A lot of people tell you to follow your passion, follow your dreams, or do what makes you happy. But how many people are really doing it?
Survey after survey indicates that the majority of employees are unhappy in their professions or wished they had pursued other passions earlier. So, why do they stay?
In reality, it may be a case of not really understanding what they want to do. Finding your work passion is tough when you have no idea where to start. However, the alternative of not figuring it out can leave you even more unhappy, bitter, and unproductive.
When you realize you want to do something else but have no idea where to begin, follow these steps to get started:
Evaluate What Drives You Each Day
In order to find your work passion, you have to evaluate what drives you. What makes you tick? What issues do you feel particularly excited about? What cause or stance would make you drop everything to make life better?
Answering these questions can help you to assess your interests and decide where you can place them in your professional life. They can also help you create an interview bucket list, which is vital to a strategic job search.
Connect Those Strengths To A Career
Not every interest translates into a career. For example, just because you love soccer doesn't mean you can make a career out of it. Instead, focus on the strengths that you have and connect these strengths to a career path. So, for the person who's interested in soccer, perhaps you also have a real interest in how the sport is marketed. You may want to look into sports marketing positions, which can fulfill both interests.
(P.S. If you want to know which careers you'd thrive in based on your workplace persona, check out our free quiz!)
Ask Yourself If It's Realistic
You may be a great public speaker. However, that doesn't mean you should be the president.
Setting realistic expectations can help you to navigate these strengths into a suitable career. While not everyone can be the president, you can pursue public speaking opportunities elsewhere. To help you, try making a list of all of the jobs you would like to have and narrow them down to jobs you have the most chance of actually landing.
Network And Gain Connections
Networking and gaining the right connections can have dual benefits. First, networking can help you meet people with similar dreams and work passions. These connections can then let you know how they got to where they are, share pros and cons about your passion, and provide some real insight into what you can expect.
Next, networking and gaining the right connections can help you break into an industry. Think of it as that golden ticket to finding and then landing those jobs you would do anything for. This is particularly vital to those who haven't worked in the given space, even if they love it.
Be Bold
Being bold can get you far in life. It's how so many innovators and leaders reached that level of greatness.
While your work passion may be out there, it's necessary to pursue it if it's important enough to you. Sure, it's probably going to take a lot of hours and late nights. However, being bold means taking the good with the bad and moving forward with the notion that it's all worth it. And if it's not worth it, then you can move on to something that is.
Finding your work passion and relevant jobs when you have no idea where to start can be very frustrating. However, once you understand what your passion is, you can get busy getting your life started, and be happier because of it.
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.