I posted this a few days ago on LinkedIn. Seems relevant here too...

"Before You Apply—Is it an Interest or a Passion?"


How many times have you come across a job ad and, at first glance, said, “That would be a great job for me, maybe even the perfect job.” But how do you know if this is a position that has long-term potential or one that will have you searching the job listings in a few months? One way is to distinguish between what is a strong interest for you and what is a passion. When thinking about careers, if something is merely a strong interest for you, then rest assured you will eventually find yourself doing this work because you need to and not because you want to. With a passion, need and want become indistinguishable. If you have attempted to learn a musical instrument, then you know what I mean. Long ago, I took an interest in three instruments: acoustic guitar, piano, and drums. Each one comes with its own unique intellectual and physical challenges. Playing the guitar hurt my fingers, the piano hurt my wrists, and the drums hurt all over. Despite the challenges, only one of them showed the kind of sustainability that you are looking for in a career-making job. After learning the rudiments of the instruments and being able to play a few songs, the pain associated with the piano and the guitar became too much for me. Being an athlete, I knew that with the passage of time my body would probably adapt. But I did not have the patience or the deep-seated desire to continue. The drums were a different story. I will never forget trying to learn the flat tire shuffle. It is not a particularly complicated beat. Most would say it is easy. But for some reason my mind and body struggled to process the coordination. I kept at it. Several hours at a time and several days in a row until I got it. Not because of pride or stubbornness; not because of a coach or tiger mom standing over me. There was nothing forced. Rather I simply felt an innate pull to complete the task. In fact, a few days later, with an ice pack on my shoulder, I sat wondering—quite obliviously—why I was in so much pain. Passion reveals itself in the unsought and unexpected persistence of mind and body. Passion, as opposed to mere strong interest, allows you to “play through the pain.” So before you uproot yourself and your family to pursue a new job opportunity, honestly ask yourself if you are interested enough in the work to play through the “pain”—when the co-workers get annoying, the boss talks pay cuts, and the commute traffic gets worse? In other words, before you start spending hours perfecting that cover letter, ask yourself: “Is this my piano or my drums?” Listening to the piano remains an immeasurable joy but will I ever devote enough time and energy to learn how to play more than the first dozen measures of Moonlight Sonata? Probably not. What about that flat tire shuffle from long ago? Could I still play it today? It has been a long time so probably not.

But I wouldn’t bet against me to relearn it.