Connecting Passion to What You Do

I have worked in retail, and you do not need to have a passion for retail to get a job in retail. In fact, it can help if you do not have a passion, as many people around you just want to do the work and get out of there. Save your passion for when it really counts, some say, as you don’t have endless passion. I’m sure you have seen these people in a supermarket - head slumped down, ignoring customers, stacking shelves while they stare blankly at the far wall and dream of doing something else. 

It can be tempting to think this way about everything we do. “Michael, don’t invest your passion here. Just do the work and go home. Just help out at your school, and go home. Just serve at church, and go home. Just cook dinner for your family, watch television, and rest. Save your energy and passion for something you really care about.”

My trouble is this: I have a hard time separating out “where to” and “where not to” invest my passion. In fact, once I start choosing “where to” and “where not to” invest my passion, I end up losing my passion for everything. 

The last job I had in retail was in a bookstore. I took the job because I needed the money and because I read a lot. I thought it might be fun, but I didn’t want to use my passion-energy on it. “Do the work, and go home,” I told myself. Save your passion-energy for your art projects at home. After only two weeks, as I worked behind the counter, the job was robbing me of my passion-energy for everything. I came home tired and exhausted. And I had stopped doing any art at home. I thought, I need the money, but this needs to stop.

In my third week, I was asked to help a customer buy a gift for a friend. As I listened to her tell the story of her friend, I couldn’t stop myself from using my passion-energy. See, I find people very fascinating, and I love hearing their stories. My boss saw the difference in me immediately and asked me to come out from the counter and serve on the floor, where I could talk with customers, listen to their stories about books and people, and help them find what they were looking for. (He also noticed that I was helping them to buy way more than they came in to buy.) Now, I genuinely loved doing this work. A part of me was saying, “just show up, sell some books, and go home.” But another part of me was noticing that using some of my passion-energy listening to people’s stories gave me passion-energy for other areas of my life. It had a flow-on effect. I started doing art work again. The people around me got energised as well, and not just those in the bookstore but at home and when I worked on other projects. It also helped me understand what one of my passions is. 

What I have found in my life and in the lives of people around me is the following: 

• It’s best to either find a way to invest some of our passion-energy in everything we do, or choose not to get involved. This is particularly important when we connect our passion to something we do. If you can’t find a connection, leave that work for someone else to do. Think of it in reverse - are you really helping if you do your work without care and passion?

• Doing something helps us figure out what our passions are. Sometimes you only discover you do not have a passion for something after you give it a go. Don’t be afraid to try, change, and explore. 

• And, find a reason to be around other people who are investing their passion-energy into what they are doing. Find a way to support them, so you can be infected by their passion, learn from how they use it, and cheer them on. 

One of the key questions Project Nexus asks every person who does our Incubate course is: what are your unique passions, and how can those passions connect to what you can do? The journey of discovering this, as a focus of Incubate, can change the way you live your life and where you choose to invest your passion-energy.