Career and passion have a fragile line. People would often say they are passionate about something and have been working on it for a couple of years, but what they don’t calculate is that if it’s enough to pursue as a career option.
The true meaning of passion is “doing what we love”, as we know it, and as for career, your livelihood depends on it.
We see many people daily who are passionate about something but end up doing a desk job to pay the bills. Then again, there are those people as well who have really worked hard on their passion and made it their career option as well.
Career vs Passion
The main difference between Career and Passion is that career will fulfill your daily needs, pay your bills, but you might not like it even hate it sometimes. Passion may not help you to survive accordingly, but it will make you feel alive about what you do and makes you feel happier.
Passion can be described as a strong desire or interest in an activity/cause that people love to do. On the other hand, a career can be described as a journey that everyone pursues throughout their life to survive.
Comparison Table Between Career and Passion (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Career | Passion |
|---|---|---|
| Ambition | A stable 9-5 desk job career option will make you feel safer in the long run without taking any risks. | The passion of your music/filmmaking may not start with stability, but if you pursue it for a long time with dedication, you could reach the sky. |
| Freedom | In any career option, you will be working under someone or some authority. This means you will have no freedom of yourself and must obey the orders from the higher authority. | Any passion you chose to follow will offer you the freedom you deserve and work freely. |
| Exploring | In any given career option, you cannot explore yourself to see what different skillset you might have. | On the other hand, you are allowed to explore yourself as much as you want until you are satisfied enough with something before you pursue it. |
| Fruitful result | If you chose to do something forcibly, then you may or may not get the same results that you could have in other aspects. | Whereas if you follow your passion with proper dedication and make it your career, you will get better results than any other. |
What is Career?
When you hear the word career, many different things come to our mind, such as educational training, work experience, job, etc. It is combined with different ingredients that people earn over a long time. It’s not just a position in some random company.
There are different paths of career to choose from, and each of the paths requires professional training and qualification. Some of the examples are –
- Working in a hospital as a nurse or doctor.
- Working in a tech company as an I.T professional.
- Working in a hotel/company as a manager.
- Working in a restaurant as a chef.
- Working in an airline company as a pilot.
All of the career options mentioned above need specialized training and qualification. There are specific eligibility criteria for each of these and without proper training, you cannot be affiliated with any of these career options.
One of the undeniable advantages of a career option would be its stability and the comfort that comes with it. You will have fixed timing for your job, performing the same task regularly, so you become pro. Also, there are some medical and traveling benefits in some of these sectors as well.
What is Passion?
People often try to convert their passion into a profession. Some do, while the others fail. Passion can be described as a strong willingness towards an activity that you perform just because you like it. Some push their limit to the extreme, and some keep it limited.
Do not confuse passion with a hobby or a dream. Passion is doing something that makes you happy from the inside, and when you want to do it on a larger scale, you dream about it with your eyes wide open.
People often face many criticisms from their parents, relatives, and many others if they decide to follow their passion. They must remember some of the facts to make this process easier –
- Dream about it but with your eyes open.
- Invest yourself in the activity for better results.
- Do not stop at any point thinking you have reached your limit. Keep pushing yourself.
- Never stop doing it once you have started. If you leave it halfway, you won’t see the end.
A passion is all about pushing your boundaries beyond everything. Embrace what you are doing, ignore what people have to say about it, and keep the wheel going flawlessly and one day you shall reap the fruit.
Main Differences Between Career and Passion
- You get to earn a lot of money from starting in most of the cases of career options, whereas, in the pursuit of your passion, the starting may not seem sorted.
- The stability of a career option will help you save for an uncertain future. You don’t get the same luxury by following your passion always.
- All the career options come with a fixed amount of working hours. Following passion will lead you to work 24/7 for better results.
- The more you earn, the safer you feel medically, and also in the long run. A career option will provide you with that, but following your passion can be hard at starting.
- You will feel alive from the inside if you chose to follow your passion rather than choosing a career option just because you need to survive.
Conclusion
The best thing anyone could opt for is to choose a work that they love to do. Turning your passion into a profession is one of the best things that could happen. Also, keep in mind that sometimes while increasing efficiency and productivity, you start losing interest in the work you do.
Money is undeniably one of the essential things in our lives, but so is our happiness and satisfaction towards the work. In the end, it can be concluded that both passion and career comes with a handful of advantages and disadvantages.
References
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-08136-003
- https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=management-faculty-publications