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Hi DI folks, how were the hikes last year??
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I mean, yes and no.
Doing a job you hate will likely lead to burnout (and it’s hard to be really good at something you loathe) and just because you love something doesn’t mean there is a market for it and someone will pay you for it - but figuring out what excites you is a good place to start. Ideally, there will be elements of your job you like, but the passion projects might be what you pursue on the weekends, with the money you earned from a job you don’t hate.
I like my job and have for the most part, but if I became independently wealthy tomorrow, I would not do this for free.
The people I know who are happiest at work like their jobs, but they aren’t necessarily passionate about them - but their jobs enable them to pursue the activities they love.
The people I know who are truly passionate about their jobs are either workaholics (if it’s a corporate job) or broke (if it’s not).
Interesting I thought people in finance just love money. Good for them who can convince themselves there’s meaning. Share any words from the wise bc I haven’t heard any compelling cases. Agree more to be passionate about than a job
Whoever asked you "who are you?" to help you decide between jobs did you a disservice. You don’t need to solve your entire identity when assessing opportunities.
Just for giggles: I dreamed of being a ballerina, excelled in algebra and languages, dropped out from my economics degree, got bored translating professionally, moved into photography, and ended up doing executive advisory because I can do it in a way no one else can.
Who am I? No, really? 😆
The "passion" and "excitement" questions have the same problem as “who are you”. In most people's minds they translate into "something outside corporate," which then leads straight to "will the market pay for me to do that." That's a much bigger and scarier question.
A lot of what's been said in this thread aren’t absolute truths either. Workaholics don't have to be greedy or egotistical — there are a ton of reasons people overwork that have nothing to do with ego, from not knowing how to say “no”, to something as deep as "my family was homeless once, I will do anything so my family doesn’t end up there."
Here's a different way in. Reese Witherspoon recently said "follow your talents, not your dreams," and the internet got divided over it.
Mostly because people think talent is reserved for creative or athletic professions. Talent is actually just your naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior, productively applied. People who love finance love working with numbers and seeing stories in data. Some people go into finance for the salary and end up hating it — that's chasing a (money) dream, not following a talent.
This is really the zone of excellence versus the zone of genius conversation. You can excel at something that you actually don’t want to be doing. But even here the question isn't "who are you" or "what are you passionate about," it's closer to "what's your natural wiring, and which of these two jobs lets you use more of it."
Your natural wiring also helps you with defining with much more precision your own unique values which then helps with deciding which employer is more or less appropriate for you, specifically.
Another point worth making: corporate doesn’t have to be “a means to an end".
What is at that end? Without knowing your own natural wiring, you can hit 5-10 in your career, and land in the exact same spot, just older. I see this all the time in my coaching conversations.
Both women and men in their mid-, late 40s or early 50s are struggling with articulating what they are great at or how to talk about it in a way that gets them hired. And these are not the folks who are at lower levels in a company. I’m talking about executive-level folks.
I recorded a video in response to Reese’s point about dreams vs talents. Link below.
If you want to talk to someone who'll ask you sharper questions than "what are you really passionate about" to help you decide between various paths, please feel free to reach out. I’ve got you ❤️ undimmable.life
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I think it's unrealistic.
If you ask me what I'm really passionate about, I'd be doing something athletic or with animals.
But realistically, I don't want to do that all day. I don't want a job where if I get injured, I'm not getting paid. I am super happy to have that as my hobby.
As long as you find it interesting, and it gives you the life you are passionate about, then it's the right way to go.
Corporate is a means to an end. It works if you have a plan. I plan on only doing it for five more years and I find gratitude in the fact that I work with people I like, get paid well for mostly intellectually stimulating work. It’s by no means my life‘s work. It’s not aligned to who I am, but it’s right for me right now.
I’m very clear on what it is to me and setting clear expectations to ensure I’m not endlessly a corporate slave. It’s not boundaries to be rigid but finding what works for both parties involved to ensure I’m still meeting relatively high expectations.
The beauty is, everyone is facing this under their corporate façade. Being honest while still delivering company goals is liberating. Sometimes I’m doing interesting stuff. Sometimes it’s mundane and during the drudgery I remind myself why I made this decision to get me through the harder parts.
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You can pull out elements of work you enjoy and the types of people you like working with. Personally, I have had roles in multiple industries and loved all the work, but it was the people who made it special or horrible. Unfortunately your boss has the most impact on your experience and it’s hard to know what they will be like just from an interview.