Quest for dream job easier said than done

Do you wake up in the morning thinking, “Is this what I should be doing with my life?” Should that be happening to you with regard to your job, Dr Catherine Munene, the head of learning and development at General Electric Africa, would interpret it to mean that you probably haven’t found your passion.
You would have to look for it by asking yourself questions such as: “What gives me fire in the belly? Is there something I would do even if I weren’t earning from it or I had all the money in the world?”

Passion has become a common buzz word in career counselling and advice, but as it turns out, it is one thing to tell people to follow their passion, and a different story altogether for many to truly find theirs.
This reality changed the discussion as Dr Munene spoke about passion to university students at a career day sponsored by Citibank at its head office in Nairobi recently.
She was speaking on the topic, “Sense of Purpose”, when one of the students came forward and asked: Do we all have a life’s mission so as to easily identify our passions? And should we be worried if we haven’t discovered our passions yet?

Finding one’s passion, agreed Dr Munene, is indeed not always as easy as it might sound. Many people struggle to establish what really gets them excited and from which they can earn a living at the same time. A lot of them get confused by trends and forces in the market.
This much is highlighted in a recent article written for CNN by Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The article was titled: “Want a great career? Find your passion”.

Why people crash
In it, Prof Smith points out that reliance on the conventional thinking in the surrounding environment is one of several reasons why the overwhelming majority of people crash and burn in the quest to find their dream careers.
He suggests that the mission to discover what one is really passionate about often demands that one stands against the popular culture.
Unfortunately, he argues, many people lack the independence of mind or force of commitment to do so.

As such, some people expect that their destiny will find them, rather than them committing time and energy to a search. “You cannot find your passion idly staring into space, hoping for it to appear as a revelation, from one book, article, blog posting or casual conversation,” he writes.

“Those who search and find their passion place themselves in intensely stimulating environments, and stay there until the job is done. It can be intellectually exhausting,” adds the economics professor. He specializes in innovation and entrepreneurship.
The follow-up question is: How will you recognise your passion when you encounter it after a search?

Usually, it is quite easy, Prof Smith suggests. “One moment you are reading in hopes of finding a topic of great interest; then you find that you are reading and you do not want to stop. Or you find yourself in a regular conversation, and you start talking with excitement about an idea. Or you find yourself in an activity and you lose track of time itself,” he writes.
The rule of passion is simple: The mind cannot stop thinking about that which it loves. Your passion is what you would do even if you won the lottery.

But even with a passion identified, there is a common pitfall. “Some people find their passion, and then relying on no more than popular opinion, they dismiss the passion as one that ‘cannot be turned into a livelihood.’ They move on to try to find a second, more practical love.
That is not necessarily a bad choice since one could certainly have more than one love,” the professor advises.

Think, think, think
But before you move on to searching for a second love, you must creatively examine whether your first love can support a career.
Prof Smith suggests that it is important to research the experiences of those who have found ways to pursue such livelihoods.
According to him, you should not take conventional wisdom as anything other than folklore, to be tested against your logic and experiences.
The professor’s overall advice is that as much as passion is necessary for a great career, it is not sufficient.
“There’s no magic here,” he writes. “Success also demands persistence, focus, discipline, independence of mind, resourcefulness, experimentation, and high creativity.”