What do you want to be doing? Where do you see yourself? What’s your passion?
These simple questions have the power to strike fear into college students and job seekers everywhere. In reality, plenty of people well into their careers still find these questions confounding. We fear these questions because we don’t have an answer. And, they seem important.
You might be unhappy or restless in your current role. You know you need change. Yet, just thinking about “purpose and passion” can be paralyzing. It’s no stretch to say that someone asking about your purpose and passion at the wrong moment is enough to bring on a wave of existential crisis.
On the one hand, you need to pay your bills and keep some forward movement in your career. On the other, you feel the weight of the years ahead, personal fulfillment, and doing something that matters. You could be years into your career, still trying to find your “thing.”
In your quest for clarity, you might have come across inspirational writings from the likes of Morten Hansen, Oprah, Jay Shetty, or your favorite social media entrepreneur. They all offer different versions of the same advice: find your passion, find your purpose.
Unfortunately, these quotes generally make us feel more pressure to have an amazing purpose or passion for our lives. They don’t tend to be helpful in actually figuring out our own purpose and passion.
Many people conflate these two concepts. And, while they’re related, they are different. Exploring them can put you on a path to a more fulfilling life.
Let’s compare purpose versus passion to learn how knowing both help you be your most authentic self.
The definition of passion
You’re probably familiar with the concept of passion. It’s something that gets you excited. You feel strongly about it. You find yourself talking (or arguing) about it, reading about it, working on it, thinking about it, even though no one is making you.
People who know their passion and make time to pursue it might seem more confident, more optimistic, or more grounded.
Passion isn’t an absolute positive — being passionate can feel all-consuming. We get wrapped up in our passions, and that can detract from work or home responsibilities. At the same time, doing something you’re passionate about feels good. You experience a state of flow.
The unexpected downside was that once writing became my full-time gig, I was using a strength but lost my energy and enthusiasm for writing fiction.
Why is passion important?
If you’re wondering why you need passion in the first place, remember this: It's part of the meaning of life. Passion is key to your self-motivation. Tapping into your passions will motivate you to keep learning, develop new skills, and stay excited.
Your passions also tend to engage your curiosity and willingness to connect with others in a time when uncertainty in the world might make you feel more fearful or isolated.
And because of this, passions are critical to your mental health and overall well-being.
Doing work without passion can lead to lower job satisfaction and put you at risk for burnout at work. Unfortunately, research from Deloitte has found most people aren’t passionate their work. That doesn’t mean you should give up hope, but while you try to figure out what moves you at work, you can also benefit from pursuing a passion off the clock.
You might even benefit from having a job that’s separate from your passion to avoid burning out your passion.
Your passion can also keep you grounded. Things that keep your mind aligned with your body and soul will improve your whole life.
The problem with passion
We sometimes approach passion as if it is a force of nature — it either is or isn’t. You can’t decide to love traveling — you either do or don’t. Or so the thinking goes. So, exhorted by self-help gurus to “find our passion,” we stand around waiting for lightening to strike.
The reality is more complicated. And useful.
Some people do have strong passions and develop them early in life. But for most of us, passion develops as we learn more about something we didn’t know about before. So, if you’re feeling like a failure because you don’t have a passion, start exploring and doing.
That’s why it’s important to try new things and believe in your ability to find what works for you. You can find passion in unexpected places.
Not all passions make for good full-time pursuits. Many people try to turn a passion they already have into their work. That’s why there are so many wine and foodie entrepreneurs and so many Etsy shops.
That’s one path. But when it comes to making career and life changes, another path to passion is to try to find the aspects of your work, in your current job or a new one, that truly engage your curiosity and interest.
The more you actively work with the questions and challenges that move you, the more likely that you’ll discover work that you feel passionate about.
Time flies and the work doesn’t feel effortful. It may manifest as joy or happiness. It gives you energy. You can feel it in your bones.
You can have more than one passion. For years you might chase baking the best loaf of bread. Then, one day, you might discover that you love music and composition. Passions evolve with you as you learn more about them and actively engage with them.
What is my passion?
Ask yourself these questions:
- What activities bring me joy and satisfaction in my personal life? In my professional life?
- What do I want to learn more about, no matter how much I learn?
- What makes me lose track of time or become fully engaged in trying to figure out?
- What would I do if money wasn’t an issue?
- What am I great at?
- What do I get excited about?
These questions can give you clues about your true passions. Yet, it’s easy to confuse interests or hobbies with passions. It’s also easy to confuse strengths with passions.
For example, when I switched careers several years ago, I chose work that tapped into my passion for writing and thinking.