Passion v. Vocation

Some people seem to think that in order to succeed in business or a career you need people who’re really good at that particular position. Being qualified to do a job is important, but it certainly won’t lead a business to thrive. I find that genuinely successful people work their way up through the ranks and it isn’t because the only kind of good their doing is a “thorough job”.

Being passionate and innovative inspires others and can spread throughout whole departments. Personally I’ve never really seen this in any of the places that I’ve worked –but I have seen it from the outside looking in at other businesses. Those companies have great leaders in place that genuinely motivate fellow co-workers to contribute. Without that contributing factor –we don’t get much.

It is kind of amazing to see someone rally others because they sincerely care about the cause/work that they do. You can tell why they’re in the position they are –if for no other reason than to motivate and effect change that way.

Being passionate about what you’re doing fuels creativity in yourself and others and you end up sailing across the seas instead of getting bogged down by lesser tasks like swabbing the deck.

This is why, if you’re going to pursue a vocation, you should look for fields that you’re genuinely interested in and passionate about. I also think it’s why a lot of companies and organizations are getting more and more involved with non-profit work.

There’ve been days working at previous companies where I seriously felt, “Why the heck did I come in today? In the grand scheme of things this day was a waste and accomplished absolutely nothing.” You fill out all that paperwork and what does it go towards? At least when you work with a non-profit your efforts –great or small –are always worthwhile. Especially when you directly see the impact that organization is making.

Personally I think my ideal would be working for a Nature non-profit. I keep seeing these donation request forms for different business saying, “Tell us about your non-profit, but our business is mostly focused on people (we love animals, but don’t have enough funds to go around).” Animals and nature are the most left-out group being donated to in most instances. People FIRST is usually the policy. And yet people do look after people –and where does that leave these other sentient beings running around the planet?

I’m definitely called to nature. If you find yourself looking around and thinking, “Why doesn’t anybody care about this like I do? Why is nobody seeing this?” it’s a pretty good sign you’re meant to pave the way and lead others to understand WHY it’s worth caring about.

Whatever it is that’s in your soul to contribute, it goes furthest and easiest when it’s given to something you have a deep sense of necessity to provide to.

The other issue I’m now leery of with non-profits is finding a non-profit that tries to get money to contribute to the CAUSE, not using the cause to try and procure FUNDS. And I think that can confuse people or seem hard to understand from the outside looking in. It’s the difference between someone coming up to you because they genuinely care about what cause their explaining to you and will take any contribution you can give because anything would mean everything to them –verses someone that rattles off a bunch of facts about a cause so they can gun for the biggest profit that they then set quotas for each month and try to hit. Non-profits can lose themselves to the desire to procure money –rather than the work and contributions they can make –the same way a corporation can. 

Genuine Passion is everything.