Do (NOT) Follow Your Passion

Are you doing what you love?

Are you following your passion?

Or, as Joseph Campbell states, are you following your bliss?

It is a question I hear posed on a daily basis asked in different ways.

There are two fundamental flaws to these questions.

1. You may love to do something, but that does not necessarily mean you are skilled at it.
2. You may love to do something, but that does not mean there is a market for those services.

There are also elements of most any job that goes beyond the job title and description. For example, teaching is only a small segment of what you do as a school teacher. You also have to be a specialist in conflict resolution, sometimes a disciplinarian. You have to grade papers, reports, so you have to be adept at time management and meeting deadlines. You have to be a good communicator not only with the students, but also to parents, and to the principal of the school.

When calculating up the number of hours in the day the amount of time actually doing what you love may be minimal.

There is also the ROI factor to be calculated into the equation.  What is the actual return on investment?

When speaking to children, and to young adults entering into the work force, I ask a few additional questions beyond what it is that they love to do. I ask, “What are you really good at?” And ask them to define, “What are your skill sets?” Also, “Is there are a market for what you love to do not only today but in the future projecting 5, 10, and 20 years from now?” Plus, probably the most important question “Is it sustainable?”

There is also a misnomer that you have to do what you love in order to be happy. That is simply not true. Instead, you can love what you do (no matter what you are doing).

Several years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with the garbage man and asked how he liked his job. To my surprise, he enthusiastically replied, “I love it.  The hours are great. It pays well, especially since I don’t have an education. Best of all, I don’t have to deal with people.”

I doubt many would have “garbage man” on their list as something they would love to do, but it needs to be done. It is an honorable job. Someone has to pick up the trash, and if you do, why not make the best of it? Instead of seeing the negatives, how about looking at all that this position offers?

Although many municipalities are going to a more automated waste management system requiring less personnel, there is still a market. Most importantly, it is a sustainable position that earns him enough to take care of him and his family.

On the other hand, there are teachers I know who moonlight at night, because their salary is not sustainable. They love teaching, but love for the job is waning for many of them. They went into teaching specifically, because that is what they love. That is their passion. They followed their bliss, which is in stark contrast to the garbage man.

It is an ever changing world.  Being ahead of the curve, knowing and understanding your skill sets, and what makes you most marketable, is critical to sustainability.

The garbage man, John, he spends his free time with his family and his friends. That is really what he loves to do.  The job is a means to an end. It is not what he does that he loves, but he loves what he is doing because it meets his objective.

He also appears to be much happier than most of the people he is picking up trash for as he quickly continued on his route whistling to himself as he drove off into the sunset.