The Occupational Adventure (tm)

Free Wild About Work! (tm) career passion audio course!

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

Hey! Something new!

I just finished a free introductory Wild About Work! (tm) audio course. The course takes you step-by-step through the process I developed to help people find and create careers that light them up.

It's a six part series, totalling about 50 minutes, and there's a lot of great content there (OK, I might be biased, but I think you'll agree). A link to a new installment is delivered by e-mail each day.

Want a taste of what's there? Here's a two minute snippet from Part One (mp3 - 1.77 mb).

You can read more about the audio course and sign up to receive it at www.passioncatalyst.com/audiocourse (scroll down for the sign up box).

Enjoy!

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Advice for new graduates

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

In my work, I help people find passion in their careers. Typically my clients are making a mid-career change after realizing they're not on the right path.

At a time of year when new graduates are up to their eyeballs in what-do-I-do-now, I have some advice for them to help ensure that they never need someone like me.

What is it? "Don't worry about making the 'right' choice as you launch into your career - because you probably won't."

You can imagine that raises some eyebrows. Of course there's more to it (read on for that). I just like to say that because it gets people's attention.

The reality is, most recent students entering the work force simply haven't had the real world experience to be able to accurately say, "This is the career I want for the next twenty years." I was no different. Thinking back on my days as a new graduate, I shake my head at what I thought I wanted out of my career.

I see it in my clients all the time. I find that people don't start coming to see me until their early thirties (and often older, of course). I call the first ten years out of college the incubation period.

Coming out of college they have this rose-colored, sexy view of what they think they want to do (or what they "should" do), and it takes a few years of real world work experience for them to really start to clue into the fact that "somethin' ain't right here," and, more importantly, "Something needs to change."

So, on to the rest of my advice...

It's really unlikely that your career is going to follow a straight shot trajectory based on the step you take right now. So don't stress about that step as defining your career, because it's almost guaranteed that it won't.

Rather than trying to make the "right" choice right now to launch you into a career for the next twenty or thirty years, look at the next five years as a big R&D project. Spend the time to really get to know what lights you up. Find out where you really feel energized.

Pick a direction that appeals to you, and then treat your life as a big lab experiment. Along the way, keep asking yourself, "What do I love about this? Why? What is it about that that's so fun? What drives me nuts about this? Why? What is it about that that rubs me the wrong way?"

Spend the first years of your career really figuring out what makes you tick.

The fact is, success is going to come a lot more easily for you if you are on fire about what you're doing. So spending the time to really understand what that is can be one of the best career investments you can make.

And investing in that kind of awareness (and committing to basing your decisions on what you discover) will ensure that you never have to come see somebody like me and say, "This path is SOOO wrong. I need to change, but I don't know to what, or how." 

You'll be too busy loving your life.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

New blog: Collective Genius

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

Every once in a while someone posts a comment to one of my posts that reminds me just how amazing the collective genius represented here really is.

After years of reading the insights you all have to offer, it occurred to me, "Everyone has so much to share - why not create a blog where they can be in the spotlight?"   

On Monday,May 29th, I'm going to launch a new blog called Collective Genius. For the first week of each month, Collective Genius will be a medium for all of you to share your insights, ideas, tips and recommendations.

The overall focus, like this blog, will be career passion. And like this blog, that has the potential to cover a wide range of topics (take a look at my categories in the left-hand column).

Each person posting will be able to include a link to their own blog or website in their post.

There will be a different topic each month. I was going to choose the topic for the first month myself, and then I realized that doing that ran counter to the spirit of the new blog. So I'll throw it out to you. What topics do you want to see everyone focus their collective genius on?

Post your topic ideas here, or e-mail me directly. On Friday the 19th, I'll pick ten and then put them out here for a vote. I want to put the topic out there a week ahead of time to give you plenty of time to noodle what you'd like to post about.

Stay tuned for more details.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

A Worthwhile article sampler

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

In case you hadn't seen it, there's a sampler of articles from Worthwhile magazine over on their website. If you haven't picked up the magazine yet (or if you're outside North America and can't get your hands on it), it's a great way to get a taste of what they're up to.

Better yet, you can subscribe here.

A Letter To Corporate America -  Kirsten Johnson
What does a 26-year-old life coach know about companies today?Only how they can appeal to her generation.

The F Word - Curt Rosengren
Overcoming fear may be the most critical step in finding true happiness in your work. Here’s a plan for conquering it.

Culture Queen - Michelle Medley
Keeping Southwest Airlines’ wild, wacky and profitable(!) ways takes a ringleader of remarkable talent. It takes The Colleen Barrett Show.

Fashioning A Better World - Susan M. Soper
Kenneth Cole may love the glitz of celebrity, but his real passion is changing attitudes.

Charles Brewer’s Second Act - Anita Sharpe
How an Internet innovator is building his next dream company.

Creating the Ultimate Business Trip - Kate Yandoh
How to log those miles more humanely.

Pioneering Perks - David Batstone and Caralee Adams
How some smart companies are changing the game of employee benefits.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

The interdependence of dreams and action

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

- Anais Nin

I love this thought - the interdependence of dreams and action. Without actions, dreams are little more than fluff and escapism. And without dreams, action is little more than motion for the sake of feeling busy. But when the two are combined - ZOWIE! Amazing things can happen.

Which are you leading with? Dreams or action? What do you need to do to bring the two into balance? What dreams do you need to start letting into the light? Or what steps do you need to start taking in support of your dreams?

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Learning how to live

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

Troy Worman asked me to write a guest post on his blog while he's off traipsing about on vacation. I really like the quote I riffed off in the post, so I decided I should post it here as well...

"There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."

- James Truslow Adams

Somewhere along the way, you've probably learned how to make a living. It's entirely likely that you have even learned how to thrive while making a living. But do you know how to live?

Is your life rich and vibrant? Does what you do energize you? Do you feel like what you do has meaning? If not, it might be time to go back to school (figuratively speaking).

I see a lot of people sell themselves short because they've bought the myth that work is a four letter word. They resign themselves to making a living without living a vibrant life.

The truth is, making a living and a vibrant life aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, making a living can be a source of vibrance in your life, if you approach it right.

If you make decisions based on what really lights you up at a core level, use the gifts that naturally flow for you, and put them to work towards something that feels meaningful to you, your work will feed you. It will become a source of energy and joy, rather than something to grit your teeth and grind on through.

[Oh, and if you're wondering where to start, my e-book is a great first step. It gives you an easily understood, easily applied framework for the journey.]

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Enhanced relationships via career passion

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

When I started my Passion Catalyst work, I thought my focus was 100% on career. Of course, I was wrong. Because of the nature of what I do - helping people align themselves with who they really are and what they're naturally drawn to - the work ends up touching numerous facets of my clients' lives, not just career.

Why? Because it's all interconnected. We don't live in work silos and personal silos. What affects one part of our life affects the other parts of our life as well. You aren't a collection of individually functioning widgets and gadgets, you're a whole system.

The last item on my overview of the benefits of career passion is enhanced relationships. Being on the passion track in your career has a positive effect on your relationships because half of each of those relationships - that is to say, you - is happy with how you are spending a big chunk of your time.

Many clients have said to me at some point in the process, "You know, my (spouse/partner) told me that I'm a lot more enjoyable to be around now." But it's not just relationships with significant others that loving your work affects. It's any relationship you have in your life. Co-workers. Kids. Friends. You name it.

When you're unhappy, or frustrated, or feeling powerless and stuck, that can't help but seep into other parts of your life. It can't help but affect the interactions you have with others.

On the flipside, if you're feeling happy, energized, and full of possibility, that is going to color how you approach and experience everything else in your life. You've got more energy to put into relationships. You're less cranky and more inclined to be patient because you aren't already close to that frustration point.

Loving your work doesn't guarantee great relationships - like anything, that takes work. But it does set the stage for carrying the way that work makes you feel into every other corner of your life.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Finding your internal rhythm

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

Over the last couple months, I've finally started drumming on a semi-regular basis. I'm still very much in that beginner stage where I'm just trying to create a foundation that I can build on as I improve.

One of the things I've gotten better at is keeping my own beat, regardless of what is going on around me. In the beginning it was challenging to stay on track with my own drumming when someone else went off on an improvisational tangent. I would get lost.

I started noticing the difference last weekend, drumming around a bonfire on the beach (at Golden Gardens, for those of you in Seattle). I was much more in synch with my own internal rhythm. When someone would go off on an improvisational tangent, I would just keep going, and eventually it would all converge again. I was spending less time feeling lost and more time being immersed in the drumming.

Of course, I made the immediate association with career passion. When you are in synch with your own internal rhythm, it's much easier to keep going on your path without getting distracted by what others are doing or saying around you.

So often I see people get bounced around in their careers. They turn this direction, then that direction. Their rhythm is scattered and broken because they are getting distracted by what people say they should do, external expectations, old ideas about how their career needs to look, etc. They get lost.

When they find that solid internal rhythm, the external noise is less distracting. It becomes easier to be true to their own beat and maintain it consistently, regardless of what is going on around them.

And when you are in a groove with your own rhythm, and are comfortable there, doors begin to open and magic starts to happen.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Reduce stress by doing what you love

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

One of the things that astounds me about pursuing passion in your career is how much potential it has to make a 360 degree positive impact on our lives. It's not just your work life that benefits, but your life overall.

Take stress, for example. How many people do you know whose eyes are bugging out with stress because day in and day out they're trying to shove themselves into a box that simply doesn't fit. Maybe you're one of them.

So many people are wearing a mask in their careers. Work for them is about getting up and heading out for another day of being who they're not. And having to be who you're not is stressful. There is friction and rub inherently built into the system.

On the other hand, being who you are (a key element in my definition of passion), opens the door for your work to flow naturally. It takes the friction and rub out of the system.

I see the resulting positive health benefits in my clients, sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic. I always think of one client in particular, who was suffering from debilitating headaches when we first started working together. She was also miserable at her job.

The short version of the story is that she ultimately realized what a bad fit her work was for who she really is, left her job, and found a new career track that she loves. Her headaches disappeared.

Passion in your career isn't a panacea. It doesn't magically remove all stress in your life, and creating your own unique path has challenges of its own (though at least those challenges are encountered in pursuit of something that makes you feel vibrantly alive).

What it does is remove a source of stress that, at best, leaves people grumbling and grouchy and, at worst, has serious physical and mental health repercussions.

And that in turn will have a positive ripple effect in all facets of your life, (which brings us full circle to the idea of the 360 degree benefits of passion).

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Passion feeds persistence

mapmaker.curtrosengren.com

The third benefit I described in my post about the benefits of passion isn't all that sexy, but it's vital for success.

Persistence.

When I was writing my chapter on passion and entrepreneurship for More Space, I interviewed several successful entrepreneurs to get their take on the importance of passion for entrepreneurial success. Turns out it was kind of like asking how vital oxygen is to staying alive.

Why? Simply put, passion feeds persistence. Entrepreneurs inevitably suffer setbacks, encounter doubt in others, and have to overcome sometimes enormous obstacles to make their dreams reality. Without a commitment and persistence to push through that and make it happen, their dreams are doomed. One of the most important keys to success is simply the ability to stick with it.

That's definitely been the case for me. My Passion Catalyst path hasn't been all sunshine and roses. In fact, I've had some really challenging times. But once I got a taste of what it could be like to do something that really makes me feel alive, there was no way I could go back to my old path. I had to stick with it. And I'm incredibly glad I did.

And that's true whether you're an entrepreneur or an employee. Just about anything you want to do with your life that is really worth doing is not going to be a just-add-water option. It's going to take work, and commitment, and yes, persistence.

A couple years ago I interviewed Erik Weihenmayer, the blind climber who summitted Everest in 2001. We were talking about what it takes to climb mountains, and he described the experience for him as not just pushing to make it happen, but also responding to the pull. That's exactly what passion does.

When you feel that passion, you feel a pull to make it happen. That pull feeds persistence, and that persistence - guided by both your heart and your mind - will take you down the path to success.

--

 

Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM