by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on February 8, 2019
In my line of work and my ministry with young professionals, I know there is a huge conversation about pursuing a job that you love, or what people say “following your passion” in replacement of what they currently do for a living.
So basically if you are an accountant and you want to be a writer because it is your passion per se, you’ll quit your job, and risk-taking find a writing job and become a writer for life.
The question here is not whether you want to pursue your passion. After all, who doesn’t want to work in a job that he loves? The real issue is whether your passion is worth pursuing.
Not all passions are worth pursuing.
By strictly looking at the real meaning of passion, passion refers to “suffering.”
Here is the truth, not until you face and overcome real problems that will challenge your thoughts, your emotions and your professionalism (and ultimately, find yourself almost in suffering), you can never call an activity your passion.
Does it mean passion is no longer part of the equation?
NO. It means you’ve got to sort through all your seemingly passion activities if they are worth pursuing.
1. Go where your skills are present.
Skills are underrated. People ignore skillset and go where their emotions are high.
In a practical sense, you can’t pursue a profession just because it’s your hype. The marketplace is looking for and requiring skills from people to solve a particular need of the customers.
Do I have skills in this passionate activity? And when I say skills, it refers to both hard (technical) and soft skills. Are you good at graphic design and can honestly say to yourself you can get a job with it?
The good thing in today’s time is that you don’t have to quit your job and jump into another industry too soon. You may get a side-hustle (part-time job or ‘raket”). So while having a full-time job, you can do freelance work on a side (after your full-time working hours).
In this kind of setup, you’re not risking yourself too much compared to resigning from your full-time work and unfortunately not able to find a job that suits your passion.
The author of “Your Career Roadmap,” Nelson Dy coined the term, “passionmastery“ which refers to a job where there is an intersection of passion and mastery of skills. This means that a good profession is not just having a job that you love, it is also accompanied by the right kind of skills that will lead to professional mastery.
2. Go where you put a lot of effort.
In my younger years, I want to be a soccer player. I watched shows and live sports on Television, but if in case, a person would ask me, “What do you do to become a soccer player”?, I knew I wouldn’t have a definite answer.
Reality check, if you’re not willing to put a lot of effort into your passionate activity, it may not be worth pursuing.
By efforts, it means a lot of things:
- Are you willing to burn the midnight oil to study, learn and practice the skills that you need to become a (insert your passion here)?
- Are you committed to finding mentors with 5 to 20 years of industry experience who can guide you, give you insights, and most importantly, provide with you upfront challenges you’ll be facing in that passionate profession?
- Are you committed to investing your money in courses and formal education to have the right foundational skills and knowledge in that passionate industry?
These are just a few questions that can hopefully help you assess your commitment to that passionate activity.
Here’s a good statement from Mark Cuban of Dallas Mavericks.
“If you put in enough time, and you get really good, I will give you a little secret: Nobody quits anything they are good at because it is fun to be good. It is fun to be one of the best. But in order to be one of the best, you have to put in effort. So don’t follow your passions, follow your effort.”
3. Go where you receive great rewards.
When I say rewards, I don’t just refer to financial rewards. You can earn the highest amount of salary in your industry and yet not fulfilled in your job, even if it’s the job that you love.
You love the rewards of the job than the job itself. You may love the applause, the stage, the money and the achievements but not the job itself.
There are intangible rewards of a job like the fulfillment you get when you deliver results to a client or a customer. When you see a business or a person succeeds in his or her endeavor, and you feel it’s one of the greatest rewards – that is a good determining factor to a right passion activity.
Hopefully, these factors can help you trim down all of the passions that you have in mind to just one.
MORE THAN YOUR PASSION: YOUR PURPOSE
Does this article say your passion is not important?
No.
Passion is important, but there is a more important word than it. That is purpose.
When you have understood your identity, it gives a whole new level of meaning and purpose. And regardless of whether you hate or love your job or whether you succeed or fail, as long as you are standing firm in your purpose, you’ll never go wrong.
So to say, “Make your passion be your profession.” Think again, what kind of passion am I pursuing?
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