Posted 2:52 AM by Blah blah

True Passions

THE JOB MARKET: Lack of opportunities may benefit graduates (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution):
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What graduates have in common is a desire not for money, but to please their parents, their classmates, friends and mentors. They have spent their lives primarily living up to the expectations set for them --- at home, at school and by peers.

So it shouldn't be surprising that when they are finally introduced into the job market, they should gravitate toward whatever is viewed as most indicative of success at the time.

It would seem to be in our collective interest to ensure that graduates put their talents to uses that they may actually enjoy. If this view is correct, then the best career planning text may well be "Letters to a Young Poet" [read full text here] by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke writes the poet of the title to warn him of the hardship involved in his chosen profession and counsels deep introspection. "[A]sk yourself in the stillest hour of your night: 'must I write ?'"

If you pause for an instant, Rilke argues, choose something else: "[If] it is enough to feel that one could live without writing, then one must not attempt it at all."

At first glance it might seem extreme to apply Rilke's stringent standards for poets to job selection more broadly. But how many recent graduates would really have taken that coveted "hot" job had they first engaged in a little Rilkesque introspection?

Which brings us back to the potential benefits of the current economic downturn. The opportunity to really pause, maybe for the first time in a young person's life, and face a world where the expected next step has not been preordained, can be both a profoundly liberating and learning experience.

If the paucity of available jobs actually forces graduates to take the time to reflect about what it is that they actually have a passion for, it might not be such a bad thing in the long run.
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Hmmm...I'll read Rilke carefully after I start my next job. What kinds of things are TRUE passions for me? What would I gladly do for free? If anyone can hire me for some of these, be my guest:

- Being Charlie Rose and hosting a deep, intelligent, talk show where I can interview anyone I want.
- Writing chatty, thoughtful, sparkling letters and essays day after day. Writing an advice column.
- Solving math puzzles like those by Martin Gardner in the old Scientific American.
- Writing for National Geographic or the New Yorker.
- Being a TV, film, or drama critic.
- Working on the scriptwriting team for a TV comedy like Frasier or a drama like The Guardian.
- Being involved in the business side of the entertainment industry. International marketing.
- Helping people with their love lives and psychological problems (which I already do). Dok-torrrrr Ruuuuuth!---I mean, Raymond, anyone? (Dear Dr. Ruth-mond...)

Note that none of these involves science or technology. And I used to really enjoy it, too. It's rare for me to feel that excitement any more about science/technology in the business world, because the joy of discovery and creativity has been sucked out and replaced by "business requirements." Developments in technology are scheduled years in advance and limited by customer demands. People are conservative copycats. I don't feel any sense of "playing" with science, which I still enjoy but never do. For me now, creativity and discovery lie elsewhere: art, politics, business, and relationships.

What are YOUR true passions?