People, young and old, are seeking fulfillment at work. Whether I’m presenting on panel, at an event or in the context of my job, this topic seems to be red hot right now. At the heart of this pursuit, is a bit of wisdom that is now firmly embedded in our culture: pursue your passion. Perfect for a bumper sticker and backed by compelling anecdotes, this just feel right! However, I just finished a book by Cal Newport that has got me rethinking this strategy. It turns out that pursuing a pre-existing passion is a rare path to fulfillment that can lead to poor career choices and often results in a cycle of professional satisfaction.
1. It is a rare path
First, this is not impossible. I would say that the entire NFL is a population that has effectively executed this strategy. Most of these guys have loved football since they were playing Pop Warner. However, for every player you see on Sunday, there are many that have pursued this passion vigorously and found career fulfillment elsewhere. Dwayne Johnson is a great example of this.
A rosy look back on a career tends to bias one towards the passion approach. Many of the biggest names are touted as examples of this, but it is an incomplete assessment at best. Newport spends a good deal of time on Steve Jobs. During his commencement address at Stanford, Jobs said, “Do what you love.” This went viral and he soon became the face of the ‘pursue your passion’ movement. However, Jobs was passionate about many things in his early years that had nothing to do with his ultimate career path. He was into history and seriously studied Zen. He worked at a co-op farm and was initially somewhat disinterested in the project brought to him by Steve Wasniak. He found passion and embraced his calling eventually, but it was not a clear path based on a passion for technology and design.
Mastery and value
2. It can result in a cycle of dissatisfaction
You’re far more likely to be fulfilled if you focus on giving instead of getting. When you pursue passion in the hope of career fulfillment, you set up some lofty expectations for your work. You expect the job to give to you. The job should make you feel happy, fulfilled, or valued. This leads to a cycle of pursuit and letdowns that results in career churn for many. If you focus on what you can give to the job, or the world, your path to fulfillment is more sustainable.
While adopting this mindset of providing value is critical, mastery is also a big piece. Daniel Pink, Robert Greene and Cal Newport, in different ways, all emphasize the pursuit of mastery. Mastery does require passion and dedication, but it is a deeper pursuit. And whether you are a physicist or a physical therapist, mastery is linked to job satisfaction. In other words, it’s not so much what you do as how you do it.
3. It can lead to poor career choices
The approach is incomplete in that it misses two critical considerations. First, you must ask yourself if you have the skills to deliver real value to people. Second, you must understand if there a market for your skills. There is a movement afoot that tells people to push past fear and leave their desks in pursuit of their passion. The problem with this premise is that your passion might not translate easily into a career. First, there may not be a market for the pastime that you love. Second, you may not be at the level of mastery necessary to compete in the market. If you are in a job that is not fulfilling and you long for something better, try it out in small ways to see if there is an opportunity. Get some feedback from the market and let that inform your approach to the transition.