The Four Ways to Uncover Your Career Passion
Four Minute Read
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I recently wrote about ikigai, or “one’s reason for being,” translated from the joining of two Japanese words, “iki” - “life” and “kai” - “effect.”
Ikigai is the optimal state of enjoying the confluence of doing
what you love,
what you are good at,
what the world needs,
and what you can get paid for.
Today, I want to specifically discuss the element of what you love. Specifically, discovering what you truly enjoy doing, work or businesswise.
Many People Find It Hard to Find Their Work or Business Passion
Many people, especially the college students and early professionals I work with, don’t know what they want to do with their lives. This is largely because they haven’t been exposed to various options. They haven’t done the groundwork to determine what might work for them.
Today’s newsletter will suggest several ways to do that exploration and find something truly fulfilling.
There are four major ways people can do this.
Let’s dig into each of these types of action.
Absorb
This is a passive pursuit. Listening to people talk about an area that might interest you. Examples are watching YouTube videos of panelists in the industry, hearing an executive deliver a speech, etc. You can gather viewpoints from many different people on the Internet.
Discuss
This is an active pursuit and one that is very valuable. It’s setting up video meetings, in-person meetings, phone calls, etc. By asking a person who’s doing the job you’re interested in the right questions, you can get a good read on if what they do might be interesting. Have curious conversations, and reach out to alums from your school. During this process, you may identify people who can serve as your mentors if you take a job in their industry.
Another great way to discuss a job is to shadow someone doing it. That means hanging around and observing while they’re working. You can ask questions about what they did and why. This is a great way to learn about a job without being hired since it requires very little effort from the other person.
Do
This category is the most active. There are many ways to do things to get a sense of how interesting a job is.
Intern/co-op - this is the most valuable “do” experience type. You’ll get immersed in the industry and job. Several weeks or months of interning will give you a good sense of if a job is for you.
Volunteer - like interning, it’s a great way of learning the ins and outs of a job without a big commitment from the organization. In this case, you won’t be getting paid. But you’ll get exposed to something that could become a paid opportunity.
Pursue education - taking courses is a great way to see if something’s for you. Take a coding class to find out if you like programming. This experience typically requires you to pay for it, but you can check out a lot of online content and free courses.
Take up related hobbies and activities - making something a hobby before you commit to it as a job can be instructive. You can start a blog or podcast to see if journalism or media is something from which you could make a career.
Experimenting and trying new things - this is about taking the plunge and committing to doing a job. Sometimes you’ll never truly know what a job is like until you start. But no job is a lifelong sentence!
Finally,
Reflect
Reflection means looking inward to see if something intrigues and satisfies you career-wise. It can also be done formally through a self-assessment exercise. What energizes you? List the characteristics of activities you like and those you don’t. Think back to your earliest days. Did you like to play with electronics and computers, or were you more engaged in art and design?
When you think about previous experiences, remember the emotions you felt. Did you lose track of time during the activity? That’s commonly known as getting into flow. When you are in flow, not much else matters. You can often be your most productive and creative in flow. Introspection is very helpful in revealing what career may be right for you.
Summary
To recap:
The four major ways you can discover your career and business passion are to:
Absorb - listen, observe, and consider information, comments, and ideas
Discuss - engage in conversations about different jobs with people who do them or are very familiar with them
Do - perform the activities of a job, or do something very similar to performing a job
Reflect - look inside yourself, through some deep thinking or by using an assessment tool to draw out your feelings and preferences through a series of questions
These are four great methods to gain greater clarity on what particular careers are all about. Taken together, you can get a good sense of whether a specific job suits you.
Without a doubt, you’ll make mistakes. You’re human. But don’t let fear of a mistake dissuade you from moving ahead. The last thing you want to do is to be reluctant to do anything for fear of a misstep.
I’d like to hear about your successes and challenges in doing this. Feel free to shoot me a message at any time at neil@danzgergroup.com. I respond to every email.
Do you or someone you know need help determining what kinds of roles and companies would be great work situations? Conducting an effective job search without endlessly applying online? I coach and advise people 1:1 and in hybrid 1:1/small group settings. Learn more about my career coaching and sign up for a free 30-minute Career Solutions Call.