Purpose Meets Passion

It’s the advice that has launched a thousand speeches “Follow your passion”. A phrase championed by successful entrepreneurs, peddled by influencers and a true staple for motivational calendars, but as far as sound career advice goes ‘following your passion’ without other considerations is arguably a fundamentally flawed concept.

There is an increasing body of research that shows people who are told to follow their passion are more likely to experience career confusion, inequality and burnout. Passion is a wonderful fuel, but purpose provides the steady framework.

Purpose focuses on contribution, growth and alignment with your values. It asks: What problems do I care about solving? What impact do I want to have? Recently some of our Year 12 students were interviewed regarding what their career plans were, the students all had one thing in common, their chosen career paths were driven by purpose and passion.

One of our students was deeply impacted by an accident his sister had when they were children. His family lived in a regional town when his sister had a nasty fall. Unable to get appropriate medical attention in the town he lived in, his family had to drive three hours to Perth to receive the dental treatment his sister needed. Staring out the car window as they made their way to Perth, he couldn’t help but think “it shouldn’t take this long” to get the treatment his sister needed. There must be a better way, and with this in mind his passion for making a difference with purpose was born. He is now on a career pathway to study Dentistry.

Purpose and passion together provide a steady foundation because it can weather boredom, setbacks and change. Passion excites, while purpose gives us the reason why. For another student ensuring “we have a future that’s clean and safe and that the climate is properly being taken care of” is the motivation behind his pathway to law, he wants to use law as a way “to make sure our natural ecosystems and environment are being taken care of.” Purpose meets passion.

American sociologist and University Professor Erin Cech, a once self-confessed “passion evangelist”, would encourage people to follow their passion when choosing their career path. That was until she studied it, and in her subsequent book The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfilment at Work Fosters Inequality the term ‘The Passion Principle’ was coined. This principle describes the cultural belief that the best career choices are driven by passion.

Cech argues that while this idea sounds empowering it has major pitfalls, the first being it reinforces inequality because it assumes everyone has the same capacity to follow their passion, their dreams. It does not take into consideration a person’s financial position. Those from wealthier backgrounds have a greater capacity to undertake unpaid internships or delay a stable income whilst exploring their passions because they have the financial backing to do so. Secondly someone who is working in a field that they are passionate about may be open to exploitation. Happy to sacrifice salary for the benefits of doing “what they love”, passionate workers who initially put in extra hours may grow to feel resentful but they will also feel guilty about complaining because they’re ‘doing something that they love’.

Younger workers in particular may not recognise the structural problems within an organisation because the Passion Principle shifts the responsibility of job satisfaction onto the individual, implying that if you are not happy at work, you have simply chosen the wrong career.

A healthier framework is to pursue a composite of purpose and passion. Cech’s findings state that when workers align their efforts with a sense of purpose and fairness in conjunction with what they love, they ultimately become more resilient, satisfied and less prone to exploitation.

Another Year 12 student believes her purpose is to go into Humanitarian aid because she feels fulfilled when helping people and would like to do so on a larger scale. Whilst a different student is on a pathway to becoming a psychologist. Her purpose stems from a childhood spent growing up around children with autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression, she just really wants to understand what they’re going through and why. Purpose meets passion.

When it comes to career pathways ‘following your passion’ may sound empowering but this can quietly lead you off course. Passion alone will initially burn bright but can dull when confronted with routine. Purpose can help you endure long nights studying and the inevitable detours that shape every meaningful career. In truth both are necessary, some days it will be your purpose that drives you, other days it will be passion that keeps you going.

Whatever the Graduating Class of 2025 decides to do I know one thing for certain, it’s that their future is bright, their values are strong and all the staff at St Stephen’s School are proud of them.