Passion in Work is a Journey, Not a Destination
I’m often asked questions about career management or career transitions. One question in particular had to do with knowing “passion” in my work. I was asked, “It seems that you really have a passion in what you do. How did you find your passion? Like what you said on the other day in your post, “4 Reasons Why those Non-Dream Jobs are Important to You,” there are some significant reasons to work in the “non-dream job” for a while, sometimes I wonder if what I’m doing is my true calling.” I love the candor in the question. This person senses or knows they are not “passionate” about their current job or profession. So I answered to the best of my abilities.
Passion. How Did I Get Here?
Well, passion sometimes isn’t a job as much as it is the skills that you use in a job. I wasn’t passionate about product marketing for a health care technology company. I read business books to learn new skills for the job. However, I learned was that I really did enjoy “management” so I would read more and more, then my master’s program teachings kicked in and before I knew it I wanted to be a manager. I also like building new things and processes.
Over time, I ended doing product management, landing jobs that required me to create processes. Eventually, I ended up starting a marketing department for an early stage company. I was at the right place at the right time to become a VP. In my role, there was a second need for me to manage our channels and develop processes for channel management, which I did. Then there was a third need for sales operations so I took that on. The constant themes was “managing” and “creating repeatable processes.” It was flattering to have headhunters contact me about startup or other VP of Marketing positions; however, I left my dream VP job to go full time into our LLC (BTW, I miss my direct reports and peers).
Running into the Second Dream Job
Today, I would say that this was one phase of my career in working for other companies, now I’m into another phase where I turned into an entrepreneur. That’s what I’m passionate about because I build new things and develop processes or improve existing ones. Interestingly, building a startup with my partner was completely by accident, since she turned a hobby into a successful content website. In fact, it was so successful that I had to create a LLC for her hobby for all the new sites she created in 2004. By 2005, she need me to build her a database driven website from scratch, complete with content management system, extracting-transferring-loading XML data, and combining it with other data sources. All of this work turned us into entrepreneurs and before we knew, MTV Networks wanted to acquire our web properties and the rest is history.
Passion is a Journey, Not a Destination
My point is this: passion is something that you find in the oddest places sometimes during the journey. It’s rarely a destination. One of the benefits of taking the journey is collecting as many tools as you can for your toolkit. You’ll learn to use them creatively rather than right out of the box as you learned them. Before you know it, you’ll combine and create new tools that are your own, using them artistically. Passion does cross your path on your journey. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it. The trick is monetizing this passion, whether it’s a new job so you can do it full time or starting your own gig.
Smart Lemming Advice for Those of You Looking for Your Passion
- Look for common themes on the things you’re really good at.
- Practice, practice, practice the things you’re really good at.
- Build a set of tools and templates. Master them so you can use them like an artist. Think “McGyver.”
- Constantly think in terms of business models or how you can monetize the passion that you have. Is it a job in a new industry? Is it having a big savings so you can work for yourself without the initial financial stress?
- Have patience with yourself.
- Enjoy the journey.
I know you’ll find it or it will find you. Trust me.
6 Ps of Career Management
Check out Mike Sansone’s post “The 6 Ps of BizBlog Practice” because its easily transferable to managing your career. I’ll call it the 6 P’s of Career Management:
- People - Be honest, intelligent and hardworking. They should enjoy working and talking with others as they develop and master their skill set.
- Product – Your product is your core competency For example, I always sold myself as someone who could build processes for the job I was interviewing for.
- Plan – While you may not know exactly what you want to do, assume you’ll need a five-year plan that’s dynamic. Try not to job jump. Try to find mentors and coaches during this time so you can get their feedback on how you’re doing. Build your network since that’s most likely how you’ll get your next job. Also have a roadmap that defines what new skills you want to develop. Learn skills that will differentiate yourself from others at your company.
- Profit – Yes, you have to earn a living right?
- Passion – Find your passion. Perspective employers will see it in your eyes and gestures and hear it in your voice when you discuss why you’re the right candidate for a job. Or you’ll feel it and know it if you have a burning idea that you want to build, concurrent with your existing job or leave a job to do your own gig.
- Persistence – Like Mike says, “Sticktuitiveness.” Passion can just “happen” overnight or it takes time. You have to have persistence and patience with yourself and the universe.
