The Passionate Career Woman. Does that describe you? Or have you traded excitement for the doldrums in your career or business just to get by? It doesn’t have to be that way and you can end the agony now! When you feel good, satisfied and accomplished with what you’re doing at work, it favorably affects other areas of your life and gives you an overall feeling of wellbeing.
I realize that not every job or task is filled with great energy and can be time-consuming and tedious or just not turn out as expected. And maybe the job isn’t overseeing a company or being an entrepreneur, however you owe it to yourself to find the passion within and conjure it up to serve you and the job at hand.
What is Passion?
So what is passion anyway? We easily recognize passion in love relationships, but what about on the job? You’ve probably experienced passion sometime at work. Maybe it happened when your job or business was new and felt like an adventure. You were excited and challenged and it spread into other areas of your life. Or passion rose when you tackled an interesting project and were totally absorbed in what you were doing. You lost track of time, you were that into it.
Passion is the feeling of excitement and enthusiasm that we feel. It’s often surges of upbeat energy: Energy rising and expanding that can’t be contained. The important question is “did it last”? Can you summon passion when you need to and maintain it over time?
Let’s find out how you can sustain passion and use it as a powerful tool to leverage your business?
Why Passion?
With passion, you’re an unstoppable force to be reckoned with! You exude energy and enthusiasm that fires you up and fires up everyone you meet. Passion fills you up so that you aren’t depleted or tired and you are enjoying the feeling that takes over. Research suggests that passion, one of the more favorable emotions, can have the same upbeat effect on others around you, it’s that contagious. Your coworkers, clients and customers will feel its strength and respond with that same energy.
Where Has All the Passion Gone?
So what happened to it and how do we regain it and make it an integral part of our lives? Many psychologists and business experts tell you that to discover your passion, you need to think back to when you were between nine and eleven years of age. Consider what drove you, what you wanted to do in your life, what you thought about or dreamed about.
Rediscover the dreams that you gave up or that faded because of life responsibilities and the reality of making a living. Others will ask you to examine what you’re good at. Take a close look at your talents, abilities and interests, for that’s where your passion is buried. They both are important tools to use and can help you rediscover passion or claim it for the first time. But, that’s only a part of the answer.
Do What You Love:
There’s nothing like doing what you love to do that ignites your passion and gets your energy flowing in an unstoppable direction. Having passion for your job is vital to a prosperous career. The most successful people are those who are passionate about what they do.
Your personal happiness is also affected by how passionate you are at work and with your career. You may not think so, but if your job is just a drone, the same old day after day, it influences how you feel and behave. It can also affect your health, your home life, relationships and how you feel about you. The challenge is to figure out how to add more meaning to your work regardless of the position.
One way is to increase the tasks that use your strengths and highlight what you enjoy doing. The more you can do so, the better you’ll feel. If you’re in a position to delegate the tasks that feel burdensome or that you’re less skilled at; do it. It will relieve you of the pressure so you can concentrate on activities.
If that’s not possible recall and highlight the more meaningful tasks, interactions and relationships at work that you do have. You can even write them down. When facing an uninteresting task, do it and also remind you of the other tasks that were more satisfying.
Practice Passion:
“Practice Passion: That’s Impossible,” you say! There’s no way you can change your job right now or even improve upon the job activities. So leaving your job or changing careers isn’t an option. And that’s true for many women. You must make a living and pay the bills.
If doing more of what you love isn’t available, look at the plus side of your job. Focus on how it benefits you. It handles the primary need to make a living. Maybe you get medical benefits, paid vacation time or product discounts. You’ve made friends and contacts on the job that make the time pass easier. All of these are pluses that you can concentrate on when you feel down and dejected about work.
Do you live only for the next weekend? When Sunday rolls around, do you begin to feel queasy and low? You don’t have to suffer from those ‘Sunday Evening Blues’ and dread the upcoming work week. Instead, re-examine your job. Really focus on the benefits rather than what you don’t like.
Find ways to be thankful for the job. Think about how it supports you and how other people also benefit. Passion’s an attitude, and if practiced enough becomes more and more believable. Practice passion often. You’ll be surprised at the changes that will happen.
