This week I told the people at work that I planned to quit by the end of next week. They were shocked, but understood and respected my decision.
For the last few months I have been working as a reporter for a Japanese news wire. I took the job because I was curious about journalism and I liked the sound of writing for a living. However, what I soon realized was that being a journalist is much, much more than just writing for a living. It is an entire lifestyle, one that cannot be taken lightly. Although I was interested in journalism, I was pretty sure that I did not want to make a career out of it. The job was a means to an end, a day job that would, I thought, afford me time to work on my real passions, film and writing. Two months in and I knew I had made the wrong choice.
I spoke with my boss at the United Nations, a senior reporter with over 15 years of experience, about my reasons for quitting. He asked me, “Speak honestly, which of the three reasons has influenced your decision the most?”
The three reasons were:
- 1. Low pay.
2. Poor work environment.
3. Lack of passion.
My honest answer was that it was all three.
I then asked him what he loves about his job and his face light up in a way that I’ve never seen before. He told me that he loves writing articles about minute changes in details. Working at the United Nations as a news correspondent is basically an exercise in reading documents written in esoteric legalize language. In case you are unfamiliar with the U.N., it is a giant and slow moving bureaucratic machine; their top outputs are dry resolutions on topics ranging from peace and security in the Middle East, to initiatives to curb global warming.
But if you heard my boss talk about these documents it sounded like someone reciting Shakespearean sonnets. His exact words translated from Japanese to English sounded something like this, “I love writing about those one word changes so much that I cannot stand it.”
Now that’s passion. To be precise, a burning passion. That is the secret to a successful career.
When he said it the expression on his face looked like that of a child getting a triple scoop ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day. I was floored. Clearly my lack of passion for the job was putting me at odds with my boss who was gushing with it. While he worked most days until midnight, I usually found myself hesitant to stay past seven. I could not handle his passion.
Despite not being a native English speaker, my U.N. boss was able to absorb information about the U.N. with such speed that within half a year he had more knowledge than some of our other colleagues who had been there much longer.
His secret? Passion and a ridiculous work ethic; while the latter is also vital, in many ways, it was his passion that fueled his strong work ethic.
The takeaway?
When it comes to achieving success in one’s professional life, passion is King.
People with true passion for their work can overcome almost any obstacle. Low pay, poor working conditions, long hours and other negatives melt away in the presence of burning passion. The Secret to a Successful Career is being able to achieve high results consistently regardless of the obstacles and setbacks presented. Possessing a burning passion for your work allows you to make it through those obstacles and setbacks without complaint. If you have it, it’s your trump card.
My father is another example of a man with a burning passion. Though an engineer by trade, his passion is for inventing. Though he has spent most of his life working on inventions, my father has yet to achieve the success of greats such as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Though I am confident he will one day he will find his success, these last thirty years have been lonely and discouraging. I know, I’ve contributed to it. 
And yet what amazes me is his resiliency; every time I tell my father, “Dad your not going to succeed if you go down this path,” he looks at me calmly and says, “I will, I know it.”
Sometimes I challenge him because it inspires me. I used to think that he’s either really stubborn or really passionate. Honestly, I think it’s both; but the passion precedes the stubbornness.
It’s easy for me to discourage him and to put down his efforts; but my assessment is usually inaccurate. While I can assess his progress and the likelihood of people accepting his radical inventions, I cannot properly his greatest asset: a burning passion for inventing.
Deep down, I know my father, like my U.N. boss, will be successful because people who have cultivated a burning passion that long are unstoppable. In my post, The Illusion of Passion I debunked the notion that passion, by itself, would equal success. While passion is a vital component to success, will power, drive and discipline are necessary to pull you through the long haul.
However drive, discipline and will power, on their own, could not produce the extraordinary results of someone who has all three as well as burning passion.
Having a burning passion is what puts someone over the top.
As I sat next to my boss, hearing him talk about his uncontrollable love for reading through documents searching for subtle changes, which I personally hate, I became a bit jealous of him. It’s rare to meet someone so excited about their work that they can’t wait to get to start the day. I want that and I’m sure many of you do too.
Witnessing the elation of a man so enthralled with passion for his work, I began to wonder to myself, “How does one go about finding one’s passion and then nurturing it?”
People who possess this burning passion are usually unable to speak about it. They can’t describe to others how they became passionate, to them it’s just a matter of being; like inhaling and exhaling.
Passion rarely starts out as burning passion. A better substitute for passion is a natural inclination. Having a natural inclination for something is, I believe, the necessary precondition for developing a burning passion.
For example, I have a natural inclination for storytelling. Actually, I would say that it is somewhere in-between a passion and a burning passion. It’s not quite where my boss’s is, but it’s definitely more than just a natural inclination.
In elementary school I participated in storytelling competitions for fun and loved it. In high school I started writing and I began to pursue that further in college in addition to public speaking and film making.
But I know that I still have a long ways to go before my passion develops into a burning passion. The key ingredients are time and diligence.
This is how I would describe the natural progression from a natural inclination to burning passion:
- 1. Find subjects or activities in which you have a natural inclination
2. Develop proficiency in that subject or activity. If you find that it’s not one of your strengths, repeat step one.
3. Keep developing that passion over the months and years. Eliminate other distractions and continue to focus and nurture your passion.
Though the time line may look different depending on the person I’m sure that if you follow this progression you can develop your interests into burning passions.
It’s a long and bumpy road, but if we make it through to the other side, we too can sound like giddy little children when we share with others our burning passions in life.
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Tags: Career Development · Passion · Success1 Comment
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< ![CDATA[[...] last week, as I mentioned in an earlier post I told my boss that I was quitting at the end of my two week rotation at the United [...] ]]>