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Does Passion Matter at Work?

February 3rd, 2010

This question caught my attention in U.S. News, “Does passion really matter at work?” What do you think? Well, it’s probably no surprise that the answer is, yes, it absolutely matters! It is not just fluff. Here are 3 reasons why passion is one of the best investments you can make in your career:

It helps you feel more confident. For too many people, work is about getting up in the morning and trying to be someone they’re not. Not only does that drain their energy, it also keeps them off balance. Think of someone standing on one leg with the other leg up in the air and their arms waving, trying to keep their balance. They’re deathly afraid that someone is going to come up and bump into them, because they’re already in danger of falling over. Trying to be who you’re not in your career is a little like that. You have to put extra effort into doing what doesn’t come naturally. Maintaining the façade keeps you off balance.

It’s an energy source. When you’re on fire about what you do, it energizes you, and you can put that energy back into your work. Instead of the energy drain your work actually becomes an energy gain. So not only are you getting energy from what you’re doing, you also aren’t having to dig into your energy reserves just to get through the day. When you’re aligned with what energizes you, it’s like having both feet solidly planted on the floor. The energy differential is huge in helping you feel confident about your work.

It feeds your persistence. The odds are good that, whatever your career path you are going to run into roadblocks and bumps along the way. When you’re doing something in pursuit of what energizes and inspires you, those roadblocks and bumps are a lot easier to take. Don’t get me wrong. They never become enjoyable, but their size relative to your objective is smaller.

I have suffered bumps and bruises in pursuit of something I didn’t really care about (my past career) while I’m in pursuit of something I am over the moon about (my current career), I have to tell you, the difference is night and day. In the path I love, persistence, confidence and energy come naturally as a daily part of the job.

- U.S. News article by: Curt Rosengren, career author

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How to Show Passion in an Interview

January 22nd, 2010

How can you show passion during your interview? In our workshops we talk about how personal stories help “prove” your passion. It might sound ordinary if you were to say, “I was passionate about creating a team environment in my last organization.” But communicating a story about a time you put your sweat and tears and overcame a specific challenge is a more authentic and interesting way to describe your important impact. With a specific story, a hiring manager might feel more confident that you would repeat a similar experience in their organization. Everyone has a story. Never say: “I just did my job; I didn’t do anything special.”

Your work history is unique to you. Try to focus on how you did your job effectively and what you have done differently than your colleagues. The specifics of the story are more important than the general information. In interviews, most people think they should talk about their skills in general terms, but it is the specific examples and facts behind those stories that prove your success. Interviewers are more likely to remember snippets of your personal story. Your descriptive story helps to develop rapport and prove the things you have achieved in your past positions.

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3 Ways to Get Your Ideal Career

January 12th, 2010

Why can some people get to their ideal career and others can’t? In many cases the successful people have
incorporated the following practices into their career game plan.

1) Stay focused on organizations you admire and jobs you really want. If the company or its product are appealing, you will be more likely to push to get it. Keep your eye on your top 10 companies and favorite 5 jobs. Stay focused on what you really want. Work hard to learn about people who work in the organization or who have a job to which you aspire. Once you find the people you can set up a brief meeting, shadow the person or try to begin with a temp, volunteer or seasonal position at the company. Don’t get lost in the details of looking at “any” company or job. Stay on target working to get inside and meet people who are in your top organizations and jobs.

2) Find comfort in change. That promotion, new assignment or job change looks attractive but the change will take you out of your comfort zone. You will lose the safety and security of knowing your routine. You have to let go of the unconscious fear that you are not totally prepared to handle the new responsibilities or have the skills to succeed in the job. Conquer this by getting excited about your new identity and creating a vision of yourself as successful in the new job. Reflect on the success you’ve had in your previous work. Recognize that you have the ability to learn the skills to meet the new challenges. Those who are able to seek out change will increase their chances of advancement.

3) Associate with supportive, ‘up-beat’ people. Stay around people who will spur you on and applaud your progress. Positive friends and colleagues who offer encouragement can really help keep you buoyed up if you’re struggling to stay motivated during a job search or business start up. Reduce contact with negative people in your life who bring you down by droning on about the rough economy, lack of opportunities and how you don’t stand a chance of finding employment. Pessimists can truly be harmful if you want to move forward. Instead think about the realistic optimists you know and actively work toward spending time with them. Optimism is contagious!

- Sunny K. Lurie, PhD.

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If You Believe It, You Can Achieve It

December 14th, 2009

For the New Year, the writer Jen Grisanti reminds us to find our passion and pursue it– a subject near and dear to my heart.

Jen says, for every writing career that I have helped launch, the writer had a clear vision of his/her own success. In the New Year, what do you want to achieve the most? Do you have clarity in your goals? Can you let go of the past and pursue your goals with renewed passion?

Debbie Robins a career author writes, “to help achieve your goal consider writing a Living Vision…Start by having a clear picture in your head of the biggest, boldest, most fulfilling life that you can imagine living. Now, write about who you are and what you’re doing in glorious detail. Do not describe how you got there. You are there!”

I remember doing a similar exercise with a Career Strategist coach. The beauty of the exercise lies in the relief you feel after imagining that you have achieved your greatest goal. During the coach’s session, she had us write down three of our immediate goals. My goals were 1) Creating a successful seminar career 2) Writing a book proposal and 3) Successfully hosting my first Writers Retreat in Hawaii. Since I didn’t have a lot of contacts in Hawaii, I knew the retreat would likely be the most challenging of my goals. However, by doing the exercise, I was able to visualize myself achieving all three goals. After several months of hard work and daily revisualization, I completed all three of my goals. My biggest break with the Hawaii retreat came when the local newspaper agreed to do a story on my event. You can do anything you set your mind to doing if you have clarity of goal and visualize your success.

So, how do you create a clear vision? In The Answer, John and Murray write, “Creating a clear vision is the first step to your success.”

They created what they refer to as the Five Musts:

You must find something that stirs your soul.
You must make a study of it and investigate new developments in it.
You must recondition your mind to believe that you can have it and achieve it.
You must understand how to make money at it.
You must take daily action.

For the New Year, I encourage everyone to create a clear vision, pursue it with a renewed passion, no matter what losses have happened along the way, and make that vision a reality. You CAN do it. We each have the potential to create the destiny we choose. – Jen Grisanti

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