For Passion or Purpose, or Just Work?

Why do we work?

The debate around why we work usually centers around either working to earn so we can meet our needs or working on something we’re passionate about. As a common example, a person could either pursue their artistic dreams with the readiness to face challenges while building a financially rewarding following, or they could ‘go get a job’ like everyone else.

There may be an extension to that debate which is, working on what we are passionate about or working purposefully.

To work for passion is to work on something in which we have a deep and driving interest. It is a feeling you can’t let go of. You find yourself talking about it, dreaming about it, and eventually tailoring your studying, training, and work life around it. Passion drives many career choices. A child could grow up passionate about cars and choose automobile engineering as a university course and eventual career. That would be a passion-driven career choice.

To work for, or on purpose is to have a sense of ownership. It is an insertion of the self into an existing domain or problem. For instance, a teenager finds himself deeply concerned about the incarceration of young people. He assumes a responsibility to reduce the number of such occurrences. To the observer, a young person should not have such deep concerns, but purpose appears more inborn than developed. The young person finds that although there are no personal factors motivating him towards this cause, (none of his friends for instance have been jailed) he cannot run from this sense of purpose so he pursues a career in law, does what he can for young defendants, then decides to go into politics as he believes he can make a greater difference by affecting the laws and societal factors behind young incarceration. Another word for purpose in this sense may be calling. Something ‘calls’ you to do something about a problem by making it your life’s work.

To be clear, there is no wrong choice in working either from a place of passion, or out of a sense of purpose. I would argue even that the best choice would be to have both. To feel passionate about the work we do on purpose would be amazing.

If you find yourself, however, neither passionate about what you do nor do you see any purpose in it, please understand that it’s also okay to do what you must to meet your needs and survive. Your wellbeing is too important to sacrifice for self-loathing. If you don’t love what you do, love yourself enough to know that work does not define you. You love yourself (and those you may be responsible for), and so you work. That is honorable and not to be despised.

Here’s the thing that makes it challenging to just work – societal expectations! It is common to go to social gatherings and if you’re meeting new people, it is likely that among the small talk topics will be the question of the work you do. I guess that’s why it’s classed as small talk. Your work is just a small part of who you are. Society has, however, placed a lopsided and unbalanced weight on work and being defined by it. Who you are matters more than what you do.

“Who are you?”

If you don’t yet have the answer to that question, please do some introspection. Find love and balance for yourself, and those who matter to you. Then let your work be something that only adds to the value of being who you already know yourself to be.