Your Job: Passion vs. Paycheck
Some people are passionate about their work. They do it because they love it, and the paycheck is a bonus. Working hard, achieving professional recognition, and being an important part of a successful business make them feel fulfilled. Succeeding at work makes them feel successful in life.
Other people, however, work for the paycheck. They seek fulfillment from their personal lives, rather than from work. They use work as a means to an end, a paycheck to fund their efforts to achieve personal success apart of work. Success to them means having a fulfilling personal life, regardless of their job.
The key difference between these two groups of people seems to be whether the two aspects of life, professional and personal, are perceived as combined or separate.
I believe we should always strive to find a job that we’re passionate about, a job that doesn’t seem like work, a job that we enjoy. Our job shouldn’t just be a part of our life, it should enhance our life, become woven into the person that we are. It should be our way of contributing something to the world and making a difference. If we achieve happiness and success at work, we will have a more fulfilling life. This doesn’t mean that only the professional aspect of life matters. We should be passionate about our lives as a whole. If we are, that passion will compel us to seek success both personally and professionally.
I’ve always felt bad for people who work merely for a paycheck, feeling that they’re missing out on complete happiness and the satisfaction that comes with achieving professional success. I can’t help but think that no one enters the workforce planning on only working for a paycheck. We plan to find a job we’re passionate about and incorporate our new found professional life into our personal life, thus combining the successes and accomplishments of both aspects of our lives.
However, after failed attempts at finding a job you’re passionate about, it could be possible to conclude that work is just a necessary evil, a way to finance your personal life, and not a path to happiness. You find a way to separate your professional life from your personal life. You decide to accept that your job is not fulfilling, give up the attempts to work passionately at a job you dislike, and instead focus on gaining happiness through your personal life alone. You become able to feel fulfilled from success in only one aspect of life.
But what happens when you want a job that you’re passionate about, but you have a job that you hate?
I’m currently in this situation. I hate my job. Although my stance on always pursuing a job with passion stands, I have had to temporarily separate my professional life from my personal life. Up to this point, the two aspects of my life have always been intertwined. Succeeding professionally makes me feel successful in my life as a whole.
Unfortunately, when you’ve merged the parts of your life and feel personal success with your professional achievements, you also feel personal failure with your professional disappointments. Working passionately at a job you hate is difficult, if not impossible, making you feel like a professional failure, which is then personally devastating.
To pull myself out of the slump, I decided that this job does not have to define me, and I can have a fulfilling personal life despite my professional setback, so I started focusing more on achieving happiness through my life outside of work. I travel a lot, I’m training for a triathlon, and I started this blog, hoping that it will help me discover what type of work I should be pursuing, work that I can be passionate about again.
I plan on leaving my current job soon, as soon as I determine my next passionate endeavor, but until then, I stay, working for the paycheck. This, however, is only temporary. I would never be satisfied without passion for all aspects of my life. It’s the only way to experience complete happiness, I believe.
