Follow your passion, follow your passion, follow your passion. Repeat. Follow your passion.
That mantra has been the cornerstone of career advice for the last twenty years. In fact, I myself gave out that very same advice to my daughter, who is now a graphic designer in Boston. When she was in tenth grade in high school, she came to me one day and said, "Mom, I'm scared. All my friends seem to know what they want to do for college and careers and I don't have a clue what I want to do." I told her to look around her life and pick something she enjoys and figure out how to make a career out of it, because she will be doing that everyday for the rest of her life. She told me she loved her computer (she had just gotten her very first Mac) and I told her to go make that into a career. It worked for her, thank goodness.
I recently came across the idea that "follow your passion" is NOT the best career advice you can give someone, in a newsletter for writers and authors, Root Notes by Keith Jennings. The path, for that tenth grader, now successful graphic designer for a large company, was not simply "I want to be a graphic designer" and go apply for a job in that field. Without all the in-between years of hard work and hard knocks, today wouldn't be possible. Yes, realizing that she enjoyed time on her computer was a stepping stone, but stepping on different stones along the journey allowed her find the artist that was hidden within that she, nor her father and I, ever knew existed. By chance, in ninth grade she took an art course for an elective and it was the art teacher that discovered her artistic ability and brought it out into the light of day. Realizing she enjoyed the computer and discovering her talent as an artist worked together to lead her to step on many more stones in order to figure out graphic design was her career of choice and passion.
My own writing career is an incubator to watch this process manifest itself all over again. I did try to do what the "follow your passion" mantra suggests. I retired. Created a writing room. Bought a new computer and said, "Now I'm a writer". Is it any wonder why, for a whole year, I could not even write one word? I now see that I needed to go through the process of trial and error and hop on and off of many stepping stones, over three years to get to the point of writing and submitting books. This blog is one huge trial and error stepping stone. Without it I would have never guessed that I have so much to say, that even one day cannot go by wihout me writing it. (Nailed my blog title, huh?)
The Root Notes newsletter cited a wonderful video of Cal Newport speaking at the World Domination Summit 2012. His topic is "Don't Follow Your Passion". The video is worth watching, especially if your question, or the question of your resident high-schooler is "How do I find my passion?" Oh so many years ago I don't know where I got the wisdom to answer my daughter and have it just happen to be the right one. The part I never gave a passing thought to was the process involved in her journey, and now in my current journey. This video is a must for high school and college students, newly retired individuals, and anyone in any stage of life looking to make a career change. Cal is an engaging speaker. He is a professor and I would love to be in one of his classes. Don't miss this one.
And so, as another day goes by, here I sit inside my own writer's room, at my computer, gazing out at the cottages on the beach, and….I have written. (And there are actually readers reading my work!) I can't thank you enough for being the inspiration for finding and following my passion, for it is you, dear reader, that is the reason I do what I do.
Cal Newport speaks at World Domination Summit 2012 from Chris Guillebeau on Vimeo.
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