Passion to paycheck

The contradiction

Do what you love! Follow your passion! But make sure your job makes you enough money to buy the good things in life. This advice probably sounds both familiar and completely contradictory.

What if what you love is playing soccer or playing video games or riding your bike? How in the world are you supposed to translate that into a job which will pay you well enough to live the good life?

These are questions I pondered for a lot of years while I struggled to meld my passion and my career. The first question in the process must be “What is your passion?” The trick to answering this question in a way which can be translated into a career is to look deeper than the simple, surface level answer.

The trick

If the simple surface level answer is: “I am passionate about playing video games,” the deeper answer might be, “I am passionate about working with others to accomplish a goal” or “I am passionate about solving puzzles and riddles” or “I am passionate about looking at problems in a new way and finding unique solutions to them” or “I am passionate about challenging myself to take calculated risks.”

Do you see what I did there? Instead of thinking about the activity, I delved into what specifically is driving the enjoyment of the activity. Which aspect of the activity gets you excited? What part of your hobby brings you fulfillment? This way of looking at your passions brings both breadth and depth to your experience and that broader, deeper view can yield interesting insights into what makes you tick and how your passion can be translated into a paycheck.

You are unlikely to find someone who is willing to pay you to play video games, but using your passion for solving tricky problems or for working with others in a cooperative way could open up plenty of career possibilities which would be fulfilling and profitable.

What is your passion?

Is there a hobby you really enjoy, a specific class which strikes you, an organization which speaks to you and your values? Now, look deeper….what do you really enjoy about it? Underneath the surface activity, what skills are you using? What challenges are you addressing? What values do you have which are being met? What about this activity gives you a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment? Are there other applications for those interests? How can you leverage your passion beyond being a hobby and into being a career?

Your passion should be something which will motivate you and energize you for years to come. A passion is not a passing interest or a fad. A passion should speak to your soul as well as to your heart and your mind. It should resonate with as in your gut; your intuition and instincts should let you know that this is “your thing.”

It doesn’t have to be specific. In fact, a broad definition of your passion can be helpful in creating some flexibility in career choices. If you find that you have more than one passion, that’s even better – now you have more options. You might even find a space where your multiple passions overlap.

Personal mission statement

Once you have a clear idea of what makes you tick, what you really enjoy and what your passion is, write yourself a mission statement. We usually think about mission statements as cheesy and basically meaningless marketing tools for big businesses.

“We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience." – Amazon

“Bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services” – Apple

“Our mission is to make delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone.” – McDonalds

A mission statement can just as easily be used on a personal level though. For example:

If you find that you love passing knowledge on to others and have a passion for the outdoors, perhaps your mission statement is “My mission is to educate children in a way which drives them to care about others and the environment” and you become a teacher.

If you find that your passion is designing new ways of solving old problems, maybe your mission statement could be “My mission is to combine engineering, design and ingenuity to improve products used by millions of people” and you become an engineer.

If your passion is advocating for others and making the world a more just place, your mission statement might be “I will use my voice and my power to help those who are in need to navigate the legal and social systems and to change those systems to better serve those in need” and you become a lawyer.

Give it a try. What is your mission statement and where might it lead you?

The coaching process can help you answer these questions and develop a vision and mission statement for your future based on your interests and passions. Take the time today to help yourself leverage your passion and love your future. Schedule an appointment with me – let’s talk about what you are passionate about and how you can turn it into a career.