For most people passions are part-time instead of full-time. They are things you do on the weekend if you get around to them. A lot of people drive to work park in the parking lot and leave half of who they are in the passenger seat while dragging the other half of themselves into the office.

What if could align our passions and profession? I think it's possible and here's why.

One day I met a woman who worked in HR at Google. I asked her if this is what she was passionate about and she responded "I really love archaeology." As our conversation progressed we realized that she was still pursuing archaelogy. Instead of digging for fossils and artifacts she was digging through talent pool of resumes to find hidden gems in people.

Passions are action-based where the interest are topic-based. Archaeology was her interest, but digging and finding were her passions. The same framework may apply for someone who has manifested their passion for strategizing through playing chess. Someone like that may want to explore a career in consulting.

Believing that our passions and professions can and should be aligned would revolutionize the career exploration process and hiring process. Instead of hiring based on Grade Point Averages, employers would hire based on Great Passion Advantage. And instead of searching for jobs by industry, company, or title, we would search for jobs by actions.

Here is a simple process to do this for yourself:

1. List five things that interest you now and as a child.
   Ex. baseball
   
   
2. For each entry write down all of the actions associated with that interest.
   Ex. playing baseball, coaching baseball, collecting baseball cards, watching baseball
   
   
3. Circle all of the action verbs that excite you.
   Ex. coaching, collecting
   
   
4. Identify career opportunities that would allow you to do those actions regularly.
   Ex. life coach, executive coach, sports coach, IRS (collect money), forensics (collect evidence)

In this example, baseball just served as the vehicle to exercise the person's true passions for coaching and collecting. Just because everyone can't make it to the major leagues, doesn't mean that there aren't career opportunities that will allow you DO what you love. In this economy, we have to think outside of the box...and the diamond.

Send this to anyone you know exploring new careers.