Forget Passion
‘Do what you love’ is a common encouragement for guiding career and future goals.
I have often struggled with this directive and what it implies. It ignores some practicalities that blind many of us from our passion. Money, exposure, guidance, and choice aren’t realities for many people. I have no memory of discussing college, courses of study, or career aspirations as a young person. My career exposure included my parents’ factory or administrative jobs and the most present fields of work, school teachers, nurses, retail workers, and religious leaders. The backbone of society, but certainly not the full picture of choices.
Forward Momentum
I am nearing forty and still working toward certifications and training to support my career goals. Despite having advanced degrees and fifteen years of work experience, I wonder, assess, and decide with every workday. While to many, this may seem to be a failure to find clarity, purpose, and direction, looking at the fuller picture, I realize I did not have the environment that could support me finding my path any sooner.
Instead, I choose a different directive. A more complex guide that rests my decisions on more than a feeling or passion.
Embrace starting and restarting as many times as is needed. Going down any career path or trajectory doesn’t have to be forever. Having this mindset can take away the hesitation to make any decision for fear of getting it wrong.
Build skills that are transferable and are applicable in any workplace. Every workplace can use more emotional intelligence, the ability to “sell” an idea or convince others, and clear, effective communication.
Develop confidence, self-awareness, and inner knowing. If you decide to career hop, you may find that you start at the bottom each time you start a new organization. Or that you need to quickly prove your skills and abilities to work on the projects or teams of your choosing. No matter where you are, build these skills to identify what you like easily and don’t, so you are making thoughtful rather than reactive decisions for your next steps.
If you find yourself still finding your way, possibly frustrated by your path, sometimes feeling like a failure, I say welcome. I know more of you than not and am delighted to have the company.