Career Passion and Purpose: Is It All in Your Mind?

By Dr. Kandis Boyd Wyatt
Faculty Member, Transportation and Logistics

“Follow your passion” is an expression I’ve seen all too often during this pandemic. First, it’s challenging to pinpoint one definition of passion. Is passion a necessity or a luxury? Can you be successful when you are less than 100% passionate about a project, endeavor, or activity? When you look at such notably passionate leaders as Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Jr,. or even Oprah Winfrey, can you pinpoint one passion that has led to their success?

Can Passion Lead You in the Wrong Career Direction?

Dan Cable, a professor of organizational behavior, writing in the Harvard Business Review, says pursuing a passion can lead you down a utopian road to success and the perfect job. He observes, “It is this exact piece of advice that leaves people damaged if they don’t find a dream job that complements their natural abilities and fills them with an intrinsic sense of joy — not to mention that passions can be ephemeral.”  

In reality, there is no perfect job. There are aspects of all jobs that we do not like. However, a key part of passion is understanding your strengths and abilities, and then trying to use them at every opportunity not only to help you but to help others as well. Over time, passion becomes mastering and perfecting your abilities.

How to Find Your Passion

So what does the road to pursuing your passion look like? Discipline is key to understanding the steps to unlocking your passion. Passion is affected by your perception or your views of the world. Your passion then fuels your perspective and charts your future steps. Passion is about overcoming small and large obstacles.

There are several forces that can hold you back: Self-doubt, inadequacies, attempting to be a people pleaser, making mistakes and being rejected. Here are my personal five nuggets to help you find your passion:

1. Don’t be the underdog. If you are perceived as the underdog, the people closest to you might underestimate you. You may be perceived as a rabble-rouser or a troublemaker; others may claim that you are chasing an impossible dream because your idea does not fit into their career or cultural expectations.
2. Be persistent. Persistence is key because achieving goals, both small and large, takes time. You will hear the word no, and you’ll experience setbacks, road blocks, and even detours. However, continuing to move forward despite adversity will move you toward your goal.
3. Keep moving. Be open to conversations when you are rejected. Rejection means to learn to hear the word no. There will be more failures than successes; however, the successes will far outweigh all the no’s you receive. Put yourself in motion.
4. Be authentic. Authenticity is key, so stop trying to perfect being someone else. Passion is unique to each person, so some people may not get it and it will not resonate with what you are trying to accomplish. Simply put, some people are not ready for you and your attempts to pursue your passion because there is only one unique you.
5. Focus on the goal. There’s a reason why your gut is moving you forward. Passion means understanding why it is in your head, your heart and your soul. You have to lose yourself, shake off all haters, and seize all opportunities.

Career Passion vs. Purpose

Pursuing a career passion means you have to plan, prepare and be poised to take action. According to Larae Quy, the author of “Secrets of a Strong Mind” and “Mental Toughness for Women Leaders: 52 Tips To Recognize and Utilize Your Greatest Strengths,” purpose and passion are often thought of as interchangeable. As she writes: “Passion is about you. You are passionate about — whatever. Purpose is about something besides you. It de-emphasizes ‘you’ because purpose is when you pursue something outside yourself rather than pursue something that gives you pleasure.

“Passion asks, ‘What can the world give to me?’ Purpose asks, ‘What can I contribute to the world?’”

Passion can be fulfilling once it is unleashed. How do you define passion? In some cases, it is easier to define what it is not.

This article has sought to articulate the need to quiet the external and focus on the internal. Focusing on your goal will help your passion flow into every aspect of your daily activities.