Passion. Is it important?

Growing up you’re always told to follow your passion. Follow your dreams. Reach for the stars. Choose a career that interests you. Choose something that you’re going to love.  

Honestly, as a teenager that had no idea what they wanted to do with their life when they got older, it was daunting to say the least. 

Steve Jobs famously once said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” 

It’s a bold statement, but one I believe in.  

Think about your last goal that you completed for work. How did it make you feel? Excited, accomplished, or maybe relieved? Many people confuse achieving day-to-day business goals with performing truly satisfying work. In my opinion there are a few different types of people to know and understand. Where do you fit in?  

1. You’re happy at work and you love what you do – People I know that truly enjoy what they do are more optimistic, motivated, learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and make better business decisions. Loving what you do is an overall productivity booster and enhances your performance. 
2. You don’t love what you do for a living – Your job over time has just become a boring day-to-day frustration that doesn’t inspire you. A job that you continue to do every day just because you need to, not because you want to. You’ve gotten stuck in this rut of just existing and doing things the way they’ve always been done. You have no desire to grow or to learn more to better yourself. 
3. Maybe you used to enjoy what you do but that enjoyment has diminished over time. What’s caused it to diminish? What happened to those days where you loved what you do? Where you enjoyed coming to work? Can you pinpoint when it all changed? Is it possible to reverse whatever happened? 

Now that I’ve pointed out what I feel the few main types of people are, let’s talk about the differences between people who are doing what they love in comparison to those who aren’t. What separates them?  

Passion. They are passionate about what they do. A person who loves what they do has a passion that comes from somewhere deep within them. Having a passion and a love for your work means you want the job; you don’t just need it. Sometimes the money, the location, and the people do not matter as much as the fact that you are simply in a place where you are being allowed to pursue your dream/passion.  

Gratitude. When you are doing what you love, you’re being given a chance and you are thankful to achieve a goal, or maybe multiple goals, that you set out to reach from the moment you discovered your dream.  

Drive. The drive that a person has who’s doing what they love is so deeply embedded in them that they are always motivated to think about it. They are doing what they do because they can't imagine not doing it.  They are always finding ways to put out the best work and ideas they possibly can generate. They are always finding ways to improve. Ways to grow. 

Dependability. You become dependable within your workplace when you love what you do. This doesn’t just mean showing up for work every day on time. It means producing consistent work, you are detail-orientated, you take initiative, and you support your peers. As these traits come together you become an essential team player in your workplace as you build strong working relationships, not only with management but with your colleagues as well. 

Again, I’ll ask, where do you fit in? What’s your opinion on needing to love what you do? About being passionate about your job in order to be happy, successful, to feel accomplished about your work? The answer is obviously going to vary person by person.  

If you aren’t passionate and love what you do maybe it’s time to figure out what you need to do to get there. Because as many of us know, a love for what you do and being truly happy your job makes your overall life more enjoyable and in the long run can create more success for you.