How To Find A Career That Speaks To Your Passion

“Life is struggle.”

Buddha

Everyone goes through ups and downs in life, which I see as something positive. This may make no sense to you. You may wonder if I’m an advocate for suffering! I’m not.

But I know that within the challenges you’ve experienced are significant opportunities to discover a career will be utterly passionate about. And because challenges are inevitable, I want to help you find a way to see them as the fertile ground for career fulfillment they are.

Have A Career You Love Instead Of One You Were Typecast Into

If you’ve ever been pushed in the direction of a particular profession based on something other than your passion, then take heart from my client Josh’s story.

Josh was a college student who was failing his degree program in neuroscience despite his high ACT science scores. Because he’d been diagnosed with ADHD, his family assumed it was simply a matter of developing compensatory academic skills. Although we worked on his skills, I sensed there was more going on, and we investigated whether neuroscience was the right field for him. It shortly became evident that Josh had intense passion and strength—just not in neuroscience! Instead, Josh had always dreamed of working in an investigative field as a detective, like Sherlock Holmes.

After researching his options, Josh decided to switch majors and study Global Security, a field that involves gathering intelligence and putting diverse chunks of information together like pieces of a puzzle. It meant he would help keep people safe, just like Josh’s favorite detectives.

At first, he saw his academic and career transition challenges as insurmountable. Not only was his GPA low, making schools reluctant to accept him, Josh had internalized a strong belief that he was “bad at school.” Although he wholeheartedly believed Global Security was the right program, at first he was reluctant to apply.

Together, we developed a strategy he followed to raise his GPA and find academic officials who were able to appreciaate his passion instead of assessing his application based only on his transcripts. He applied and was accepted into a Global Security studies program.

For Josh, the difference between studying something he loved and something he had been told by others to study was incredible. He was anything but bad at school; in fact, he had a near perfect GPA in graduate school.

8 Questions To Help You Figure Out A Career You’ll Love

I have no doubt Josh will be incredibly successful in his chosen profession. Imagine though, how things may have turned out had he not been willing to deal with his challenges, dig deep, and discover a career he was passionate about.

You can start right now to figure out a career you will love. Set aside a little bit of time, be totally honest with yourself – even if it feels a little ridiculous! – and enjoy the adventure of answering these questions:

1. What motivates me in life?

2. What have I wanted, but never gotten, in life?

3. What energizes me? How?

4. What brings me the most joy? Why?

5. What are my biggest interests?

6. What do I REALLY, REALLY want in life?

7. Who do I enjoy being around? Why?

8. How can I turn these loves and desires into a statement of purpose for the next several years of my life?

When you’re finished answering them, you’ll have gained insight about yourself as well as some career possibilities that speak to your passion.

If you find this a little daunting, don’t worry. This is when a career coach comes in handy, to support you through the times you feel overwhelmed or stuck.

Find Your Purpose

Being stuck in a job that doesn’t fulfill you is like dragging through life smothered in a wet blanket. Sure, you have a paycheck coming in. The bills get paid. But it’s not much fun to spend your days uninspired and unengaged, especially if you’re also struggling with issues that you’ve been told limit your career choices.

Instead, I want you to experience the satisfaction of discovering a career that speaks to your passion. I encourage you to use the wisdom you gained from dealing with and overcoming your challenges to sharpen your self-awareness and home in on the perfect career choice with you.

And if you’d like more exercises to support you to discover a career you love, my book Happiness, Passion, and Purpose will help! It will be available in early 2019. Sign up here at www.razcoaching.com/newsletter to be notified when it’s ready.