Align Your Passions With Your New Career

“I want to do something I am passionate about” - A simple thinking framework to help you brainstorm the answer to this challenge.

Last week I was working with a client who wanted to stop working in the Tourist Hospitality business; somewhere she had been for 12 years. She felt that she had lost her passion for service but wasn't sure about where to start applying next and didn't really want to start from the bottom rung of the ladder. This was becoming really overwhelming and stressful for her as she really didn't know what she could do next, and was worried that the hollow feeling she had was related to more than just needing a new job. Her kids had left home and her family was financially comfortable so this wasn't a move for financial gain. The gap was wanting to feel like she was making a difference or living her passion.

*There are relatively few disciplines where you need to start completely over if you change careers although I am amazed at how many people believe you need to.

I was excited by this challenge because my client was interested in support to reignite her “jump out of bed raring to go” feeling - as she put it. Whilst many people rush to start applying for roles, they skip over the Mindset part of their career search. It is the magic moment that connects people with the most rewarding work of their careers. During the Career Max program, this is where we dig into what you want and then design the optimal plan to go and get it. 

After talking about her responsibilities and the things she delivered over the years which she was particularly proud of, we had a long list of “tasks,” but nothing which really connected for her at a personal level. I wanted to try something a bit different. I have been using this model for a while and it provides a new perspective on what people enjoy about life and the people they surround themselves with for fulfillment. This is in contrast to only thinking about a list in a position description and choosing brands or companies form a job board based on who you know.
More often than not, connecting with your passion requires having a box, (or in this case, circles) to think within for a little guidance. We spent about 15-20 mins brainstorming the answers to the questions in the circles below and I was amazed at how the light came into her eyes when she talked, and how I could see her passion for certain things coming forth as she recalled them. She was in full flow. My job as a coach is to put the clues from the past together and help link that to a career/role of the future. Once we had the list, I gave her an overview of what I had heard and then we set about researching companies, causes, and options that could offer this to her.
I found this session so inspiring and the outputs so awesome that I thought why not share this model in my blog this week and see if it can help some other people!

So here’s what you do:

1. Grab a pen and paper and start brainstorming ideas related to the headings in the three circles. Don’t be limited by the questions, they are just examples - use the titles. “Favourite things” could apply to anything you really like spending time on. 
2. Once you have jotted down three to five bullet points for each circle heading, make a note of why they excite you too. 
3. Then try to jot down two or three words that summarise all the points or ideas in one particular circle. 
4. Next, imagine yourself in a helicopter hovering 200m in the air and take a look at all the lists you created trying to pull out commonalities between two circles or across all three. For example, perhaps you have “current events” as a common theme between favourite things and constants because you read the newspaper every morning, and you love talking politics as well as keeping abreast of what’s happening in the world. This may mean you could identify with fast-moving contemporary organizations. You may see “giving back” as a theme across all three circles, which might point you towards cause-driven organizations or not for profits as my client did.
5. Finally, turn that self-reflection into action. Google or search for job opportunities which include thematic words from your lists, (or variations of those words,) as company values, or parts of job ads or quotes in media articles.

Note - It doesn't matter whether you recreate the three circles or make three lists. What is important is that you can identify what your passion is and the things you love!

In the end, my client clearly identified that actually, for her, volunteering would allow her to express her passion and give her something more than service for wages or tips as a reason to bounce out of bed in the morning. She didn't need to change careers at all. It was a matter of refocussing her mindset and strategy on the way she approached her day-to-day.

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