Comments on: A Message to Those Confused About Career Direction (Part Trois)

By: passie? | Resume Rescue

passie? | Resume Rescue — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:06:07 +0000

[...] het is dus prima om niet voor passie maar voor excitement te gaan (ik heb lang nagedacht over een goede nederlandse vertaling voor excitement, maar niets [...]

By: by Tim

by Tim — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:32:33 +0000

Well said, Traveler. I think the trick is to gravitate toward work that excites you in a general way. I’m excited about teaching, even though the excitement level drops like a stone when it’s time for administration or grading.

Great, blunt sum-up, Tomato Farmer. For almost everyone other than religious evangelists, fine artists, and a lucky few sprinkled throughout the other arts and sciences, the word “passion” simply doesn’t apply to work.

By: tomato farmer

tomato farmer — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:56:34 +0000

I agree that we can’t be passionate about our work. If I were passionate about something, I’ll do it for free which can’t be defined as work anymore. I like what my wife says about my salary; it’s a “gaman” (endurance) fee, money I get for putting up with work, people, and the general unpleasantness of going to work.

By: Traveler

Traveler — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:41:35 +0000

A very meaningful post. Books exhorting people to settle for nothing less than perfection neglect to mention something important: it’s simply impossible for everyone to have that fantastic dream career, all non-stop challenge and reward and never a dull moment. Society just won’t work without someone picking the vegetables, hauling the trash, cleaning the industrial equipment – a zillion other tasks that are meaningful and vital and even rewarding, but that just don’t mesh with the idea of “passion”.

It’s great for people to pursue passion in work, but they need to be able to accept “good enough” along the way. That doesn’t stop them from continuing to chase on-the-job passion. And if those who (as you put it excellently) are “not ‘passionate’ about professional activities that happen to pay well” can recognize that situation, they may find happiness by intentionally selecting “good enough” for a job and pursuing passion elsewhere in life.

My only reservation is the suggestion that “excitement” is a more realistic goal than “passion”; a lot of vital work doesn’t really lend itself to that, either. Hence my use of the vaguer “good enough”, which might include “excitement”, or might mean different rewards from work such as “sense of contribution”, “inner fulfillment”, “respect from others”, etc. But the point and post overall are very well take; great cap to the series (unless there’s more coming!).