Passion at Work
Back in college (ages ago), I collected a lot of those quirky buttons ... you know, the kind with sassy little sayings that you could pin to your backpack. One of my favorites was the one with big goofy red letters that read "LOVE IT! (love your job!)" I really appreciated the random sarcasm held in its 1 1/2 inch diameter. I was working at the bookstore just off campus and while I did love the textbook discount, I most certainly did not love my job. Then again, there's a big difference in working a part time job for party money -- I mean -- laundry money during college and working 40 some odd hours a week in your career. Sometimes, though, it can be a lo-oong 40 hours. We've all been there, no matter how great your job is ... work can be a lot of ... well, erm ... work. If you really love your job, it can ease the pinch of the workweek but should you necessarily have a hot burning passion for what you do? Or is making ends meet (and maybe then some) enough? How does this factor in when college students are selecting a field on their parents' dime -- should the parent push them towards a steady, lucrative career -- or should the kid just be allowed to follow his or her passion? These same questions sparked a flurry of responses on the Stay at Home vs. Work board when one iVillager asked, "isn't it okay for a student or employee to like, but not love, one's chosen field, and reserve his or her passion for relationships, hobbies, faith or other non-income earning activity?" Check out some of the responses:
"I don't have a passion for what I do, I have a passion for living and this job lets me do that by providing a roof over my head and food to eat."
"I am never going to be rich being a vet tech, but I LOVE the job. I could make a lot more money doing something else, and cry less too I'm sure but I could never leave it. As long as the bills are paid I can do without a lot of extras if I love what I'm doing."
"I flat out could not work at a job I just "liked" ...but that's just ME ...and the way I was raised. I love the theater even though it means I scrape by and I do without."
"I am not sure my older son will be ready for college as soon as he graduates high school, which means that I am not willing to pay for an education for somebody who isn't going to benefit from it or appreciate it."
"You can do whatever you want with your passion, but if, for example, my child has a passion for writing and he wants to pursue that as a career, I would never think of telling him that I'll only pay his tuition if he pursues a degree in business. Personally, I think life is way too short to spend it doing something you hate instead of pursuing what you love."
"The whole thing about having a passion, especially wrt college-age kids, is nothing more than a trite cliche, imo, especially when it appears to cover everything from a keen interest in collecting bottle caps to laying one's life on the line through something like Medecins Sans Frontiers. Just yuppie media hyperbole. God forbid an 18yo should say he/she wants a career in accountancy because it's a steady job."
Yowch.
What about you? Are you doing what you love? Loving what you do? Let's face it, some of us are doing good just to get to the end of the week in one piece. (Not me, of course, because I! love! my! job!! PS: My boss is reading this.) But seriously, what do you think? Should a person have a real passion for their jobs to be happy or to be good at what they do? Should this factor into a kid's college tuition deal? Tell me what you really think, and don't worry, I won't tell your boss...
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I do love what I do, I like it too lol.
Is it what I've been going to school for? Nope. Am I changing area of study... again.... yes. lol
I really think that if parents are going to assist in tuition payments, then before they go away to college... they need to have an idea of something they yearn to be doing with their lives, if that means a year or two at a community college, then thats great!
A week or so ago I read a newspaper column (sorry, the title and columnist's name elude me) about this. The point was that society is putting a lot of pressure on twenty-somes to find a job that fulfills their passions, when they might not even really know what that is yet! I can see that.
Personally, I am doing what I love and don't take that for granted. That said, I think people forget that _how_ they work and approach their jobs is just as important as what they do.
I have a "friend" REALLY - it IS a friend! She works to bring in a paycheck right now. Unfortunately, she has to be the breadwinner in the family so she doesn't feel she has the luxury of loving her job right now. But she does hope to work toward a balance between something she loves and something with steady pay.
My husband - he HAS to enjoy what he's doing. As soon as he's bored, or unhappy, or underappreciated, it's like his whole life falls apart. Happy at home depends on happy at work.
Great topic! I'm of the opinion that when you're discussing college/university and you're say 18-19 years old, the chances of you *having* a passion for something are slim. Heck, I just turned 30 and still have no idea half the time! ;)
That being said - I love my job. Past jobs, not so much. I worked at them because I had to, not because I had a passion for what I was doing. I wasn't happy in those jobs because of it. Ideally, we'd all be able to do what we loved and make a living at it. Sometimes that's not possible, so we do what we have to - until we can do what we WANT to.
Coco mentioned her husband having to be happy with his job - I'm the same way. I think most of us are, really.
If you had told me back in college - "You will burn out of your "Passion" career in 8 years, stay home with your babies, discover the internet, teach yourself html coding and end up with a really cool job that has nothing to do with anything you've ever thought about doing!" I never would have believed it. Sometimes the passion you find isn't the one you planned on at all. There are times when it's just work, but there are rarely times when it's dull, LOL!
Like relationships, your feelings about your job can change. You can outgrow your job, your job can change in unexpected ways (new bad boss for example) or you just grow apart. Would I ever tell my kids to study accounting because it was secure? No because I bet they'd hate it. But I do tell them it's a good idea to pick a field where it's possible to change jobs fairly easily. It's one thing to have a passion for your work -- that is more likely to endure than passion for a specific job.
I WORK TO PAY MY BILLS, I DON'T LOVE MY JOB I HAVE PLENTY OF VACATION TIME I WILL WHEN MY KIDS GROW LIVE MY PASSION
I went to school for well over a decade to qualify to do a job that I will probably never make over six figures annually for doing. Darn right it's my "passion." There wouldn't be any other reason to keep doing it if I didn't love it.
I studied what I THOUGHT was my passion in college. And I worked towards an advanced degree in it and then in the field for 12.5 years, then teaching it for 7 more, all the while knowing that I had made a TERRIBLE mistake!
I was GOOD as that I did, no mistake, but I didn't ENJOY it.
And the funny (peculiar) thing is my Dad was big on loving what you do, yet both he and my Mom also were big on having a marketable skill that would earn you a living. And that is what I did!
What is my passion? reading, stitching, stamping! None of them are skills I could ever earn a living at... I'm simply not good enough.
So, I guess I have to say that while I didn't WORK in my passion, it enabled me to pursue my passion.
Does that make sense?
And what someone else said: NO-ONE at 18 is going to have the same passions as that same person at 38 or 48 or 58 or...Hopefully that is a good thing as we should always be growing, changing, evolving... But it sure makes picking a career tricky!
So college students shouldn't expect to get out of school, jump right into their passion and earn six-figure salaries right off the bat? Has anyone told them that yet? ;) There's something to be said about experience and exploring.
Coco said: >>>As soon as he's bored, or unhappy, or underappreciated, it's like his whole life falls apart. Happy at home depends on happy at work.
That's me. Underappreciated especially sends me over the cliff. My passion is sex--not just having it but helping other people who have sex-related problems. Dr. Patti used to tell me I should be a sex therapist. Maybe that's what I should be doing.
I have lots of things I love doing to things I don't care to do, but nothing I am passionate about other than having variety and change.
First, I don't think kids should go to college on their parents' dime, but rather get student loans and do it on their own dime so they appreciate the experience all the more, but that's neither here nor there.... I love my job and even after changing majors no less than six times in my first two years of college, my job as CM is unrelated to my Accounting degree, lol. I don't think that you can realistically expect to land a career you're passionate about immediately after graduation, but that you can expect to work a lot of jobs along the way that you'll do just to make ends meet. I think that experience working as a fry cook, a waitress, a cashier, etc., helps you to appreciate your later career and all of your passions in life all the more. I know if I hadn't ever worked for Krystal flipping those tiny square burgers and ringing up drive-thru orders, I wouldn't have appreciated or seized many of the opportunities that came my way since.
yeah, I think you have to do something you at least enjoy. I know I'm just doing my job to get through school so I can teach. I couldn't imagine coming to this job everyday. I know teaching is going to be frustrating...and I will be poorly paid, but at least I'll be doing something where I am helping others and something that is very important to me. I could stay at the job I'm at now and make more money than I will teaching, but I couldn't do it.