Career Passion: Unpacking the concept of career passion

05 Jul, 2015 - 00:07 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

EACH of us has spoken about an issue with strong conviction. In some instances, we have had the opportunity to listen to family, friends, peers, and even strangers speak passionately about an issue or hobby. There are basically three views about career passion. Career passion is dreamland: People who share this view will tell you “to get a grip”, do what you have to do, to pay the bills, while you “dream about your passion”.

Pamela Makombeshamu

Career passion is “nice to have”: According to this view, career passion is “the icing on the cake”; in other words, it is nice to have a passion for what you do to make a living, but you can do without it.

Career passion is everything: Those of us who share this view believe that there is absolutely no point in pursuing a career if you are not passionate about a cause.

It is my belief that, through a process of unpacking career passion, regardless of where you stand in terms of your view about career passion, it will become clear that it is an essential ingredient of career, and ultimately success.

Career passion is a strong internal drive or force, which is demonstrated externally through a display of commitment to a cause, or outcome. For example, we can tell a person is “passionate” when they express strong conviction which is followed by action. We cannot talk about passion without reference to purpose because when a person is passionate about an issue, their actions are channelled towards achieving an outcome and there is a sense of unwavering purpose and direction.

A passionate person will often say, “This is what I am meant to be doing!”, or “I am in my element”. Passion is the driving force that enables a person to scale not one but multiple barriers. When a person is passion driven they insist that a goal is achievable and their outlook makes it easy to silence the voices of discouragement which might say “it cannot be done”, “give-up”, “it’s too hard” and “what if you fail?”

Passion provides the energy to continue through hardship until the goal is reached. An outcome will come after a couple or even several attempts. There is energy and drive for persistent prospecting until the precious jewel is found.

Passion goes hand in hand with being “invested” in a situation. There is strong conviction that the stakes are high. In other words, “the stakes are too high to consider quitting”.

Passionate people often say, “Quitting is not an option.” In relation to career, the Cambridge Dictionary defines passion as “an extreme interest in or wish for doing something, such as a hobby, activity …”

For me, career passion is an internal drive which unleashes relentless energy and motivation to pursue and accomplish a desired outcome. It is the fuel that drives every day, ordinary people to make a difference. It is the quality which compels individuals towards successful outcomes.

Passion is not enthusiasm. The Oxford Dictionary defines enthusiasm as a heightened display of interest in an idea or activity. It is short-term and variable in nature. For example, a person can start the year enthusiastic about weight loss goals and exercising every day for a couple of weeks, only to lose interest and give up.

Passion is an enduring force which can even last a life time. For example, a charity worker who is passionate about advocating for children’s rights can dedicate a whole life to advocacy and working to support vulnerable children. Passion is not ambition.

The Oxford dictionary defines ambition in a strikingly similar way to passion: “A strong desire to do or achieve something.”

Frequently, ambition can be essentially self-serving; and effort is channelled towards accumulating more prestige, power and “stuff” for an individual and or group. Ambition is a positive functional quality. Passion frequently involves “giving” something of ourselves for the benefit of others or for the purpose of contributing towards a common good or broader vision.

Passion is not a buzz word.

Passion should not be a buzz word that can be used loosely to impress a colleague or prospective employer.

Since passion is from within, when we are passionate about what we do, we bring “who” we are into “what” we do.

I believe that at this stage, most of us are now asking the question, “So where can I begin my search for my career passion?”

The simplest place to begin your search for your career passion is to start by asking your family and friends. Those close to us listen to us speak passionately everyday about the world around us and they can provide pointers to our career passion.

There is a close relationship between interests and hobbies; and career. For example, those of us who are talented in the arts find it possible to pursue their interests and hobbies as lifetime careers, for example, musicians, professional sport players, and etcetera. Interests have potential to open doors to amazing career pathways. For example an in interest in food can open up a career in cooking, writing cook books, nutrition, food journalism, dietetics, restaurant owner and can extend to food manufacturing, distribution and sales.

Life experience is one of the most active and precious source of passion. History is full of stories of individuals who went through personal adversity and after their experience they dedicated their time and effort to a cause which brought lasting change and benefits to others.

At SmartChoice Careers our work with clients is based on the Narrative approach to Career Counselling.

According this approach, people’s life stories are a powerful source of their experiences, aspirations, passions, hopes and fears. In addition to administering web-based vocational assessments, we encourage our clients to tell their life’s stories, we listen, probe search and learn from them how we can support them to identify their passion. We believe that, without listening to an individual’s life story, it is impossible, to support them to make an informed career decision. We live, play in communities and every-day we live-out certain realities. We experience life with others and frequently we are not neutral to what happens around us. Potentially, our community and social realities are an important source of career passion. What issues stir your heart in your local community? What could be different because you step out?

Often we can become disillusioned because we expect to start big and make a huge impact. I believe starting small is empowering because we can start NOW.

For example, if you are passionate about the welfare of children, you can start now by finding out organisations that are involved in caring for children or advocating for the safety and rights of children and offer your services as a volunteer.

Examples of such organisations are Child line, Child Protection Society, ZimCare Trust, Children’s homes and church organisations. Finally, it is my hope that, whether you are a student exploring your career options, or at a later stage of your career, this article has encouraged you to reflect on your career passion. Regardless of your life/career stage, I urge you to start and continue your search until you identify your passion. If you have found your passion start now, hold fast, and continue on your journey, gain the knowledge and skills required and pursue your passion.

Pamela Makombeshamu is founder/principal at SmartChoice Careers, a Harare-based consultancy. The contributions to this article come from a strategic partnership between the Young Zimbabweans Business Platform, SmartChoice Careers Consultancy and the Africa Learning Development Network. Send feedback at [email protected]

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds