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| A Very Cute Baby, If I Do Say |
The backlash against the simple mantra, "follow your passion" raises some very important concerns, as I detailed in my last post. Cal Newport, Walter Isaacson and Reid Hoffman all point out that the phrase is not only idealistic and over-simplified, but also misleading in it's expectations of young people embarking on new careers.
However, I'd hate to think that, due to the onslaught of equally simplistic headlines to the tune of "Don't Follow Your Passion!" we would throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and forget the passion piece entirely.
(Because how can you throw out that sweet little angel baby above? The cheeks alone are priceless!)
The media has certainly been trying to do just that, jumping into the "don't follow your passion" fray with typical gusto. The Huffington Post, for example, in a recent article titled, "Warren Buffet's Predictable Career Advice: Follow Your Passion," criticized the billionaire mogul when he told Forbes Magazine,
"I always tell college students to take the job that you would take if you were independently wealthy. You're going to do well at it."
Hmmm.... call me crazy, but that seems like sound career advice to me! And why not follow the wisdom of an 82 year old man who is one of the best investors and philanthropists in the world? Especially since he also speaks from experience, as someone who pursued his passion for finance from an early age.
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With all of this bad press, someone needs to come to passion's defense, don't you think? And I suppose I'm the perfect person for the job, since I've been on both sides of the "follow your passion" fence.
I spent many years confused and frustrated because I couldn't figure out what passion to focus on in order to make a contribution. That was very real to me, that hole I felt in my life. My identity and self-worth withered away while I struggled to find a direction to pursue. Had I read Newport's book during that period of time I would've hurled it out the window in frustration, yelling, "How can I use the 'craftsmen approach' when I know WHAT CRAFT to hone?!!"
Which is one of the many reasons why I contend that finding one's career passion- or passions, as the case may be- is one of those values that deserves preserving.
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These days, in today's shaky economic climate, the notion of allowing yourself some introspective time to discover your interests and then plan a corresponding course of action is a tough sell.
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(Trust me, I know. I have to sell it every day.)
Many in the older generations- especially parents who were looking forward to empty nests versus ones filled with little birdies coming back to roost (indefinitely)- tend to applaud the "forget about your passion" slogans. They may, understandably, find it an answer to the current unemployment rate- currently nearing 12%- of the Millennial Generation.
In other words, "Forget about your what your so-called "calling" is and just get a #*@#$ job!"
However, if young people don't take any time to determine what motivates and fascinates them, they are going to end up like so many of my clients in their late 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, who seek my help because they skipped on the introspection entirely and determined their careers by looking at the so-called "practical" elements: good money, industry outlook (think of any "Fastest Growing Careers!" article,) and perceived stability.
Trying to be practical, these individuals (yours truly included) ignored their passions and interests entirely, went for the quickest and "surest" bet they could find, and in turn found themselves unhappy or maybe even unemployed several months or years or even decades later. This is because they were unable to compete with colleagues who were a better fit for- and more interested in- their work.
What's more, after six months, or five years, or even 25 years (and perhaps thousands of dollars in student loans) the only thing they figured out was what doesn't suit them, rather than what does.
How practical is that?
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| I'm feeling quite passionate about this pie, actually. |
So here are two main insights that I believe we can gain from this "Do-vs.-Don't-Follow-Your-Passion" career debate and still keep the passion portion in tact.
1. False Expectations are Bad Enough, but NO Expectations are Worse.
We need to prepare graduates for the fact that a career is not going to be fulfilling and chock full of passion right from the beginning. Young career starters can't expect fulfillment to come without putting in ample time and hard work, as Newport shows us in his many examples.
He emphasizes the fairly common knowledge among seasoned professionals that the more effort we put into a career the more we will reap the rewards that come with those efforts.
But I believe there's an important distinction to be made between working hard at just any job versus one that's in our general field of interest and abilities. These elements give us the motivation day in and day out, and the competitive edge we need to succeed.
And that's one of the main problems we see in the workforce today: many people have no idea what to expect from themselves or their career, mainly because they have no idea what career field they should even be playing in. Will they really benefit from working hard to build what Newport calls "career capital" over the years if they're in the wrong field altogether?
In my experience, both personally and in working with clients, the answer is a resounding "no."
They will most likely gain nothing other than the presumed monetary rewards and increased responsibility, both of which will be short-lived if they don't excel at their job. Most importantly, even if those extrinsic rewards come about, that typically isn't enough to sustain them.
Bottom Line: Figure out your playing field, then get in the game, even it means you have to start by warming up the bench. Knowing you're in the right field motivates you to work hard, play hard and win.
2. Houston: We Have a Word Problem
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| Photo credit: NASA |
Another point Newport, Isaacson and Hoffman inadvertently bring up is a semantics problem that no one seems to include in the public discourse, and that is: we all view "passion" in a different way.
(Remember, we're talking about careers here, My Friend, so let's not allow our imaginations to get crazy!)
For some people, a passion drives them to make a difference in the world. It's intense, and visceral, meaningful and, ultimately, personal. Most of my clients, for instance, use the term in describing their motivation to work hard, as do I.(Heck, they may even throw around romantic terms such as "purpose" and "calling" in there too! Talk about craaaazzy!)
But some people don't relate to the word in the least. It's way too touchy feely and dramatic for them and doesn't aptly describe how they see their work- no matter how much they enjoy it.
Take my sister, for example. She is an advocate, gifted author and blogger for lupus awareness as well as an inventor of products that help people with chronic illnesses. She motivates hundreds of people every day to keep going despite Lupus and their many other setbacks. (Can you tell I'm a proud sister?!)
But she never EVER uses the word "passion" to describe what she does for a living. That term is just not part of her vocabulary, being more of the Thinking than the Feeling Type.
While my sister is a fairly open-minded individual and can respect the passion other people feel for their work, other individuals are a bit more, well, perplexed by the whole prospect. These are the people who tend to hear "follow your passion" and equate it with pure, unadulterated idealism.
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| "I love you, even though you're an ... well, you know." |
Tell them that you're toying with the idea of following your passion and they'll assume you're going to:
2. Join an artist's commune in Oregon and
3. Prolifically engage in smoking a substance that, until November, was illegal in all 50 States.
(Oh, and clothing is probably optional at this freewheeling commune of yours.)
So, given these different perspectives, how do our headline-grabbing authors view passion?
Stay tuned until next time, when I shall reveal all in my concluding post, "49 1/2 Shades of Passion."
(I know, who writes these headlines??!)
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