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Find your passion vs bring your passion?

Started by nycrite, October 11, 2018, 05:59:56 PM

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nycrite

I've heard two somewhat different views on work and passion.

Countless times, I hear people discuss finding their passion. Some employers will like or dislike a candidate because of her/his level of passion. Is finding one's passion truly feasible, or is it a bunch of BS? For instance, I get satisfaction from building insightful Tableau dashboards, but I don't consider it a passion. Is this word an impossible ideal when it comes to work?

Less often, I hear experts claim that instead of finding one's passion, one should bring passion to their work, whatever that may be. Instead of looking for what makes us tick, go in with a passion for hard work, even if it's cleaning toilets for a living. To me, this seems more realistic and attainable.

What do others think?

Hayden

I think that sometimes "finding your passion" is misleading. Take American Idol for example. Lots of people on that show have a passion for singing, but are awful at it. I think that finding your motivation might be more the key. If you're financially motivated by keeping a picture of a brand new Porsche GT3 on your wall, then you might show passion in your work to try and obtain a promotion even if it's not your ideal job scenario in order to achieve bonus money. On the other hand, you may have motivation to provide for your kids and you use that to motivate yourself to work harder in your job. Being satisfied and feeling accomplished from doing work is sdifferent that passion if you ask me.

Whenever I think of "finding my passion" I think of what motivates me. I do stuff that I generally enjoy and then use self motivation and my goals to drive the work ethic. Everyone needs motivation or a "why?" For their work.... or else you are just going to get complacent.
Very Respectfully,
Hayden

joshskies

I think Art of Manliness said it best (albeit a bit long-winded). Everyone has a job, a career, and a vocation.

----Your Yob is what you do to survive, what you're good at doing that gets you paid.
----Your Career is a reflection of your hard work within the job that allows you to flourish within that job.
----Your Vocation is what you're born to do. What was given you as a birthright that is hard-coded into your being that allows you to have purpose. Your passion.
----They aren't mutually exclusive, and those who make money in their vocation have worked hard to get there. The lucky few who make great money in their vocation are just that. lucky.
----The rest of us earn our way into it. We work hard day by day to get to a point where we can be happy to afford a life to pursue (either while working or by going for it all) what that burning passion is.

Or that's the main gist of what I interpreted what was written in those articles.
I highly recommend the read.
this guy!!---> https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/finding-your-calling-part-i-what-is-a-vocation/


In a nutshell, I think using the term passion is misleading. I love making a good spreadsheet, but it doesn't give me fulfillment. I think I may have answered your topic correctly! its a subject that's really easy to follow a tangent for. Good post!

~joshskies

Sydney

#3
Your post totally reminds me of a blog post, Don't Follow Your Passion: Bring It With You For Success. I am a fan of bring your passion, especially after listening to the TED radio hour podcast featuring Mike Rowe.

Of course, if one has something they really are passionate about and are exceptionally skilled in then by all means it's be wonderful to take that and hustle to turn it into a career. I think that's not really feasible for most people though, thus "bring your passion" is more realistic imo.


nycrite

Thanks joshskies and Sydney for your recent replies. I read through both blog posts. I would conclude that although finding one's passion is cliché, it can be invaluable if properly attained. Finding one's passion can take time, reflection, and even some trial and error. Moreover, it's not an excuse to be complacent. So in the meantime, one can bring passion to her/his work, even if it's not 100% one's true calling.

carlosrosado

I think "find passion" is real workable during work perfermance. The impact of work passion on work performance: the moderating role of P-O fit and meaningfulness of work, details from https://docsbay.net/the-impact-of-work-passion-on-work-performance-the-moderating-role-of-p-o-fit-and-meaningfulness-of-work

Sam

Not sure. I think it's pretty obvious if someone is passionate about something or not.

I'm passionate about personal finance and writing, which is what has allowed me to keep going for 10 years. Publishing 3X a week for this long is not easy. And it would have been impossible if I wasn't passionate about it.

I've found my passion... but it took me about 10 years to find it after college.
Regards,

Sam

chrismoneystir

Personally, I've found passion in my day job in solving problems. But I'm not necessarily passionate about how I solve those problems. I don't hate it, and some days I like it, but it has served me well. My blog on the other hand, is 100% fueled by passion. Sometimes it feels like work, but my passion helps me work through the parts that aren't as enjoyable.

Whatever you can do to increase your value with your day job, will benefit you over the long term. But I generally look at my current day job as being termporary until I can fund our lifestyle by having more flexibility with my time. That is my ultimate goal.

FinancialNordic.com

This is a tough one. It's obvious that cleaning toilets is not THE PASSION for 99.99% of the people. Still, it does not mean that you can't be passionate when cleaning toilets. You can pump and condition yourself to feel like a king before your cleaning routine and clean like a boss and have more fun while doing it than your friends who are working in that nice white-collar job and whining all the time.

However, you can fool yourself only a day or two if you don't enjoy your job. Eventually, one must find something that has a purpose. Something meaningful.  My passion is to learn as much as possible and help other people while doing it. 8)
Blogging about financial freedom and online entrepreneurship at Financialnordic.com