Depending on the kind of person you are, the title of this post must have either put you off or intrigued you enough to give it a read till the end. Such is the nature of this career debate. On the one side, you’ve got the mavericks with their “follow your passion” mantra. And on the other you’ve got the realists and pragmatists slamming the “follow your passion” mantra. This group of passion-bashers is always out in full force with its rhetoric of stability and steady income and doing what is needed to make ends meet. Though admittedly, the other side isn’t much different when it comes to criticizing people who don’t seem to be going hell for leather after what they may want.
Before going any further and before I completely lose you with this rant, let me make it clear to you that the way we go about debating our careers is fundamentally flawed. Because this is not an either/or thing. It is never about “either you follow your passion or you go nowhere.” Similarly, there is also nothing wrong with going after what you want in life and doing everything in your power to achieve that “dream career.” The problem is the inability of proponents from both sides to understand that not everyone is built the same way and not everyone wants the same thing from their careers.
Putting this whole thing into black and white is only going to make you shortsighted and narrow-minded. Because you never know what the future may bring. How long you will be able to stay at that job you seem to love so much is anybody’s guess. Certain situations will surely catch you off-guard and you will have to improvise and reinvent yourself to get back on track. Of course, it is nice to have things planned out and aiming for specific goals at specific times. But, and this is important, it is also okay if you do not have things planned out and if you are not sure where you see yourself in the next 5, 10, or 15 years. If you are happy with a stable job and decent finances but do not really know where the future may or may not lead, then it is okay. You will figure it out. Because honestly, no one knows what the future may bring. Even the most driven and passionate among us cannot really know where they may be 20 years from now. So, just stop sweating it. You are fine even if you do not have the best career right now.
Consider this quote from management guru Peter Drucker.
“Successful careers are not planned. They develop and evolve when people are ready to avail opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.”
Sure, it is good to be able to do work you love and are happy about. However, sometimes you just have to make do with a job that you are not really enthusiastic about but which pays the bills or helps you get your foot in the door. Many of us have had to take on such jobs during our careers, just so we could make ends meet for a while before moving on to better things.
The purpose of this post is not to discourage anyone from taking that leap of faith and going after something they love. No one should have to stay in a job that they absolutely despise, where they are constantly under stress and at risk of losing their health and sanity. In fact, I would be the first person to tell you to kick that job to the curb before it completely messes up your life. However, if you are not sure yet what your “dream career” looks like, then it is okay to make do with your current job that helps you pay the bills and plan something for the future. Or even if you are unable to plan yet, it is still okay.
There are countless successful individuals out there who, when asked about what they did to get to where they are today, would tell you that they could never have envisioned their career trajectory the way it turned out to be. Sure, they worked hard at their jobs and made well-informed choices, but so much of it was unplanned. There was no list of things to do to get to where they are.
Accepting a less than glamorous job to be able to pay the bills is not the worst thing in the world. You can still lead a happy and fulfilling life if you choose to. Because at the end of the day, you control how you think and feel. Sure, it is not the most sensible thing to do to keep plugging away at a job that makes you feel miserable. But, if you are yet to figure out your future and do not know what you want to be when you are 30, 40, or 50 years old, then there is no need to sweat over it. Opportunities will come your way to get you to where you are supposed to be. You just have to be prepared to grab them with both hands when they come.