The M.A.P. Maker

Passion Catalyst lesson #5 - Success is not a solo sport

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

As I was transforming myself from Curt the marketing guy to Curt the Passion Catalyst, I realized I had a lot to learn. I had put a framework around something I had done naturally, informally for years, but the career passion spin was new. 

I decided to start building a "knowledge base" by interviewing people who had successfully pursued their passions. As I did, a few common themes started to emerge. One of the big ones, expressed in some way by pretty much everyone I talked to, was this: "I couldn't have done it alone."

The more clients I see moving toward their own transformation, and the more I experience of my own journey,the more convinced I am that the support of others is as vital to our success as oxygen is to staying alive. 

That support might come in any of a number of packages. For example:

• Emotional
• Knowledge (e.g., a mentor)
• Logistical / practical
• Networking / connections
• Creative / brainstorming / idea-bouncing
• Spiritual
• Financial
• Motivation / inspiration

My own path has been packed with examples when, if not for the support of others, I would have just gone splat. Some of them have related to my business, others have related to other parts of life (which in turn related to my business, because life is a holistic system, with every piece interconnected). 

On the non-work side, I have written about the support of my friend Sharon during some really challenging times with my health. On the work side, one of my favorite examples took place in the first year of my Passion Catalyst work. 

The 11th-hour reprieve

As you might imagine, recreating myself with no formal background to stand on other than, "This is who I am - I do this naturally," presented some challenges. In fact, that first year was brutal. After ten months of trying to make something happen and making about a third of what I needed to meet my monthly obligations, I finally threw my hands up and said, "I give up." I resigned myself to having to go back to the marketing world. 

Just prior to that I had reached out to Richard Tait, co-founder of the game company Cranium, and asked him if I could interview him to get his career passion insights (his e-mail address had been on their web site, and I just lobbed the request over to him). He graciously said yes. 

Over the course of our conversation, I told him about my Passion Catalyst work, and mentioned some discussion groups I had been organizing. Something about what I was doing must have resonated with him, because later that day he sent me an e-mail offering to talk to one of my groups. 

Rather than something small-scale like that, I decided to create an event called the Passion People Speaker Series. Richard was the first speaker. That month, for the first time in the ten months since I had hung out my shingle as a Passion Catalyst, I earned enough to pay all my bills. And I could trace all that additional business to the event in some way, whether it had been someone who had heard about me via the event promotion, or someone I met at the event. 

In a very real way, my Passion Catalyst work exists today because of Richard's generous offer of support eight years ago. I'm not sure if I would have picked it up again after feeling so battered and bruised by the attempt. Richard's support, whether he realized it or not (I'm sure he didn't), amounted to an 11th hour reprieve. 

Do a support check

Having the support you need to succeed is too important to leave to chance. Take a look at your own life and ask some questions:

• Where do I get my support?
• Where could I get my support?
• What kind of support do I need? 
• What kind of support am I missing?
• Who can I reach out to?

And to balance the equation out and keep the energy flowing, complement those questions with these:

• Who needs my support?
• Who can I help, and how?

Be conscious about what you need, be purposeful and intentional about bringing it into your life, and be proactive in reaching out to find it, and the support you need will show up.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion Catalyst lesson #4 - You are your own best expert

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

One of the first things I tell new clients is, "I don't have the faintest idea what's best for you." I follow that up with, "What I do have is an unshakable belief that you do!"

Over nine years of watching clients go from confusion to clarity, not once has the answer to what is right for them come from an outside source. They may feel like they don't have the answer at first, but what's really happening is that the answer is simply obscured. It's there; it's just covered up. And our focus is on uncovering it. Think Indiana Jones hacking through the jungle to find the treasure covered in overgrowth. 

What is the number one reason people's self-expertise is obscured? Focus. 

More to the point, they have an over-developed focus on external factors, and under-developed focus on that internal self-expertise. And that isn't a reflection on them. When I hear people get down on themselves because "I'm __ years old and I still don't know what kind of career I would really love," I always respond with one question: "Why would you?"

Think about it. We live in a culture that celebrates action and achievement. But self-awareness? When was the last time you saw an Introspection 101 class? So when our environment focuses our attention on that external aspect, if we happen to stumble into a career we love it's really more luck than anything. 

Want to build your self-expertise? Keep these three pieces of the puzzle in mind:

1. Develop the self-expertise
2. Compile the self-expertise
3. Use the self-expertise

Develop the self-expertise

I think of developing that self-expertise as an excavation process. The answers are there, but they're going to require a little digging. One great place to start is the Passion Factor exploration I mentioned in lesson learned #1 (in a nutshell, identify the common themes present when you feel energized by first asking what you love doing, and then asking why). 

There are a lot of great books with a lot of great approaches to self-exploration (I'm fond of my own e-book, The Occupational Adventure Guide). And that's where your self-expertise starts. Get to know what makes you tick so you can consciously make it part of your decisions. Otherwise it's all guesswork, and that is ineffective at best.

Compile the self-expertise

Another huge mistake I see people making is doing all this self-exploration work and then just letting most of the insights float away. Maybe a percentage of the insights they gained stick with them, but the rest disappear again. Why? It's hard to keep something in your head when your attention is elsewhere. So as they go about the day-to-day business of life, those insights start to drop off the radar screen.

To make the most of the self-expertise you are gaining, compile the key things you learn along the way. Think of it as creating a reference guide to what makes you tick. Instead of leaving it on pages and pages and pages of a journal, for example, summarize the key points on one page for an at-a-glance view of what you have discovered. 

You can create various categories for it, for example:

• What energizes me
• Ways I get in my own way
• Questions to frequently ask
• Dangers to be aware of

Not only will this give you a useable reference guide as you make decisions going into the future, it will also serve as an ongoing reminder. The question I always ask my clients is, "How much of this will you remember in five years when you haven't been intensely focused on it week in and week out?" Your self-expertise is only as robust as what you can remember. 

Use the self-expertise

Self-expertise is great, but it's little more than glorified navel-gazing if you don't do something with it. The great thing about compiling your insights in one place is that now you have a tool you can use as you move forward. 

For example, in my work with clients I have them make a list of the underlying themes that tend to be present when they're on fire (which we identified by exploring what they love doing and why). Putting those in one place creates what I describe as an internal compass. It's a distillation of where the energy comes from that they can use to both generate ideas and evaluate options. It takes the guesswork out of the process. 

If you do lots of great self-exploration, but then it stays buried in a file in a drawer, the odds are good that you will only harness a fraction of its value. Make the most out of the time and effort you have invested by summarizing the insights you gain in an easily digestible format. Then make a habit of referring to it frequently. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion Catalyst lesson #2 - Authenticity creates confidence

This is a series of lessons learned from my nine years as a Passion Catalyst. 

For the first ten years of my career, I worked madly to try to make a success out of being who I wasn't. Simply put, I was on the wrong path. I was doing work that ultimately didn't fit who I was. And it showed.

One of the effects of wearing that mask was a constant feeling that I was missing something, that I needed to work harder to gain that extra edge. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was missing something - me! 

I wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but trying to be someone else had a negative effect on my confidence. I was always a bit off balance, trying fit into the faux self I thought my career required.

I started my Passion Catalyst work by literally putting a framework around what I had been doing naturally, accidentally for years. There is no mask to it - what you see is pretty much what you get. Who I get to be day in and day out is deeply aligned with who I am. And that has made a world of difference in my confidence about the work I do.

One of the things I often say is, "You can never be anyone else half as well as you can be you." My clients come to me because they want to create a career that lights them up. And what that really means is finding a career path that lets them be who they are. 

When you're trying to be who you're not (which, sadly, is the case for a big chunk of the people out there in the work world), it creates a tension that saps your energy away. It's like driving a car with tires severely out of alignment. You're constantly having to put effort into keeping pointed straight ahead. 

Being who you are, on the other hand, is easy! There is no friction, and no energy drain. You don't have to worry about the car driving off the road. And just that one thing - knowing you can just show up naturally and not worry about keeping the mask on - can have a significant impact on the confidence you feel about your work. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Most people's concept of passion is limiting: Lessons from 9 years as a Passion Catalyst - #1

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

If I asked you what your passion is, what would you say? Most people would give some kind of answer like travel, or cooking, or software programming, or writing, or helping kids, or any of a bazillion things that people feel passionate about.

And while none of those answers would be wrong, they would only represent a limited snapshot of where that feeling of passion could come from. 

As I see it, what we see as our passions are really only vehicles that allow us to experience what I call our Passion Factors - the underlying themes that tend to be present when we feel energized and inspired. And that fact gives us exponentially more opportunity to find work we love than most people realize.  

Definition of passion

To explain what I mean by that, I'll start with my definition of passion: "The energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do." It's being who you are, and doing what you're naturally drawn to. It is, for example, the difference between wearing the soul-sucking mask of my previous career as a marketer and being unabashedly myself in - and unabashedly energized by - the work I do now (nothing inherently wrong with marketing as a career, it was just wrong for me). 

Find your Passion Factors

If that definition of passion makes sense, the big question is, "How do I consciously, purposefully 'bring more of ME into what I do?'" How do you apply that in the real world?

My short answer is this: Find your Passion Factors, then find ways to incorporate them into your career path. To identify your Passion Factors, ask, "What lights me up?" Then ask, "Why?" Reverse engineer the things you love doing - work or play - to identify the underlying reasons why you love them. 

As you do that, you will start to see recurring reasons why, even in things you love that seem completely unrelated (for example, a key reason why I love both my Passion Catalyst coaching and travel photography is a sense of exploration and discovery, which is a theme that shows up again and again for me). 

What will let you experience those Passion Factors?

When you have identified your Passion Factors, you can ask, "What kinds of careers are out there that will allow me to experience these?" And far from being limited to one path, there are probably numerous paths that would let you experience those Passion Factors. That's what I mean when I say that the things you are passionate about are really simply vehicles that let you experience those underlying themes.

And when you shift your perspective from "what is my passion" to "what will allow me to experience those Passion Factors," it blows the doors wide open with potential directions that will let you feel energized by the work you do. 

Think both big picture and small picture

You can use your understanding of your Passion Factors at the big picture level (what career path should I follow?) and the small picture level (how can I experience more of these Passion Factors in the work I'm doing right now?). 

If you want to expand the passion potential in your career, it all starts with awareness. Identify your Passion Factors, then step-by-step, choice-by-choice, start incorporating them into your future. 

[Want to read all the lessons learned? Here's a compilation (at the bottom).]

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Use your wildest dreams to find a career you love

One question I often see to help people find work they love is, "What are your wildest dreams?" The question is intended partially to help people think about what they love, and partially to expand their focus past what's readily within reach. 

To make the most out of the question's ability to help you zero in on a direction that lights you up, you need to take it a step further than "What are my wildest dreams?" For each of the dreams you identify, spend some time asking, "Why? What is it about this dream that is so compelling? Why would I love to do this?" 

No doubt you'll discover some simple escapism, but you'll probably also find some valuable insights about where the energy comes from for you. 

As you ask why, pay attention to the reasons that come up. Pay special attention to the reasons that come up repeatedly. The reasons why something energizes or inspires you - the underlying themes that tend to be there when you're on fire - are the passion equivalent of transferable skills. Career paths that have those underlying characteristics have a high likelihood of energizing you. 

[Read more about turning your career into a juice delivery system.]

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Success tip: Learn to surf your changing reality

In a comment on my recent US News & World Report blog post on how to be your own career expert , a reader described a situation where his dream job turned into his nightmare due to changes beyond his control. Noting that he ended up in a situation where he was miserable despite pursuing a path he loved, he wrapped up his comment asking, "What did I do wrong?" 

Pondering what I should write in response, I put my finger on what I think is one of the most important success skills you can have - the ability to surf your changing reality as it unfolds. 

Why do I think it's so important? Because, as the saying goes, the only constant is change. It would be nice to say that you can pick a path and you'll be on track for life, but it doesn't seem to work that way. No path is guaranteed. Trying to hang on too tightly to any situation is a recipe for getting stuck. 

That doesn't mean you have to jump ship in the middle and change careers every time things get challenging. It simply means that your reality today isn't likely to be your reality ten years from now. You have the choice to either acknowledge those changes and sculpt your path accordingly, or feel the increasing pain of trying to stay rooted in a reality that no longer exists.  

In the above-mentioned reader's experience, for example, what had been a dream job turned toxic when a bad boss entered the picture. In that situation, surfing might have looked like acknowledging earlier that the situation wasn't tolerable and resolving to make a change. Maybe it would have involved saying, "OK, why was this my dream job? What are the characteristics I had here that I want to carry forward? What else is out there that might allow me to experience that?"

The more ability and willingness you have to adjust and adapt, the more potential you have to stay in the flow of the energy. A big part of staying energized and inspired for the long term involves recognizing changes and surfing to adjust to them, aligning ourselves with new directions and opportunities. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

What are you waiting for?

"Life is short. Don't wait." You've heard it a million times, probably so many times that it goes in one ear and slowly drifts out the other. But it's an important message. 

Sometimes, it takes the raw edge of reality to drive the point home. I heard that voice of reality today in a poetry slam reading by Gabrielle Bouliane, a woman who had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly before the event. 

Her voice is a raw, pissed off, emphatic, passionate, and inspiring. And she has a message for you in the video below that I hope you stop for a moment and really, truly hear. 

[Hat tip to David Zinger Employee Engagement for the heads up on the video.]

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Why finding career passion is an unbeatable investment

In my most recent FUEL! newsletter (FUEL = Fully Energized Life^TM), I took a look at why finding passion in your career can be one of the best investments you can make.

Why is passion so important? Here are five big benefits I have seen over and over again in my clients as they move into a career path that is more deeply aligned with who they are. Passion...

• Energizes you and fuels your success
• Strengthens your confidence
• Inspires persistence
• Reduces stress and improves health
• Enhances relationships

Want to know more? Read The Passion Advantage: How work you love helps you thrive in the FUEL! newsletter archive.

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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion at work: Does your career fit?

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.

~ Carl Jung

At the heart of my Passion Catalyst work is the idea that each of us is both incredibly complex and incredibly simple. It's important to keep each of those in mind as you work towards creating a career that energizes and inspires you.

Complexity

We're complex because the source of that energy and inspiration is unique and individual to each of us. There is no one-size-fits-all cookie cutter solution to finding a career (and a life) that lights you up. A path that would send me over the moon with delight might leave you yawning, and vice versa.

The key then is finding that unique, individual source of energy. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks you should do. The big question to ask yourself is, "Where does the juice come from for me?"

My definition of passion is even based on that uniqueness: Passion is the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do. The key is figuring out what the underlying characteristics are that tend to be in place when you feel engaged. 

The primary way I help people uncover their own energy sources is to have them make a list of things - work or play - that have lit them up over the course of their life. Then we pick one and start asking, "Why?" We reverse engineer them to identify the underlying reasons why they love them.

As they explore, common themes (reasons why) start to emerge. They start to get a picture of the underlying characteristics (e.g., exploration and discovery is a big one for me) that tend to be in place when they're on fire. I call these underlying characteristics "Passion Factors."

Simplicity

On the flip side of our complexity, we're a vision of simplicity itself once we have identified those Passion Factors. Those underlying characteristics keep showing up over and over.

So while you might not think that my Passion Catalyst work, travel photography, and genealogical research have anything to do with each other, when you look deeper you see that they all have the Passion Factor I mentioned earlier - exploration and discovery. I'm oh-so-predictable!

When you understand those Passion Factors, you can answer the question, "How do I bring more of ME into what I do?" In a nutshell, you look for paths that are chock full of those underlying characteristics that tend to be in place when you feel energized and engaged.

Does your career fit?

Unfortunately, for most people the career path they've taken is often at odds with the sources of their energy. Like an ill-fitting shoe, it pinches and chafes as they try to get ahead.

It's only by really understanding where the energy comes from that we can make conscious choices to bring it into the picture.

How about you? Does your career fit, or is it giving you blisters? Is it time to get "new shoes?"

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Whose life are you living?

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

While people come to me to help them find a career path that energizes and inspires them, at the heart of what I'm really doing is helping people chart an authentic course for their lives. It's about finding a path that aligns with who they are and what they bring to the world.

So many people go through their days trying to live someone else's life. Each day they head off to work for another day being who they're not. They have to put on a mask, and there's no way for who they really are to shine.

And that's a shame, because not only are they losing out on the energy that comes from showing up fully, the world is losing out on the unique combination of gifts they have to offer.

One of the things I often say is that you can never be anyone else half as well as you can be you. When you try to show up in a way that's counter to who you are, it takes energy just to maintain the facade. Even worse, you are cheating yourself out of your full potential because you're not doing what you are uniquely equipped to do.

My definition of passion, perhaps not surprisingly, is "the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do." You actually get energy from doing work that is in alignment with who you are, what comes naturally, and what you're drawn to.

Many people take their identity from their work. When you are pursuing a path that is tailor made for you, the opposite is true. Your work takes its identity from you. Rather than a costume you put on, it is a projection of who you are.

Whose life are you living? 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst