Careers for the Passion-Minded

(Caution: Buzzkill Ahead!)

As I said in my last post on Passionate Politics and Careers, strongly held values make up a healthy portion of the ideal career path for the passion-minded individual.  However- and yes, I admit to being a Debbie Downer here-it's important to consider the breadth and nuances of the path you'll be embarking on before diving in headfirst.

For the idealistic go-getters of the world- the brave ones who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and help those most in need- it's easy to get caught up in the emotional aspects of a cause and charge ahead blindly.  Anger, outrage, empathy and fierce determination are among the many strong emotions that tend to drown out the finer, more practical aspects of the potential career path.

Instead of letting those emotions completely take over the show, consider the following as you choose which passion-filled career path to take:

1. Requisite Natural Abilities. Determine whether or not you possess a talent that can help the cause you believe in. Being able to carry out day-to-day functions is critical. Sure, many skills and talents can be developed with hard work, that's a given, but a person can only stretch a non-strength so far every day all day.  In small organizations, especially in the non-profit world, margins are tight, demanding a lot of productivity from each employee.  Well-honed, natural abilities allow you to get the work done quickly and efficiently, whereas inherent weaknesses slow you down.

To give you an example, I did bookkeeping and financial reporting at a fairly large theatre company many years ago. (Theatre was my greatest passion at the time.) I eventually got the work done at the end of the day, but it was way too belabored and inefficient to be truly helpful.  If you've been following this blog, you'll know that this is hardly a strength of mine, as numerical details and I don't really mesh.

In fact, I would spend so much time trying to get all of the details straight that I couldn't get to the other tasks that my boss needed me to do.  Thankfully I didn't stay in that position long, as you can imagine.  Besides the misfit in strengths, I absolutely dreaded going to work every day. I eventually found teaching drama to be a more natural fit for me, and it soon became a lucrative, sustainable supplement to my acting income.

2. Temperament. Another natural inclination to consider is personality preference.  I've worked with many clients who previously pursued a career based on an interest or passion only to find that the functions they performed on a daily basis weren't a good fit for their personality.

For instance, one individual had a personality that was highly geared toward meeting human needs- a very subjective, Feeling preference.  Therefore she found that working primarily with spreadsheets- an objective, Thinking function- failed to satisfy her inclination and ability to work directly with people. Even though indirectly she was working with numbers and strategies in order to help people, after a while it wasn't enough to sustain her motivation on a daily basis.  With coaching, she moved into a position that allowed her to work more directly with the immediate needs of people, giving her renewed energy to work for the cause she believed in.

3. Environmental Considerations. And no, I'm not talking about tree hugging versus clear cutting a rain forest; rather, I'm referring to the work environment that suits you the best.  Don't get me wrong- every individual will go through different types of work settings as they move through the various stages of their career, and sometimes these settings will be anything but ideal. (There's no such thing as a flawless career journey!) But knowing in advance the hierarchical nature of the organizations who deal with your cause, as well as the culture and personalities of people who work there, will serve you well.  Not only might you save yourself from unrealistic expectations of how you'll fit into that environment, you might also prevent yourself from quickly getting burned out working for the cause that once motivated you.

3. Living Wages. Are you able to make a reasonable living (i.e. at least above poverty line) while investing your time in this cause?  What about paying off student loans?  Will you have to live at home? Or on someone's sofa? And are you comfortable with that?  If so, how long can and should you impose?

Most importantly, will you be able to stay healthy while you are pursuing this interest? In order to be able to help others, you must be able to take care of yourself mentally and physically as well as financially.  Sacrificing sleep, worrying about your safety, stressing about whether you can afford to keep your lights on or buy groceries may preclude you from being truly helpful to others or from doing the work you've always hoped to do. You alone can determine what your threshold is for mental and physical hardship and sacrifice. The more honest with yourself, the better.

4. Other Values. Yes, we all have more than one thing we value.  My clients and I spend a good amount of time prioritizing values. And because of this exercise, they end up thriving in a career path where they've maximized the scope of their interests and values.  They find that looking through a holistic lens gives them a dynamic yet grounded sense of themselves.  They see that they are more than just a proponent of a cause. They become increasingly self-aware individuals, confident of their varied sets of abilities and skills. They learn which skills they can best hone, enabling them to offer the most to their cause and better ride the inevitable ups and downs of their career journey.

5. Alternative Routes. Many roads lead to success, and working towards a value you feel strongly about is no exception.  You'd be surprised how many avenues you can take to make a difference in the world.  My clients experience tremendous success by starting with their newly discovered fleet of natural abilities and then seeing where these abilities (and skills, if applicable) can take them.  We start digging around unexplored fields where they can do work pertaining to their values as well as their talents.  Many times they go into paths they never knew existed! Or they create their own unique social enterprises.


Caution: Open Mind Required

All of these considerations take a little more time, research, patience and imagination.  They require you to think in different terms than you are used to.  They necessitate honest self-assessment, which often means turning down the emotions long enough for the objective, logical part of your brain to have a say.

But don't get me wrong- there are many atrocities and needs out there that demand every ounce of compassion and fervor you can muster, and the above considerations are not meant to be discouraging.  Instead, I hope they'll give you the momentum to do what you need to get out there and do.

And sometimes, especially if you often fall victim to the analysis-paralysis trap, you'll have to let go of the fact that you aren't going to be able iron out all of the details prior to making a career decision.  For those individuals, I recommend reading Leaping Before You Look or The Not-So-Comfie Zone .

I'll leave you with an encouraging quote from Allen Blue, co-founder of LinkedIn:

"Whenever I talk to young people, I always talk to them about finding something that they care enough about that they can build the energy behind it to acquire the skills they need. To follow that passion down the road toward something which is going to be great for them. Because it'll lead to the education, the right decisions, and the right mistakes, to get them to the right answers in the end." 

Now, go get 'em, Tiger!