Passion Meets Purpose: 3 Ways To Continuously Fall In Love With What You Do Every Day
Falling in love with what you do isn’t an idea reserved for the idealists, the dreamers and the hopelessly auspicious. It isn’t something that happens to those who are "lucky” and it doesn’t happen on accident.
Falling in love with what you do is something that happens when certain items fall into place; it can happen to anyone.
Falling in love with what you do requires that you understand the chemistry between an individual and his or her work and are able to identify the circumstances that facilitate this reaction.
This article is about sharing those circumstances with you. Here are three things you can do, starting today, to help you fall in love with what you do every day:
1. Surround Yourself With People You Admire
Here’s a fun and kind of scary fact for you: You can predict what you’ll be like in 10 years by predicting what the people around you will be like in 10 years. If you didn’t catch that, read it again. Then read it one more time for good measure.
Now, think about all of the people with whom you spend the most time. Think about the people you live with. Think about your coworkers. Think about the places you frequent and the types of people who also frequent them.
Think about the restaurants you visit and the types of people who dine there. Think about the company you keep. Think about the people you invite over. Ask yourself, do I admire them?
This isn’t about whether or not you think it’d be nice to be them for a day or even if you’re slightly envious of them. This is about whether or not you believe they possess qualities, skills and talents that are truly admirable.
Ask yourself if the people in your life are positive, full of life, continually bettering themselves, interesting, kind, fun to be around, generous and motivated. When you can say, “Yes, I truly admire 90 percent of the company I keep,” you begin transforming into someone you would admire as well.
There's some kind of quantum physics behind this that I'm not qualified to write about, so for now, just remember this: When you start to become someone you admire, you start to do work that you find truly admirable, and that is the start to falling in love with what you do every day.
2. Treat Your Job Like An Intimate Relationship
If you’re working 40-80 hours a week and are spending about 30-60 percent of your time at your place of employment, you should think about treating your job like an intimate relationship.
Those things that we look for and find in first-class romantic partners, and best friends are what we should look for and find in our professional handlers.
At the bare minimum, you should be treated decently and receive a fair value for your services. To be really happy in your professional life, however, you're going to have to ask yourself some higher-level questions: Are you proud to be with your employer? Are you becoming a better person? Does this relationship serve the lifestyle you envision for yourself? Are you two even compatible?
If you answered yes to all the above and you’d say you still find your work totally sexy, wife her up because you just hit the jackpot. We grow in our personal lives when we grow a pair and demand no less than what we deserve from our partners; the same applies to the people for whom we work.
Trust me; it’s not too much to ask. To keep us, employers attend fancy conferences and implement internal initiatives to make sure employees are healthy, happy and loved. It’s called “corporate wellness” and it’s the buzzword even a mediocre human resources department can’t ignore (for much longer).
Simply put, all companies want to keep and retain the best talent so it can kick ass. All employees (should) want to work with those who appreciate and cultivate their talents so they can be kickass, too. If the ass kicking isn’t mutual, somebody’s ass needs to be kicked (to the curb).
Hopefully, it won’t be yours because you’re a top talent. In case your talents are still under construction, however, let us arrive at number three.
3. Become Someone Worth Something
I know what everyone tells us and I know what we’ve been telling each other: Find your Passion. Don’t settle until you find it. Don’t take no for an answer. While I don’t contest the basic premise of this age-old wisdom, I am skeptical about how some of us might be interpreting it.
Here’s my point: If you were looking for love, most people wouldn't tell you to find it by dating a million people, one after the other.
They'd tell you, "Take your time. Figure out what you really want. Think about what has worked and hasn’t worked and go from there. Don’t date for the sake of dating. Find someone that can meet you where you're at."
In looking for passion, I think it makes sense to use the same approach. Finding our passions doesn’t mean we should keep looking for the next thing that will lead to happiness.
By this point in life, you’ve probably figured out that your personal relationships don’t necessarily improve because your luck improves; they get better because you’ve worked on yourself. You know the saying: Stop looking for Mr./Mrs. Right and be Mr./Mrs. Right?
Make a list of all the things you want from your dream job and become it. Want that prestigious, classy, admirable job? Well, to be honest, are you prestigious, classy and admirable? Want that challenging, exciting, innovative position?
How about that opening at the meaningful, inspiring and brilliant organization you’ve been eyeing? If you’re not there yet, find stepping-stones that will get you there. Find workplaces and positions that will meet you where you are so that you can be closer to where you want to be.
Yes, any experience is good experience, even if it doesn't necessarily produce any tangible results. But, the right experiences produce unbelievable opportunities that will return on the time you’ve invested. Be smart about how you invest your time.
Use it to become someone worth something. Let yourself fall in love with what you’ve become. In time, you will fall in love with what you do every day.
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