asks you what you do, try this: Don’t give them your job title. Instead, tell them what you’re passionate about, and then change course by asking them what they are passionate about.
I practiced this exercise during my last year in the corporate world. It helped me remove the importance of my job title from my life and ultimately opened me up to discussing my passion for writing with others (which eventually allowed me to walk away from my six-figure corporate career). Sure, I had an impressive job title, but it didn’t make me happy; it didn’t fulfill me. And now I’m more fulfilled by pursuing my dream than by any title.
Think of this shift as changing a noun into a verb. Instead of giving people a title (i.e., a box to put you in), let them know what you enjoy doing — what you’re passionate about — and then discover what they enjoy, as well. The conversation will morph into something far more interesting, and you’ll learn a lot more about each other than your silly little job titles.
This is very simple, doesn’t it feel so good when you meet new people and soon you find yourself talking about what feel passionate about? I know that there is a very good or high percentage of people that don’t like what they do for a living or in other words, they don’t like their jobs.
I personally think that leaving on the side the curiosity of where somebody else is in relation to our status is very beneficial in the sense that we could be focusing more on what the other person really likes in life. This can mean that more of a connection is made as opposed to a social dialogue etiquette.
This makes me think about something I read a while ago in a book called Dialogue where the author mentioned the fact that these days it is rare that people gather to talk about new things. It is normally the case that people gather to talk about their past, about their life, about what happened in their jobs, etc.
Can you imagine if we were to gather with people to have new ideas, to try to have ideas that have never been thought of before? I think that is the type of spark of creativity that happens when you are talking about what you feel passionate about.
But then you have on the other hand the aspect of communication. When it comes to talking about what I feel passionate about, I often feel the need to be mindful of the person that is listening. Because before I know it, I could be the only one talking and perhaps the person in front of me can’t wait for me to finish.
I recently learned that the brain registers 20 seconds at a time. What this means is that anything that you say after 20 seconds will not make the necessary impact on the person hearing it. This is why it is good to be constantly be checking in if the person listening to you is still with you or not.
This is where I go back to the point of being a minimalist. It has allowed me to remove from my life the things that I don’t need and I have been able to be more mindful of the things that I feel passionate about.
So. Next time you find yourself just about to ask the question “What do you do?”, try changing it for:
“What do you feel passionate about?”
