This is the subject of countless articles, books and online videos. A vast majority of advice repeats the same garbage about “following your passion”. Passions can come and go and they may not correlate to what you’re good at. Some very high profile and accomplished people started this theme and everyone seemed to have jumped on the mantra of “follow your passion”. It is probably true for about 1 to 2% of the population that have a dream or desire to “be something” at an early age and then drive with maniacal focus to accomplish that dream. These people often have a deep hole in their soul that they are trying to fill. These people succeed and move humanity to achieve great things, but most people are not like that. This philosophy doesn’t work for most people and many have wasted years of their life pursuing nonsense training and careers in an attempt to follow their passion. If you have had a long standing dream, then you shouldn’t be reading this because you already know what you want. If you don’t know what you want to do, then read on.
The following provides two approaches to finding meaningful and satisfying work; one is more of a simple philosophy and the other is more of a method for those who like a step-by-step approach.
Approach 1 – Start with what you’re good at
Early in life, children figure out what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. All kids make an effort to read, write, draw, race, do math, make things, kick a ball, fight, sew and cook. Some quickly learn that they’re not good at math, but they’re great at kicking a ball. Others find that their science classes are easy, but they can barely get through 3 pages of Shakespeare. These skills get positive and negative reinforcement by peers, parents, teachers and coaches. By high school, most kids know what they are good at and what they’re not good at. The ages of 14-16 are unique because at this age, teenagers are reasonably self aware. On the other hand, they haven’t necessarily been corrupted by the pursuit of money and obligations. Then things change. As high schoolers approach graduation, many start thinking about careers and how to avoid being a loser. Parents make the situation worse by forcing kids into bad decisions such as going to college and worrying about how to be a success. Fifteen to twenty years go by in a flash when people find themselves with either no career or well into a career that they hate. They then start reading books and blogs and watching online videos of famous people talking about following their passions. They then waste more years searching for their passion. At that point, with the possibility of dependents and debts, it may extremely difficult to change course. If you still have options and are not sure of what to do, then consider thinking back to when you were 14 to 16 years and thinking about what you liked doing. What did you do without being paid or being forced to do. It may not necessarily be one thing and it’s probably not something that you can earn a living doing, but sometimes it is. In any case, it’s best to at least move in that direction and avoid pursuing options that would have made no sense to you at 15 years old. For instance, perhaps pursuing an MBA and becoming a management consultant with a big four consulting firm sounds like a great idea at 30 years old, but at 15 years, did you really want to sit in meetings all day and stay up all night performing analysis that most people don’t care about? Talk to your 15 year old self and say; “In 15 years, you will be spending countless hours in front of weak leaders of companies who can’t make decisions, so they hire people like you so that they can stand behind a famous consulting firm for direction. Then after you generate reams of presentations and reports, your work is probably never going to be used the minute you leave the premises of your customer. Repeat over and over.” How about explaining to your 15 year old self that you’ll be sitting in a cubicle taking abuse from a jerk boss because you wanted money to buy a granite counter in the kitchen that you rarely use and to impress friends who don’t care. Contrast that with a person who works in a manufacturing company and is actually making a cool product that people use or to a tradesperson who fixes something that people really need. It may not be dream work, but if you’re good at it and it’s useful, you could defend that work to your 15 year old self. At a minimum, avoid work that takes you away from pursuing what you like doing outside of work. Perhaps at 15 years old you dreamed of traveling, being an artist or being a professional athlete. Being a professional athlete may no longer be an option, but being close to sports, such as coaching or working for a professional sports team could be an option. In this case, the goal is to minimize expenses so that you need to earn the least amount of money to live. It’s not a great option, but it’s better than spending your waking hours doing something that you hate only to have no time to do other things you like because you’re too busy medicating yourself during your off hours with binge watching TV shows.
Approach 2 – Figure out what you are
Step 1 – Determine your ideal
This method may help you find your life’s work and help you avoid a total career blunder. It starts with how you identify yourself relative to an Ideal. A wonderful book titled “Self and Soul: In Defense of Ideals”, by Professor Mark Edmundson, outlines three ideals that have been revered by nearly all cultures and throughout history. The Ideals are; The Warrior, The Saint and The Thinker. He identifies a fourth ideal; The Poet, but indicates that the poet hasn’t been long established in all cultures as an Ideal and is a relatively recent addition, so we’ll just focus on the first three. In an interview, Professor Edmundson suggests that these ideals can be used to point a young person in a general direction for where to spend their life. First, let’s review the ideals as briefly described below. For a far more in-depth review of the ideals, it’s best to read Edmundson’s book.
- The warrior
Warriors like to fight and are good at it. Warriors are willing to live in uncomfortable conditions and even die while fighting. Fighting traditionally means being a conventional soldier. Warriors have been revered by most nearly every culture throughout time. Ancient statues are usually made in the image of a great former warrior. In all cases they put themselves at risk to fight. The classic archetype of a warrior is Achilles from the Iliad. Achilles has the option to live a long comfortable and luxurious life, but he gives that up to instead live the uncomfortable and dangerous life of a warrior who has a short life. Modern day equivalents include not only military soldiers, but also other fighters such as police (fighting bad guys) or firefighters (fighting fire). They don’t get paid much, but they’re still willing to put themselves at risk to fight.
- The saint
Saints are people that are willing to live uncomfortable lives and even die in the pursuit of giving compassionate care for others. Compassionate care includes physical care, but it usually means spiritual and psychological care. The classic archetype is the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha was from the Brahmin class in India and had the option of living a long and luxurious life as a Brahmin. Instead, he leaves this life to live under difficult conditions in an effort to reduce suffering. Modern day equivalents can obviously include clergy, but can also include saints such as healthcare and social workers. Again, the real saints are the ones who get low pay but still put themselves at risk to reduce the suffering of others. Wealthy televangelists and doctors don’t fit the mold.
- The thinker
Thinkers are people who are willing to live uncomfortable lives and even die in pursuing or telling the truth. Some philosophers, scientists and even journalists (non-sensationalist narcissistic types) can fit this category. Classic archetypes are Socrates and Galileo. Socrates was put to death for asking too many questions in ancient Greece. Galileo was thrown in jail for being unwilling to back down from his theory that the Earth was not at the center of the solar system. Some old-school journalist, particularly in totalitarian countries, have died while trying to tell the truth.
Who’s not included? Entertainers, professional athletes and business people are not included among the Ideals. A rare few of these are able to transcend their former lives and become warriors, saints or thinkers, but a vast majority are forgotten in time. As an example, although these people died over 2000 years ago, most people have heard of Socrates, Aristotle, Julius Ceaser, Alexander the Great, Buddha, Jesus and Confucius. How many singers do you know from ancient Rome? How many professional athletes do you know from ancient China. How many real estate moguls have you heard of from ancient Greece. It may be hard to believe, but these people are surprisingly forgotten in time quite quickly. Although modern entertainers, athletes and business people are well documented in sound and video, they face dilution in a universe of newcomers. The reason that these people are not venerated in history is that they don’t put themselves at real intentional risk, at least not like a Warrior, Saint or Thinker. Edmundson’s last chapter titled “Polemical Conclusion In The Culture of the Counterfeit” expounds on these points.
A note on journalists. Most modern journalists don’t really fit the archetype of Thinkers and truth tellers. Most seem to be focussed on a political agenda (right or left) while also providing a heavy dose of self promotion and entertainment. For instance, when you see a “TV-journalist” sharing his experience with his own disease or how he exercises, this is more selfless “look-at-me” promotion than real journalism. Real journalist are as rare as real saints.
An additional clarification on the ideals. These ideals on not mutually exclusive. Warriors can be compassionate and they can think. Some Thinkers can fight. However, if a Thinker spends all day in the dojo and not studying and learning, then they are not likely to be a good Thinker. Likewise, if a Saint spends all day reading philosophy books, there is little chance that they will reduce any suffering in the world. The point is, the ideals are centered on what someone does and how they put themselves at risk.
Now that you have an idea of the classic ideals, where do you think that you fit? In other words, if you had to suffer and even die in pursuit of one of the ideals above, would it be as a Warrior, a Saint or a Thinker? Not sure? If you find yourself speaking up at work too much and unwilling to go with a groupthink environment, you’re probably in the Thinker category. If you find yourself uncomfortable in situations that require you to crush the competition, you’re probably not a Warrior. If you find yourself wanting to help people more than criticize them, you’re probably in the Saint category.
While this introspection may or may not inform you on what to do with your life, it can point you in the right direction and at least get you out of the wrong direction. It can also help you understand why you may struggle in your current job. Most importantly, it can help you find a cause and purpose in life that transcends the mundane pursuit of money for survival. For instance, imagine the difference between a lowly paid nurse and a highly paid infomercial salesman. Imagine the difference between a low paid soldier and a highly paid management consultant that creates reports that no-one will ever read.
Step 2 – Determine your personality style and fit for certain professions
Another resource for pointing you in the right direction is a book titled “The New Personality Self Portrait” by John M. Oldham and Lois B. Morris which includes a personality test. The premise of the personality test, which is much different than other common approaches, is that it based on evaluating yourself within the context of the personality disorders described in recent editions of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For instance, a person who is generally vigilant probably has a mild form of Paranoia. Said another way, people suffering from Paranoia are simply extreme versions of a vigilant personality style. People with obsessive compulsive disorder are extreme versions of a conscientious personality style.
Per the “The New Personality Self Portrait” website; the following is the complete list of the personality types and the associated personality disorders:
- Types/Style Disorder
- Conscientious Obsessive-Compulsive
- Self-Confident Narcissistic
- Dramatic Histrionic
- Vigilant Paranoid
- Mercurial Borderline
- Devoted Dependent
- Solitary Schizoid
- Leisurely Passive-Aggressive
- Sensitive Avoidant
- Idiosyncratic Schizotypal
- Adventurous Antisocial
- Self-Sacrificing Self-Defeating
- Aggressive Sadistic
- Serious Depressive
After taking the test, your’ll discover your personality style by percentage. In other words, no-one is 100% one style but a mix of different styles that vary in intensity. Finally, the test report and the book then provide very valuable insights into your styles and even suggests professions that might fit your type. Perhaps more importantly, professions that you should avoid. It’s a very practical and usable approach for providing direction.
Step 3 – Validate your options
To help validate your choice, insights from a book titled “Urban Flow” by Jeffrey Kidder can help. Kidder is a sociologist who investigated the work of bicycle messengers. His observations reveal that although bicycle messengers have difficult, dangerous, uncomfortable, low status and low paying jobs, most seem to love what they do. Kidder proposes reasons for why bike messengers report such high job satisfaction which can be useful for validating your options. Review your job options per the following:
Do you self identify with the work?
It should not just be your profession, it should be who you are. For instance, most grocery clerks are not made to be grocery clerks, they just do such jobs to earn money. The same can be said for numerous other professions. On the other hand, many auto mechanics were born and nurtured to be mechanics. It’s not just a job, it is who they are. When you consider options, ask yourself if the following sounds right; I am a ______ (fill in your job options).
Do you make the decisions to achieve the objectives?
Your boss, customers or audience may identify the goal, but you make the decisions on how to get from point A to point B. Any job that is either so simple that there are no options for decisions (old factory jobs) or require significant oversight by a supervisor ,are not likely to be satisfying. Your work should be complex enough to require options and it is only after years of practice that you learn to quickly identify whether one option is better than the other.
Do you operate in a mental state of “flow”?
If you are sitting in meetings most of your day thinking about being somewhere other than that meeting or if you spend a lot of time surfing the web at work, you are not operating in a mental state of “flow”. When in “flow”, the world disappears and hours can go by without you noticing. This is where you want to be.
Does your professional life complement your personal life?
There should be minimal separation between work life, work friends, personal life and personal friends. It’s all one world. If you find yourself with a clear distinction between these two worlds, then the work is not likely to be satisfying.
To summarize:
- Make a list of what you’re good at as judged by your peers. Don’t worry about whether it is a marketable skill and don’t even worry about whether you like it or not. Forget passions, just list what you’ve demonstrated to peers to be competent in doing.
- Ask yourself what Ideal you fit. What would you be willing to suffer and even die doing?
- Take the personality test in the the book titled “The New Personality Self Portrait”.
- Put it all together to see if your current work aligns with what you learned from steps 1 to 3
- Validate your options using the example from the book titled “Urban Flow”
- Finally, if you think that you have a profession in mind, ask your 15 year old self if they’d be proud of what you’re doing.
Clear watch-outs
Be cautious of any life work or profession that takes you more than two steps away from the product or the customer. For instance, if you work for a company that makes bolt-on software for an Enterprise Resource System that supports a marketing firm that sells products for a manufacturer of a product, you are very far removed from the product that people actually use and benefit from. That’s not to say that people doing this type of work don’t earn good livings, but I’m fairly sure that these people are mostly dissatisfied with their work. Be cautious to pursue management positions that are 2 to 3 times removed form the work. Senior level managers can make a lot of money, but they do so at the risk of having a bullshit job and making other people miserable when they get in the way of the doers. This is why people who work in the trades are often the most satisfied and proud of the work that they do; Carpenters, Iron Workers, Plumbers, Electricians, Construction workers, Mechanics, Cooks and Craftsman or generally useful people to society. If you are removed from the product, try to get work that gets you closer to the product such that you can touch, feel and see that product on a regular bases or deal directly with the customers of that product. If you’re a senior level manager, take the pay cut and go back to your original manufacturing or engineering position where you were able to be close to the product on a daily bases. It’s easy to do unless you’ve encumbered yourself with debt to pay for things that you don’t need.