Ed. Note: This is a post that ran on USNEWS yesterday, except my editor changed the title to “How To Love the Job You’re With.” That’s ok, she does a great job of editing. But I got absolute no credit for me, a baby boomer, who likes country music, Elvis, the Beatles and even F. Sinatra, with my last paragraph reference to Lady Gaga, the 23-year music sensation. I have shoes older than her.
Truth: I am a dad myself, write a blog called “What Would Dad Say,” have gray hair, and am active in an employment media site called LinkUp. All of which means I get a lot of questions and comments from Generation X-er’s and Y’ers on job related manners.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Gen X and Y. I really do. But I am not in agreement with all the trend-setting books that purport to know how to manage or lead them. I have a feeling that most of those writers haven’t led anyone anywhere.
I believe that traditional leadership models work no matter what the age group, business model in place, situation or industry niche. We can debate that at another time.
There is one thing that I do hear more now from the younger generations. It is that feeling or wish on their part to have a meaningful career or to have an impact on others or most commonly said in this version: “I want to find a job that I can be passionate about.”
Don’t we all, don’t we all? We all wanted this, but we just didn’t verbalize or articulate it as often or forcefully. So, when you tell this to your parents, trust me, they “get it.” And they certainly want you to have a great job and to be passionate about it because they know this is a guaranteed pathway to a happy and productive worklife.
I say “go for it, and good luck.”
But, on behalf of baby boomer parents everywhere, let me share something with you that is a harder advice to give…and even to receive.
Never forget that passion can be found in all sorts of jobs that you know nothing about. Yet. For every worker at Taco Bell that you think has sold out or hates it, I can find you another who thinks this is the best job ever. My belief is that most jobs can be bigger than the people holding them—so, by that definition, one can find passion by trying to figure out how to make this crummy-on-the-outside type job a fantastic career choice.
The real problem it seems to me is when the quest for that passion-producing job becomes something that paralyzes you. You can never find the perfect job. Something is always wrong. It is never quite the thing you wanted.
It’s like having your own raincloud over your head, constantly. You just know the sun is shining over the next horizon, but you can never quite make the journey.
Instead, you fall into the trap of believing that those with passionate jobs were somehow selected, lottery-like. You begin to muddle through, hoping for that one person—maybe a gray haired, career advisor type person—to select YOU for this one job.
Even Lady Gaga worked at her “job,” no one picked her off the subway platform and said, “Stefani (her real name), I want to make you a star.”
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As “As “a gray haired, career advisor type person” myself, I’d love to hear people’s opinions on this……
So my BA 3000 class — weigh in on this!
Thanks for stopping by MacKenizie. I have passed gray and am on the way to white. Does that help?
I totally agree that we won’t find a perfect job….
If we don’t decide what’s most important to you about a job, you will never be satisfied because someone else’s job can always look better since you don’t entirely know what his job really is like untill you have it.
So I need to really decide what I really want in my job….and not regret that I didn’t choose other options because no matter what you choose you will find something you don’t like!
I definitely agree with this blog.
I feel that passion has to be one of the top priorities of the job though.
I understand that it may not be directly related to the passion that you intended on
but if you are able to find a way to transfer it to your passion or even discover a
new passion you will have less stress and a happier life. I personally feel that people
must have some sort of passion in order to stay with the career they have. It may not
be based on the career itself, but there is some reason that they stick with it.
I am in agreement. I am somewhat of a pessimist, and so I tend to doubt my ability to find a job/career that I will be passionate about. However, it is my opinion that I should continue to strive for one until I can find it. There will be good and bad elements about almost all careers. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a career you love and you will be happy. If you don’t have such a career, you can still be happy, but it’s going to be a bit harder since your work life is a huge part of your life.
Here’s to hoping we can all find jobs we are passionate about!
There is definitely a job out there for everyone, but the author is right- finding a job, staying there, and not looking to where the grass might be greener is tough. We seem to be conditioned to always want a larger paycheck, a bigger house, more prestige, and it may be difficult for our generation to be happy with what we have. Not that motivation and improvement are bad things, but I can see how someone couldn’t be happy while constantly trying to find the perfect job.
The two questions in the video aim for us to be introspective and decide what we want to do. I’ve believe that visualizing a goal and writing it down someplace you see it daily will lead to you working towards and meeting that goal, and I think that idea is similar to the one contained in the question, ‘What’s my sentence?’ By deciding what you want your future(self), or a part of it, to look like and by reflecting on your progress, you can reach your goals and lead a more fulfilling life.
I agree completely with this post. It is the number one priority to enjoy your job, or to be passionate about your job, yet it is so important to understand that sometimes other jobs will look more appealing. I always try to keep in mind when I see a more appealing option, to be careful to not judge too quickly. Often times you are only seeing the positives of the “other” situations (in this case jobs,) and are not fully understanding the entire picture. There are ups and downs of every situation and job. You just need to make sure that for the largest part of it you are experiencing the positive aspects. Now, I am not at all saying that there aren”t jobs that you can be completely passionate about, but I am agreeing with the idea that there is no “perfect” job. Finally, no matter what career path you choose, you will never be 100% satisfied 100% of the time. In order to be happy you must simply make the best out of each and every situation in which you are put.
I have always hoped that I will someday find a job that I am passionate about. I firmly believe this is possible for me, as long as I remain optimistic and open to new experiences and opportunities. During my junior year of high school I attended a city-wide career fair put on by an organization promoting job growth in North Dakota. At this event I spoke with an older “gray haired” man who was previously left a teaching job which he loved to become an accountant. He strongly disliked the new job as an accountant and told as that life and careers are all about the money. He said that he makes more now, dislikes his job, but the money is what is important. He further added that despite his dislike for the job, the higher income allowed him to have more fun on the weekends.
I will never forget this “gray haired” man and I sincerely hope that one day when I am old and “gray haired”, I will be able to look back and say… I love my job and there is a balance of passion and income for me.
Students, Thanks a lot. I am glad you are all being thoughtful about this. Passion comes from inside you, not from the outside. If you go through all the possible jobs and look for those jobs only that create passion for you, instead of you bringing passion to the job…it will be a very long work career for you. Far better to learn how to create that feeling in yourself. I wrote a little mini book called StartUP, which is for entrepreneurs in the main, but might have some ideas on how you can create your own passion. visit http://www.startup100tips.com
Tell me what you think.
But thanks for visiting, and I hope you come come back often.
Alex,Danielle,Paige, Jordan, and Ally…if you were stocks, I would buy each of you.
Seeing how reality leads most people to have many job through out their lives leads me to believe that one’s passion isn’t really disscovered right away. I think certain experiences in different jobs help you realize what you like and don’t like. That is why I will be willing to go through a couple jobs before I find one that I truly like that also supports my passion.
My name was spelt wrong in the above post.
`LYNN GOSERUD
Reality leaves me to believe one must go through many jobs to truly find their passion. One must have many experiences in diferent jobs to truly find what they like and don’t like. Knowing this, i will be willing to try out a few jobs, and realize I won’t find one that I love until I have worked those few jobs.
I think its impossible to look at anything like this in terms of absolutes. There has to be something you find passion in, whether its seen easily or has to be discovered, and while someone can find passion in the fast-food industry, I would find it impossible to be in a similar career which involved little to no intellectual stimulation. I agree that no one job will be “perfect” when searching, and looking forward to experiencing many different environments to find the one that fits me, one which I can be happy going to.
I agree with some points of this article. To me, there are many people who find one job boring, but another can find it amazing. The Taco Bell analogy hit it right on the head. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. To be quite honest though, I feel like there are certain people who are chosen “lottery-like” to get that perfect job. Again, no one may like EVERY aspect of their job, but one must work at it to find every great aspect possible, because it won’t come on a silver platter. I do somewhat disagree with his comment on the viewpoints of Generation X & Y. From my perspective, most people my age (and maybe this just seems true because Carlson is so competitive) want to simply get ahead. Whether that be in the job search, in salary, in school, etc., they just want to be better. Until this class, when we started speaking about passion and our values, things like that never come up in regular conversation with my friends. Not that it’s not something we care about, but I don’t make it out to be our “motto.”
An interesting post, and one I tend to agree with. You have to work at what you enjoy and then if you are passionate about it you will become good at it and if you are good at you will eventually be well paid at it.
passionate about + paid well = success
that what i think anyway