Different careers are meaningful to different types of people. A real-estate agent, for example, may feel that he or she is making a contribution to the economy of the country by bringing together buyers and sellers. Meanwhile, a social worker might feel that the real-estate agent isn't doing anything valuable at all. On the other hand, a real-estate agent might view a social worker as an idealistic do-gooder with ridiculously altruistic motives.
Knowing your values and preferences prevents mistakes. A person with the heart of a social worker who ends up as a real-estate agent is unlikely to feel fulfilled by that choice-and vice versa.
Some of the most satisfying career choices emerge when you do for pay what you'd do for play-whatever that might be. Prizefighter Sugar Ray Leonard once told a group of Harvard University students that his greatest talent (and pleasure) came from "beatin' people up." Now who would've thought that drive could be turned into an honest and lucrative career?
Former Wall Street trader Laura Pedersen, whose escapades are chronicled in Play Money (1991, New York: Crown), converted a love of games and strategy into an uncanny knack for making money.
By the time she was 12, Pedersen-who admits to a misspent youth at the racetrack-was already well on her way to mastering the art of handicapping. She parlayed this talent into a remarkably successful career as one of the youngest millionaires on Wall Street. But she recognizes that it takes most people longer to find (and convert) their passions into dollars. You may have to experiment with a number of options, she says, before finding the right opportunity. When you try to settle into one path too soon, you may foreclose some of your best options and opportunities.
Follow Your Heart
If you have acute observational skills, you may be able to recognize mission-driven careerists by the way they work. Rather than focus on the obstacles, they constantly push themselves to develop their potential more fully. Optometrist Tim McMahon is a good example. McMahon, who specializes in fitting contact lenses, works primarily with challenging (some would say impossible) cases. He's so good at it that he now teaches his craft to ophthalmology residents at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
When asked what he likes most about his work, he says, "The challenge. I love the challenge that each patient presents."
Missions almost always have a genuine heartfelt quality. As a teenager, writer Edward Hirsch discovered his love for what became his life's work in poetry. "My passion for poetry was so strong that all I wanted to do was follow it," he says. "It's like falling in love. It chooses you more than you choose it."
Sound romantic? You need to believe that this is no adolescent romance. These are the words of a highly successful 45-year-old writer, whose 30-year love affair with poetry has produced four widely acclaimed books and one National Critics Circle Award. He is now a preeminent name in modern American poetry. And to think his parents wanted him to be a tax attorney!
Hirsch's career reflects mythologist Joseph Campbell's meaning when he encouraged his students to "Follow your bliss."
"Some people don't realize that a vocation or calling is different from a career," says Hirsch. "A career is something you build around your passion. It's a way to earn a living doing the things that you most care about."
For example, in addition to his writing, Hirsch teaches poetry at the University of Houston and travels the country con-ducting poetry seminars and giving readings. Along the way, he meets a lot of people who envy him his talent, his unequivocal passion and his success.
But what came first-his talent or his passion?
Having read some of his earliest poetry, one feels comfortable comparing him to the great football running back Herschel Walker who was often praised by sportscasters for his great natural talent. In fact, what parades as "natural talent" is a fiercely cultivated skillset. As a youngster, Walker was discouraged from playing football because his coach thought he was too small. Rather than give up his dream, he responded by building his strength and endurance through training. Persistence, he says, is the real key to his success.
"My God-given talent is the ability to stay with it longer than anyone else," says Walker.
Enthusiasm for your work provides the motivational fuel you need to keep going in the face of inevitable obstacles. Heartfelt choices don't guarantee success, but they definitely increase the likelihood that you'll succeed. When you love what you do and find the challenge meaningful, you'll stay with it longer and work at it harder. Not because you have to, but because you want to.
