20th
Passion for the job
A friend has recently been considering switching jobs. Something that is weighing into the decision is a concern that the potential opportunity, while better from a day to day lifestyle, may not be the ideal job he is passionate about.
It’s got me thinking quite a bit. In general, I think today we all have a luxury (it’s a good thing) to worry about finding work you are passionate about and work that would be considered prestigious and successful. This is a new thing. Back for my grandparents and previous generations, work meant feeding their family. Work decisions really weren’t decisions at all. I would venture to guess that work, in most cases, was as simple as figuring out whatever you could get paid for. Since education wasn’t so readily available, this probably meant doing whatever your parents did. Even today, there are hundreds of millions of people in developing countries without the luxury of any type of job choice.
It goes without saying the opportunity to find work you are passionate about, an opportunity awarded with increased education and the modern economy, is a good thing. But, as we are one of the first generations to worry about finding work we are passionate about, I believe that we are going to squirm a bit in our pursuit of this. No one tells you exactly how to accomplish this, but I believe many in my generation in the US feel the need to have it in their work. Until the world comes up with an instruction manual, I think it may be worth keeping in mind that it’s a luxury to be able to find successful work, that we are passionate about. Although, when making job decisions, without the manual to help us figure it out it sure doesn’t feel that way.
