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The urge to find one's passion is a relatively modern and still vague idea. Just for the sake of doing so, Google passion. You'll see its synonyms are pain, suffering, agony. It's just been glamorised as an idea lately. Like everyone has to have a passion. If there is something you want to do so badly, and you love doing so much - so much that if you were to do it unpaid, 20 hours a day etc etc (you get the picture) you would, then that's your passion. If you don't have such, then you don't. And it's not something people should strive for. I think we should all strive to see what we're good at, get better at it continuously, and add value to the wider community. That's not necessarily a passion, but a practical and beneficial way of living. #2amphilosophicalrantover
Agreed. OP: suggest continually finding chances to do things that you enjoy and are good at. A path will emerge.
I agree that following a “passion” is feel-good advice that can be unhelpful if you don’t really have one overriding passion (even if you have lots of interests). However there’s a corollary that I think is easier to relate to: be careful what you get good at, as you may wind up doing it the rest of your life. If you work at a job you really despise, you’ll get better at it but likely continue to despise it, even more so for feeling trapped in it by golden handcuffs. So its worth trying to move toward the parts of your field you enjoy most, or toward the skills you most enjoy exercising at work even if that means changing which field you apply them to.
You may not even have one related to work. If you find it isn't, you just have a job that funds discovering your happiness in life.
Mine's music. Since I'm not talented enough to be in a Broadway pit and need to pay bills, I have a good day job. 🙂
For me my passion is the people around me. I could care less about the work I do as long as I enjoy the people around me and get paid to do that. I’ve been on the most boring/stressful projects but b/c I loved my team and those I worked with they are my most fondest memories and make it feel like we’re not working. So when I look for work or a new job I look for a team or environment that gives me that warm “family” feel.
I have high functioning autism and wish I could connect with others the way you described. I try so hard but never have any genuine interest in others even though I practice small talk all the time and other view me as “social”. I’m just forcing myself praying that it eventually clicks, but really all I find myself doing is waiting for the next paycheck and surviving without any enjoyment in life.
Ill keep trying but the way you described working alongside others sounds like a dream come true. Congrats for finding happiness!
I am approaching 60 and still not sure what my true passion is work wise either
^ Well said. Passion is overrated.
Financial independence is the goal, who gives a hoot about passion and work. Do FIRE then do what brings you joy
That’s a great point D2
My passion is to solve big problems for important people and make lots of money for solving big problems for important people. The day I think I’m not getting enough of those is the day I know I need a change :D
Angela duckworth's book Grit has a chapter on this that closely mirrors what EY1 is saying but goes a bit more in depth around the concept of discovery and purposeful development of things that can become passions. I appreciated reading a pragmatic perspective / definition of passion which I think society assumes is more associated with thunderstruck moments of revelation. I read above that sometimes passion is <> to ability to pay bills though... Going in with that understanding is important to taking some pressure off of yourself. She also emphasizes trying to to find aspects of your current role to be passionate about and seizing them....maybe as almost an intermediate step to finding something more fulfilling vs. an all or nothing mindset.
Tfull disclosure: my current passions are napping and / or bingewatching Netflix.. so by no means practicing what I have learned :) ...
Will need to check this book out
OP: Ignore EY4. She/He has yet to develop empathy, probably never will 🙂
I have hope, he or she just might
I’m going back to school for my 6th different “career”. Find your passion by doing a lot of different things and determining what parts you like and don’t. For me, I loved the problem solving aspect of consulting but I hated traveling and got bored with some of the technical specialities I had. I’m now getting a masters in data science which combines problem solving, business context, math and programming which are all things I enjoy in one place.
I’m looking for a data scientist role initially - so I’ll be the guy behind the computer at least for a time. I want to really understand this stuff well - I exited as an Senior Manager at Accenture so ideally director of analytics or possibly go back into consulting.
EY1 - Very well said, I appreciate your perspective.
OW1 - I suppose my question should have been more geared towards what you are saying. How do you know if you are on the right path? How many times can you change paths before people stop believing in you, or it hurts your overall career? So as others have said maybe it’s not my “passion” I’m concerned about, but about what I’m doing now and where to go next...do you have a set of criteria to evaluate your career path?
In practical terms I think my suggestion is similar to A1: keep looking for the maximum overlap between “I enjoy this”, “People value and will pay me well for this”, and (in line with something EY1 said), “I believe this has a positive impact on my wider community / the world”. The overlap may never be perfect, but if you look across the different experiences you have or learn about (jobs overall and skills / roles that you get exposure to through the job), just keep steering toward the roles that give you a better mix of those and away from those that leave you feeling unfulfilled or undervalued. And don’t be afraid to take an occasional leap to try something that you *think* looks like a better combination of those, even if you don’t know for sure.
Omg you guys are so wise. This is so true
FWIW, my passion is traveling. Being fortunate enough to earn the salary I do allows me to fuel my passion. Pretty content with my career but I don’t geek out on it as much as some of my peers
I think Mike rowe actually has a really great take on the idea of "passion isn't for the workplace" and instead says, basically "focus on opportunity, not passion."
It's a really great Ted Talk if you have the time to watch all of it, I'd highly suggest it. I think Mike is a very well spoken man, and makes a lot of really fantastic points on people who may not be passionate, but are happy, and why.
https://youtu.be/IRVdiHu1VCc
No problem! One of my favorites honestly.
To add on to others answers, while I do enjoy technology, I find my fulfillment and “passions” outside of work. I’m involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, volunteer at a few other places, as well as through working towards fitness goals. At the end of the day I take solace in the fact that if someone or something were to happen and my job was gone, my passion would not be, if that makes sense.
Maybe we’re confusing passion with purpose? I find it hard to find meaning/value in what I do, but I’m accepting that I may not find it with my current job. Although work is emotionally draining and unfulfilling, I’m good at it; it doesn’t make me want to get out of bed. However, to many of your points, I guess work just needs to be work.
That’s why you should be building a business on the side that actually excites you. Once it’s profitable enough, you can do that full time
I can relate this this