Better to Get Messy than Follow Your Passion

I saw this article in the Washington Post and as it is that time from many high school graduations, I reflected upon my own adventure in life.

I have always liked a good adventure, and have always thought that the advice “follow your passion” was horrible advice. What if your passion is making puzzles? How do you earn money every day from making puzzles? To me “following your passion” is an easy broad brush stroke that doesn’t show you exactly how hard it is – and how you can drive yourself crazy thinking if you have chosen the right type of work.

One of my favorite shows I loved seeing with my kids was the Magic School Bus (my oldest still watches it with me to this day) because the teacher, Ms. Frizzle always made the pronouncement: "Take chances, get messy, make mistakes." This is much better advice.

Why? Because that is how life is - Over the last 26 years (time in college to the present) of my life, I have had very different careers, learning different skill sets – I learned scheduling and organization during my time working in a University Library; I learned diplomacy, tact and humor in the workplace from selling electronics, sporting goods and women’s shoes; I developed good writing skills as an online content provider for Examiner.com and developed good editing skills helping Government Printing Office printers prepare documents for publication.

Being a volunteer in local and state government positions, I learned how local educational and healthcare programs can work and understanding people’s motivations to get everyone towards the same goal.

Have I done everything perfectly? No, there has been ups and downs but also adventure and excitement in facing new challenges and having multiple careers.

I can’t really see myself in one job or career for long periods of time. One career doesn’t really work anymore and I feel that I am the better for having been involved in all of them.

As I tell my kids, change is good, it can be fun, there is always some pain but that is what growing is all about. I have learned a variety of skills that have been helpful to me in one manner or another, and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.