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WSJ.com twerks on Passion

WSJ.com just twerked on passion. I'm upset because the articles are usually spot on and brilliant.

As with most journalism, it's written with a catchy title that seems at first to completely "debunk" traditional wisdom (or upend some basic anchor for reality). We all see through these clickable links as desperate siren calls for click-throughs and readership to build ad dollar revenue, and yet we still click away our time.

In this article it's transparent because the meat of the article then backtracks and tries to weave in the opposite idea, using passion as a factor in initial career choices and in the development of new directions for mature workers.

It then treads dangerous territory in telling people the crap (sorry, this article angered me) that they can "wear out" their passion" in the workplace. The alternative proferred is to get excited about what the job market has to offer and build a career around that and internally generate passion about what brings in the dollars to fund your life. I think that's absurd. To avoid using passion in the job decision process is almost fatal to a normal healthy psyche. True, you could end up doing something quite lucrative and build up a great 401k retirement fund and establish a good outward seeming life. It's just that if you die mid-career, your legacy will be divorced from what you care about. Many people find that by making this flawed choice, by the time they retire from a job that just followed the market forces, their internal spiritual and psychological core is vacant, they are left feeling deeply alone and without any psychological/emotional/relational moorings that connect them to what gives their lives meaning (that is, passion.)

The article glosses over the reality that passion shifts in our lives--as we get older, as our lives change. The case study used in the article of someone who graduated in the 1990's illustrates this. How dull a person he'd be if what got him jazzed at 21 was the main driver of his life at 40? Most of us have passions that wax and wane over time. Having children generates new exciting drivers in our lives, sometimes transformative ones. Accidents, love, disease, aging--all these and more--shift our passion foci and shape what might make sense for our future work lives.

There are several important variables to review in taking the next step in a career. And, the market and its needs are an important one. There are school loans, family financial obligations and quality of life choices to fund. There is a minimum salary requirement for most of us that's quasi-non-negotiable.

But though I think the article is irresponsible in schilling for clicks and painting an incomplete picture for passion as a variable in a job hunt and career direction, I hope the comments area gets a good conversation going, as much as Miley's ad campaign booster for MTV got women talking about empowerment and art. Passion is but one variable, of many, though for my money it's the most important one.

See link to article here: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702304692804577285512604918248-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNzEyNDcyWj.html?mod=wsj_valetbottom_email#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Conload&id=I0_1377613568052&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com&pfname=&rpctoken=8053469

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