Curiosity Trumps Passion: A Primer On Changing Your Career

In seasons of confusion, of loss, of boredom, of insecurity, of distraction, the idea of “passion” can feel completely inaccessible and impossible…But curiosity, I have found, is always within reach. – Elizabeth Gilbert

 

We often talk about passion as if it is the key to feeling fulfilled in our careers. If we work in our passion and find our strengths, then we should have the most rewarding career ever, right?

That concept seems simple enough. So why does finding your passion feel like the worst scavenger hunt ever? You may find clues leading you down the road toward your dream job, but you never seem to arrive at the final destination to claim your prize.

The Truth About Passion

Studies show that only 1 in 5 people, or just 20% of us, have a clear vision of where they want to go in life and why. For the vast majority of us, our brains just aren’t wired that way.

I know precisely one person who has known their passion since practically birth — my twin sister Tiffany. My sister is a dentist, and do you want to know when I knew she was going to be a dentist? At our first dental cleaning when we were 3 years old. She told me, the dentist, and my mother that dentistry was her profession of choice. #dentistryforlife

Ok…I actually don’t remember our exact age or the precise dental cleaning when my sister relayed this information, but it was always out there. My sister knew. I knew. Everyone knew that my sister was going to be a dentist. Today, she is that dentist, and she is happy.

Now I bet you’re wondering whether my parents were dentists? With such a specific career choice, surely we had an uncle, aunt, or family friend in the dental field? Nope. Passion found my sister, and it was a done deal.

So that’s what finding your passion is supposed to look like. And for 20% of us, it does. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of us are doomed to waste away in unhappy careers.

To find what we truly are meant to do, the rest of us have to take action.

Try Curiosity And Action Instead

Passion will find you after you try something, discover you like it, and then develop mastery.  But the key is acting first. You have to try some stuff. If you like it enough, you’ll want to continue to learn more, and then the hard work of mastery begins.

So how do you know what careers to try on?  Instead of thinking about passion and discovering your strengths, follow your curiosity.  One of my favorite quotes on this type of career curiosity is this,

In seasons of confusion, of loss, of boredom, of insecurity, of distraction, the idea of “passion” can feel completely inaccessible and impossible…But curiosity, I have found, is always within reach. – Elizabeth Gilbert

You can always get curious even if you have no clue what comes next. Curiosity is that little thought in the back of your mind that goes, “hmm, what is that?”  Curiosity is the stuff of cell phone google searches on your train ride into work and Amazon queries for books on creative ideas.

When you think about what comes next in your career, use curiosity to figure out what you can try on. If you read a piece on Buzzfeed and wonder how the writer got such in-depth research, let that curiosity lead you to reach out to the writer to invite her out for coffee. That conversation will lead to the next discussion or a final thought in your mind that, “I definitely don’t want to do that.” And then you are free to move on to the next curiosity until you find something that makes you want to learn more and dig deeper.

Whatever you do, just recognize it’s time to give up the ghost. Stop your never-ending search for passion, get curious, and try stuff instead. By doing that, you just might find the career of your dreams after all.

What are your thoughts on curiosity, passion, and finding a career you love?  Let me know in the comments below. Let’s start a discussion together.