Want to feel Passionate about Career?

9 May 2018

There is an elusive quality that defines the careers of people who love the work they do.  Many call this passion.  When we see it in someone it looks magical, shiny and attractive.  The people who don’t have it lament its absence – they, too, want to feel passionate about their work.

Unfortunately, the pathway most people embark upon to find the work they are passionate about is flawed and reads more like a fairytale: 

Start out miserable, surrounded by evil parents, employers or conformists who all try to channel you into work that is not your passion.

• Hold tightly to the belief that there is something perfect for you, that you were made to do.
• Search, and search, and do more soul searching for insight into that one thing that is your true calling.
• Be hit by a bolt of lightning that lets you ‘know’ this is the thing you were meant to do.
• Quit doing the work that makes you miserable.
• Move into doing or learning the work that is your passion.
• Love it so much that you work really hard at it and become really skilled at it.
• Work happily ever after.

What a lovely fabled land.

For the rare princes and princesses among us this fairytale comes true.  For most of us it’s a flawed pathway.  

Let me map out a more surefire pathway to feeling what I prefer to call deep caring, rather than passion, in your career.

• Just start working in or learning something that kind of fits because doing it serves something you can careabout.
• Decide to do it well – refer to my 5 Principles of Career Success.
• As you do it take time to reflect and notice the things you do that you are skilled at that you also enjoy doing. Career Maintenance is good for doing this.
• Reflect and notice which of the things you are skilled at and enjoy doing that others value.
• Deliberately practice doing and getting better and better at those things that you are skilled at, enjoy doing and others value.
• Keep lifting the level of challenge you apply to the work as taking on more challenges makes you more skilled.
• Keep developing till you have a set of rare and valuable skills.
• With rare and valuable skills your value in the workplace increases, you become more employable, you get more autonomy, more flexibility, more choice, more options and more success.  

This ends up feeling a lot like career passion and work you love:)

As always wishing you a flourishing career.

Katherine