Some of you may be starting college for the first time, or finishing it. I graduated before I realized I didn't want to turn my major into a career. I'd studied for a hobby, not a job; and many of you liberal arts majors may find this to be the case.
For those of us who don't know exactly how we're going to apply our major to the working world,I firmly believe passions are hobbies, not career material. Why? Because the way we view them often sets us up for disappointment. We hold ourselves to an unreasonably high standard that makes us feel worse than better, becoming more of an inhibition to progress than a benefit. We value ourselves based on the quality of the result rather than the consistency of the effort.
It's important to hold ourselves to standards, but to unreasonably expect ourselves to reach them does us no good. Passions are the kinds of baskets we like to put all our eggs into with all our heart and emotional investment. So we give them our all, but rarely our best. When we put our all into any one given input 100% of the time, our performance will suffer. We grind ourselves down to the bone.
So what's the solution? You can be passionate about a career field that isn't your passion, but first ask yourself if you enjoy the interest you want to pursue more for leisure and pleasure than suffering. The heart of improvement lies in suffering. When improving on things we aren't totally invested in, we're less likely to become emotionally rattled by how well we're performing moment to moment. We have less expectations for ourselves to make leaps and bounds, and more interest in simply figuring out how to get them done.
You'll give it your best because you're thinking clearly without emotional distress because you're not all chips in. All chips in and you worry about losing. In the case of passion, it can often be losing to yourself. If you enjoy your passion for leisure and pleasure, then it's likely better left as a hobby. If you're focused but not necessarily determined or dedicated to be better than you can be, you'll thrive with your pursuits in a career field.
I'm a student in university. I think I'm pursuing a hobby, not a career. What can I do?
- Take a leave of absence. Your college or university most likely allows this. Mine allowed it for up to 4 semesters. That's a total of two years you could take off to figure out exactly how you plan to get ahead in life without thinking winging it will work out as I had thought.
- Apply for a minor. Oftentimes a minor is the saving grace that keeps many graduates from staying jobless post-graduation. Really take your time in finding the one that works for you. Don't worry about how often you'll annoy your school counselor. They work a job like any other and they want to look good come review time so don't freak out too hard. This is only you're future we're talking about, after all.
- Change your major. Even better is already having a minor you think would make a better career option and flipping the switch on your development plan. Turn your current major into your minor and your minor into your major. I still recommend leaving your current major as a minor if you don't have one but want to change your current major. It'll leave you peace of mind knowing you're still pursuing a path you'll graduate from.
