Alignment with Passion-Why it is important

A client of mine is in the job market for a while.  A bit frustrated by the lack of success, he called me this morning wanting to find more ideas.  To get a grasp of where he is, I asked him a typical interview question, “Why do you want this job”? Quite prepared, he replied in an upbeat manner showing his credentials and skills relevant for the position.  So, what is missing from his response?

You may have guessed it right; “passion” was the element I was after. When done with passion it makes a job or a task more exciting and meaningful.  With learned skills, most of us can manage to get things done, but it is the passion that makes the difference between a good and excellent delivery.

I use a simple physics metaphor to show how passion and efforts contribute to the result. In Figure 1, the passion and the efforts are not aligned, they are opposing each other to a great extent and therefore the result becomes much smaller. While in figure 2, when the passion and efforts are aligned it gives the result more boost making it significantly bigger. Very naturally when this alignment happens we feel the extra energy from inside.

Going back to my phone session, I then asked him what kind of work he enjoys doing. As he was describing it, I noticed his elevated voice energy and enthusiasm all over. “What do you feel inside?” I asked. “It feels great, I am sensing the energy inside”, he replied with a smile. “and I got the answer to my question now”, he added.

——————-
Related reading: Where IS my passion?