I’ve been thinking a lot lately about careers, maybe because I spent between 5 and 9 years (depending on how much of my education you count as tied up in it) pursuing one career, and now I’ve gone in a different direction.
WorkLife with Adam Grant (one of my favorite podcasts, and a new season just launched!) discussed career “passion” lately, and I agree with a bunch of the points that are made there: you have to actually try different jobs or you won’t know what your passion really is, but one bad day doesn’t mean you haven’t found your passion. Also, they talk about developing passion rather than just following it or finding it, as if it is fully formed under a tree somewhere.
I was trying to think this morning about how I develop passion, and I was realizing that the conditions of work are often so much more important to me than the work itself.
For instance, I’ll pursue a writing client if some combination of the following are true:
- The work is doing interesting, positive things in the world.
- The timelines and deadlines for the work are sane and organized.
- The pay is at a level that makes me feel like a person being treated with dignity.
- There are a minimum of editorial back-and-forths, taking both the editor and my time.
What’s interesting is that a decent percentage of my clients are only two of those four things: I just accepted work that is interesting, positive, and organized but pays nothing. On the other hand, if the work is paid at a strong level and has a minimum of those editorial handwringing emails, I’ll keep it even if the work is eh. I think of those clients as bankrolling my involvement in other, less well-paid ventures (like working on my book!).
Through it all, I am acutely aware that I probably haven’t chosen “my career.” Chances are good that I will do other things in my life, drawing on each of the skills that I’ve honed at my past career-pursuit job and at my current something-that-might-be-a-career. I wish I could tell every wide-eyed high schooler to aim higher than just waiting until they feel a fluttery “career passion.” They can make a passion, through building the job they want.