Passion

Most people with full time jobs can expect to spend on average 2000 hours per year working. That's for those people who take their 4 weeks annual leave and don't look at emails after hours. Add to that the hours some people put in by staying back, working weekends or even think about work long after they've settled into bed. That's a lot of hours in one year to be doing something you're not passionate about. 

Another fact: The average person spends 5 years in one job, thats 10,000 hours. Need I say more? 

In my search for the perfect job, I have added to my list that I want something I can be passionate about. It ranks up there with challenging, travel opportunities, well paying and close to home. I want a job that inspires me to inspire others, where I can leave at the end of the day and feel great about what I've achieved. The big challenge here is to identify what makes me passionate. Besides my family and a love for travel, I love developing people (staff), leading people, growing an organisation, humanitarian issues and great customer service. I'm sure there is a role out there that I will be passionate about, just as I was about my last role. Its merely a matter of when.

I had this discussion not long ago with my teenage son when he was required to select subjects for his senior school. He had an amazing choice of 67 courses he could chose from which ranged from the strictly academic to the outright quirky. I wanted him to make a choice of subjects that he would love learning and could get passionate about because he was going to be spending a lot of time doing them. If he found something he was so passionate about, he might even be able to turn that into a career, something he could spend time doing for the rest of his life. While he is a very smart young man, he is also very creative and athletic. He loves to draw and paint on anything that isn't moving, and he absolutely loves getting fit and playing sport. He chose his subjects based around these passions and he's now really keen to go back to school and get into them. In fact, he's so keen that when I invited him to join us on a 3 week adventure, he refused because he didn't want to miss out on anything at his new school. Or he could be pulling the wool over my eyes. 

Until I find my new career, I will continue to focus on the other areas of my life that I am passionate about. Good coffee, Akira dresses, Max Brennar chocolate and spending time with friends and family.