Is passion for your work enough? (a Blog by my Inner Critic)

“You’re clearly very passionate about what you do.” My heart swells at the compliment, but my brain whispers ‘what if that’s not enough?’

Last spring I stood in the shower, frowning to myself. I was on holiday with my mum and dad, which meant I got to bathe separately from my children, and I was taking advantage of the ‘good thinking time’. I thought about Boo.

I was trying to come up with ways to make our boat go faster. As a smiling face of Boo, I represent our values and our joy – but I don’t do the frontline delivery, nor do I bring in big contracts. This sometimes triggers my impostor syndrome, so to quieten it, I tried to come up with an ingenious idea™ – something that would send us global.

It may be anticlimactic to admit that by the time I turned the water off, I had not actually come up with an ingenious idea™.

I consoled myself with the thought that if – like Becci – I’d started off as a sole trader and gone on to employ a small team, it might be nice to know that there was someone else out there, dedicating their shower thoughts to my business. But wouldn’t it have been better if I’d also come up with a way to make Boo a household name on five continents?

Recently, I fired off this ‘stream of consciousness’ email halfway through making the bed. This time my ‘making the bed thoughts’ were allocated to my other role as Maternity Voices Lead for Bolton.

I’m not going to single-handedly transform postnatal care in the UK. I might not even make a dent in it at a local level. Is it enough that I care? Is it enough that I believe?

One thing I am frequently told – in both my jobs – is that my passion is evident. This, obviously, pleases me no end, until a little voice (possibly my inner critic) says:

But passion is only half the job. Results also really matter.

What does it mean to be passionate?

Is passion when you talk energetically about your job and smile a lot? Is it when you hold meetings full of emotion and enthusiasm and sparks of ideas? Is it when you’re interested and invested in your work, and are content to spend time and energy thinking about it outside of ‘working hours’? If so then it’s true, I am passionate about my jobs.

How is passion useful?

Passion can give meaning and enjoyment to your tasks. It makes you feel invested in your industry and galvanised towards success.

Passionate people can be infectious and inspirational, sparking motion in others. I’ve read about some organisations recruiting a ‘morale person’! Worth paying a salary for? Probably not in a tiny team like ours.

Whose job is it to translate passion into results?

I consider there are at least three levels of responsibility for this: personal, leadership and system.

Are you harnessing your passion to something you’re good at? Is this thing you’re so enthusiastic about doing, something you can actually do? Consider which intersection of this ikigai model you fit into.

Do you need third party input? Perhaps from a coach or a mentor? Do you need more direction? Is your passion not being used to full advantage by the leaders of your organisation? Do you need some help identifying the ways your passion is in fact, filling the sails of the boat?

Is the system broken? There are a lot of passionate people working ineffectually in broken systems. They might have the drive and the ability to take meaningful action, but systemic barriers lie in the way to progress.

I actually don’t have answers. It’s something I’m exploring for myself. If you’d like to explore with me, here are five questions to consider:

What is my passion?
What skills do I have?
How can I apply my skills to my passion?
How could this make the boat go faster?
Who can help me?

Find out more about ikigai here: Ikigai, the Japanese Formula for Happiness

Here’s Becci on dialing back that Inner Critic: Would you say that outloud to anybody else?

Is passion for your work enough? (a Blog by my Inner Critic)