Living with passion and purpose seems like a fluffy dream to many people who have settled on their job and career, but there are many others who are living proof that living with passion and purpose is possible, maybe with a little bit of guidance.
My son Tsoof, who is 20 years old, finished his four-year degree in music recently. 3 days a week, he teaches school students the joy of percussion playing and the rest of the time, he works on his show and his band SoundStruck.
This week, in one of his musical performances, I had a chance to talk to many of the young musicians there about their plans for the future. Some of them looked for a job that would bring them money. They worked in a retail shop, in the bakery, played a gig once every two months, and the rest of the time, they had to pay the rent somehow. Others, like Tsoof, worked in the music industry and were living with passion and purpose.
I was a proud mother. You see, Tsoof leaves home 3 days a week at 6:30am, works full days, never complains, never says it is too hard. When one of his students is away, he uses the time to practice and write music, and he loves his students, loves the work, loves music and gets excited about the compositions and the work he does for his show.
My son is not the only one in that group. Others are also passionate and dedicated, working hard and loving every minute of it. I was happy to discover this.
Many people say to me, “Young people today…” in a negative way, and I say to myself, what on earth are they talking about? I work with grownups who were never passionate like that about their work or their job in their life. They studied something and then compromised on something else that brings money but not satisfaction.
Those young musicians were inspiring because they did not compromise on their passion. I honestly thought that many of my clients could learn from them. They are young and inexperienced, but have the right mindset.
If you love something, go and do it! When you are paid to do the things you love, it does not feel like a job and it makes it easy to get up in the morning. When your work is done with passion, you do it with excitement and that attitude becomes a magnet for bosses, colleagues and clients. In many ways, it is a way to surround yourself with a good vibe of excitement.
I write for living and when I research for a new book or a new articles I need to submit, time flies. It is interesting, it is exciting, I think about it a lot, I plan and I love every second of it. I coach for a living and when I coach a client (or clients), I am there 100% and I give them myself to the max. When they leave, I feel I have learned from them more than they have learned from me. Every coaching session is a victory, every success of a client is a reward for me. Life coaching is not easy at all, but it does not feel like a job. It feels more like a mission, a calling.
I would like to encourage you to live with passion, purpose and joy, and if you can bring this to your work, that would be awesome, because we dedicate about a third of our life to work.
Can you imagine doing something painful for a third of your life? Spending a third of your life with your heart somewhere else, counting the hours until you go home?
This Saturday, 30th of April, I give a talk about finding your dream job in the Break Free From the Cubicle Global Summit. I invite you to join this summit where my colleague Samantha Ibarguen has gathered 18 experts to guide you in landing or creating the job of your dreams. This is a free virtual event and many experts share their knowledge and expertise on how to succeed at work, have fun and live with passion.
Register here for free. My interview is this Saturday, April 30th, and I hope you do not miss it as I share my best tool for having your dream job and living with passion and purpose.
I was lucky to find my passion at the age of 16 (writing), and add another part to it at the age of 20 (teaching and emotional intelligence). Many who studied with me got jobs as teachers, a profession with a high burnout rate. But when it is done with passion, there is no burnout.
I did a thesis on why we choose our profession, so from the second I was out in the workforce, I knew that compromising on the things I loved and believed in would be a recipe for disaster. Compromising is what makes it hard to get up in the morning and go to work.
Many who studied with me did not last in that profession. Many who did the coaching course with me are not coaches today, because it was a job for them, and nothing more. It is never the knowledge that is missing. It is always the attitude.
Many of those young people I met at Tsoof’s gig, who studied music for 3-4 years, will never be musicians, because they lack the passion and the emotional strength to avoid comprising when things get tough. Their dream of the dream job will never be a reality.
So if you have young adult who is in high school, thinking of studying, or already in the workforce and is not happy about it, I suggest they register for the summit. It is free and a great boost for the mind.
Please remember my interview is this coming Saturday, the 30th of April and pass it on to others who may benefit.
Happy week!
Ronit
