Does Your Career Passion Scare You?

By Chris Makell

For some, passion can be scary. It can feel like losing control, at the whim of a new trend or at the mercy of the prevailing winds. For others, passion brings energy, excitement and possibility! It's all in how you use it - for ultimately you own and control your passion.

So, do you get passionate about your career? What would it mean for you to be passionate about your career and desire to see it flourish and fulfill you? Given the ever-changing and dynamic workplace, we know that today's careers can be yesterday's hot topic for globalization. However, using the passion that inspires you in your career can be a great way to provide a level of security for your future. How do you do that?

Instead of feeling passion around a career, identify the "elements" of your career that really inspire your passion. This can take you to a whole new career level. Let me give you are real life example...

Sue, a very talented career professional, didn't see an opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. There was no support "pulling" her up and no one "pushing" from below. So she made a "passionate", albeit emotional, decision to begin looking for new ways to utilize and benefit from all the skills she had developed in her long and successful career. She stepped back and examined what it was she enjoyed doing and where she experienced real satisfaction.

Being highly skilled at "rolling up her sleeves" and taking a thoughtful, thorough approach to her work was most important to her and provided a true sense of satisfaction. She has a "passion" for taking current processes and making them more effective; as well as an expertise in influencing and having others see the benefit. As a result, she has found a new position that allows her to use her passion driven skills! She is now in a role she hadn't ever considered and really enjoys what it has done for her professional well-being. It has also opened new doors and created new supporters for her future.

The moral of the story...

Identify the elements of your career that you have true passion around and develop those skills. They will create for you the freedom to move into new opportunities when and while the world of work changes. And you'll achieve a level of personal and professional security that puts you in control.

Your career passion is important to you professional health and well-being. Otherwise it feels like a job and while it helps to pay the bills - you were meant for so much more. Take the opportunity to identify what it is, about what you do, that gives you that inspired passion in your career.

Here are some questions to help get you inspired...

o Is there something fun and challenging about starting a new project?

o Are you jazzed when you complete a piece of work?

o Do you like listening to someone describe their challenge or issue while knowing the many possibilities to help them?

o Does it feel good when you've sold your boss on a new idea, influenced a customer or project's direction or found a new way of doing something?

Passion, while it can be scary, can open up a whole new world of career possibilities. Let your passion be your career guide!!

Chris Makell is your career development expert, coach, consultant and author dedicated to the professional development of mid career professionals and women executives. When you visit http://aspirecareerservices.com/ and subscribe to Aspirations Career Journal for actionable tips and techniques, you'll receive "What's Hot in Career Development" Special Report free.