Nov 19

Stop Looking For Passion In Your Work: 6 Steps to Finding Purpose and Fulfillment In Your Career

As children we frequently imagine ourselves in different occupations during our playtime – a fireman, a teacher, an astronaut, a mechanic, a ballerina, or a doctor to name a few – as a fun way to explore our interests. Then we grow up, stop playing, and go to school to uncover our “passion” and prepare for work.  For some of us, our future career choice may come from a strong inner-sense and enthusiasm for something specific, while others are guided by well-meaning family and teachers who think they know what we should do, and others jump from occupation to occupation never really finding a job that interests them.  As we grow older, our career decisions become based on practicality  – whatever job we can get in the moment or the job we think will pay us the most; as a result we are left feeling unfulfilled, dispassionate and unhappy with work.

It seems in those moments of career disenchantment someone will inevitably say, “well, what are you passionate about?  Do that!!” For those of us who didn’t know what we wanted to be or do from the start, this simple comment is frustrating and discouraging at the same time.

Forget about uncovering some secret passion – there’s too much pressure in that. Instead think outside the box about the stuff you already do and explore what you can do with it.

Step 1: Write down 10 (or more) things you enjoy doing – these are activities that lift your spirit and energize you.  This list doesn’t have to be work related. Its purpose is to be a resource list when looking for work that is more in alignment with your natural interests and skills.

Step 2: Identify things you are naturally good at. When you’re feeling stuck, it’s easy to negatively judge yourself and overlook natural talents.  Are you able to strike up a conversation with anyone? Do you know how to stick to a budget and keep your checkbook balanced? Are you really organized? Are you a go-getter who can get things done? All are examples of natural tendencies that can lead you to finding work that aligns with your interests.

Step 3: Go through your lists and look for patterns, commonalities and connection among the items you’ve listed and connect them with fields of interest (where possible). For example, you may have written down you love walking your dog and volunteering at the local pet shelter. That could translate into working with animals. You really enjoy baking, finding new recipes, going out to eat and writing. Consider starting a food blog.  You love helping people, organizing closets, interior decorating and you read a lot about feng shui; consider becoming a professional organizer or home stager.

Step 4: Research people you can network with who may be in a field of interest you identified, and connect with them.  Set up a time to talk to them to ask them questions about their career—what kind of requirements does it take to get in that profession? What do they enjoy most about it, what do they like the least? If they could change one thing about their career journey what would it be?   What advice do they have for someone starting out in that profession?

Step 5: Complete the Ideal Career exercise to help you fine-tune the characteristics you want in your career and begin to get specific about the type of culture and people you want to work with.

Step 6: Spend time each morning planning one way to get closer to your interest. You could find ways your current job will help you prepare for your next step; you could set aside time to research more about careers that align with your interests; you could make a list of 20 people you admire in your new area of interest and commit to learning more from therm (online or reach out to them in person) or you could create a comprehensive plan for making your career move.

Focusing on these six steps will help you identify the types of activities you enjoy and get you thinking outside the box about your interests as part of your next career move.  You don’t need passion to find purpose and fulfillment. You may even discover you knew all along what you wanted to do but were too scared to go after your dream—or you may discover you have newly aligned interests that will propel you and your career forward.

For more assistance in forgetting passion to find purpose and fulfillment at work, consider hiring a coach to help you. Click here to learn how coaching can help you live your best life.

Laura Treonze, serves as Chief Life Strategist with LMT Consulting, which helps executives and teams create massive success through self-awareness. Her life-changing approach has transformed individuals and families and has redefined the way non-profits and corporations “do” business.