Just follow your passions and a great career will follow? Sounds easy. It is not. If it was easy, you would not have spent your hard earned money on my eCourse.  Many of us do not have specific passions that translate into full-time stable careers. Passions also change over time.  Your passions at age 25, 45, and 65 are drastically different. Following your passions often leads to constant job hopping and never ending self-doubt. Following your passions is looking inwards rather than outwards. What will make me happy rather than what will make others happy. A career helping others IS what will make you happy. Think selfless rather than selfish.  This does not mean all of you should work in the non-profit realm.  In fact, most of you will not work in the non-profit realm.  Successful for-profit business add something of real value to society. Later you will read how Steve Jobs did not follow his passion.  This JFK’s speech from 1961 discusses this theme.

Criteria For A Career You Will Be Passionate About

“You become an expert at a specific skill that is deemed reasonably unique and important to society. This important skill is then utilized to help others increase the quality of their lives.”

Below are bullet points from the career guide you just completed along with my thoughts on the concept of:

“Don’t necessarily follow your passion, do what is important”

BULLET POINTS

 SLOWLY READ AND COMPREHEND…

“Focusing strictly on passion is like chasing your tale.  Passion and interests are in constant flux throughout your life”

“Do what is important for society. Try to help. Important is something that helps others increase the quality of their lives”

“Being a “Jack Or Jane Of All Trades” is great if you need to fix up your house.  Not a great career strategy though.  It is better to be the best at one thing thing than mediocre at many”

“Will people readily and happily pay me for this job/skill/business? This is a very good litmus test to determine if a for profit career/skill/business is worth pursuing”

“Become really good at a skill that genuinely helps others and makes the world a better place”

“The key to happiness and joy is helping others”

“To measure the wealth of a man look at the value he adds to society”

“You will love your career if you become an expert at a specific skill that is deemed reasonably unique and important to society. This important skill you have developed over the years is then utilized to help others increase the quality of their lives”

“Skills that are important to society can be put to work in for profit as well as not for profit companies”

“A true vocation or calling exist for the very few.  I call it the 2% rule.  2% of the population know from a very early age what their vocation or calling is.  For example the 4 year old prodigy that touches a piano keyboard. He/she knows this is his/her lifetime calling.  HINT: If you bought this course you are not one of the 2%… :)”

“Don’t try to follow the road to your passion. It’s called Loser’s Lane.  It’s Pandora’s Box.  It’s never ending.  It’s a circular road that will always bring you back to square one. Don’t be led by passion.  You lead passion.  If you develop a skill of importance and apply it to help society.  Guess what, passion will follow you.”

“When you become an “expert” in your given career-that is when you truly enjoy and become passionate about your career”

“Steve Jobs did not follow his passion” (You will read more below)

At the end of this eCourse you will:

1. Choose an important skill to become an expert in

2. Choose the specific career and job in which you are going to apply this skill

YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING QUESTION WHEN CHOOSING YOUR IMPORTANT SKILL & SPECIFIC CAREER

“Is this a career and a specific job within that career that allows me to develop: skills valued by society, important future contacts, credentials/licenses, increase likelihood of career advancement, flexibility to easily transition to similar careers, something I would reasonably enjoy, something that I could expect to do somewhat better than others and be difficult to replace by another worker?”

Definitions below help further define the above question:

Skills: This career/job will help me acquire skills that are of value to the world. 

Contacts: The career/job will put me in contact with people that can help me advance my career down the road

Credentials/Licenses: The career/job will allow me to attain credentials and professional licensure that will make me more marketable.

Career Advancement: The career/job has a bright outlook.  A career/job that is growing and likely not to be automated

Flexibility: The career/job keeps my options open.  I can relatively easily switch to related careers.  The skills I develop in this job/career do not buttonhole me into a singular career.

Replaceable: My career/job is not easy to replace.  I’m doing something that others could not do as well

Enjoyment: I feel I would relatively enjoy the career/job.  Remember passion and enjoyment dramatically increase as you become an expert in your field and add some true value to society.  Those new on the job typically have lower levels of satisfaction then career veterans

Your goal is become an expert at a specific skill that is deemed reasonably unique and important to society. This important skill is then utilized to help others increase the quality of their lives.  You can loosely look to your “passions” in choosing the specific skill to develop.  For example your current interests, skills, work you enjoyed, events/situations you enjoyed in the past, personality, values, lifestyle, natural aptitudes, can provide some clues as to what skill you can develop and become really really good at”.  We will explore all of these in future units

ACTION ITEM:  Read link below

STEVE JOBS DID NOT FOLLOW HIS PASSION 

“People having careers they simultaneously enjoy and add value to the world typically have complex and winding paths.  Not a path that simply follows the theory- “Just follow your passion”

“A recent study of Canadian University Students: 84% of them had passions. The top 5 passions included hockey, dance, music, skiing, reading, and swimming. Less than 4% of the passions had any relation to work or education. Remaining 96% are hobby style interests. This begs the question. “How can we follow our passions if we don’t have any relevant passions to follow”.  Interesting reading below that discusses this theme

“If you are passionate about your job you most likely are very very good at your job”

“Bouncing from career to career will bounce you into depression”

“10,000 hour rule- Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” says it takes a minimum of 10,000 hours (5 years)  to achieve mastery in a given field”

“Career enjoyment and ultimately passion is often based on a concise and personally compelling goal.  For example: “Rid the world of brain cancer” “Help college students graduate with minimal debt” “Help third world populations the freedom to immigrate to first world nations in order to attain a living wage” “Help the average person invest for a quality retirement” “Free innocent prisoners on death row”  “Reduce the cost of hearing aids so they are affordable to all” “Develop an application to reduce cost of money transfer”

“In order to solve a pressing social issue you must become an expert at a specific skill that is deemed reasonably unique and important to society. These skills are not developed overnight.  See the 10,000 hour rule. This important skill is then used to solve the pressing social issue.”  

“Becoming an expert at a specific skill that is deemed reasonably unique and important to society has an added benefit.  You are valued by society and employers because of this valuable skill.  This often means HIGHER PAY, flexible, and more enjoyable job conditions”

Get really good at something important to society and you can get the BLING BLING