creative maverick

Being a careers coach I inevitably meet a lot of people unhappy in their job who want to do something else. But I also occasionally meet people (at social events) who love their job. And it’s funny how shy they are about it.

I ask what they do and they sheepishly reply “Oh very boring, I’m a solicitor” or “I’m in IT I’m afraid” and when I scratch beneath the surface it’s obvious they love it. Why the apology? Well I guess it’s actually quite revealing to show our passion for something, particularly if it’s not something a lot of people understand - ”Actually, I am just crazy about object oriented programming”.

But when we do show our enthusiasm for what we do, we give permission to others to do the same, we take another bite out of the myth that we all like the same things, and we inspire others to dare to do what they really enjoy.

(I met one woman who had engineered a job where all she did all day was pore over figures in a spreadsheet and she was in heaven. What was really pleasing is that she didn’t apologise for it.)

So if you do love your job (even if it isn’t a sexy one) shout it out!