Can't Identify your Career Passion? Take a Roadtrip!
Photo by: sffoghornIs there a phrase more synonymous with college than "ROADTRIP?" Maybe "mac & chesese" or "all-nighter." I'm sure you have a few others.
I took my first college road trip during Halloween weekend of my sophomore year. A bunch of guys from my dorm packed up a tiny sedan and drove the four hours up Route 81 from Syracuse, NY to beautiful Montreal, Canada.
It was actually quite a historic weekend to be in Montreal because Quebec was voting whether or not to secede from Canada (see 1995 Quebec referendum). We were fortunate enough to score standing room tickets at the old Montreal Forum for a classic match-up between the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens. During the Canadian national anthem, half the crowd booed and half cheered. Not surprising, since the referendum was defeated by the narrowest of margins: 50.58% to 49.42%.
I learned many things on that trip: poutine (French fries + gravy) is absolutely delicious, watching Hockey Night in Canada IN CANADA is so much better than on satellite TV and St. Catherine Street is to Canada what Bourbon Street is to the United States.
One thing I didn't learn was how to engage in career exploration, but fortunately an entrepreneurial group of college students decided to give new meaning to the term.
Roadtrip Nation is a PBS television series (as well as a Web site, blog, books) that focuses on career exploration. A few college students drive from city to city in a big green RV interviewing everyone from a lobsterman in Maine to Drummer ?uestlove of The Roots (one of my favorite bands) to Jim Koch, Founder of Boston Beer Company, better known as the brewery that produces Samuel Adams. The purpose? To learn about what motivated each of these people to choose their current career. In most cases, the answer was passion!
Being from Boston, and a huge fan of great beer, I decided to post the interview with Jim Koch. He poses some really interesting points:
"Getting rich is life's big booby prize."
"In the big scheme of things, what would you rather be, happy or rich?"
"The big risk would have been staying at a job that wasn't fulfilling and wasting my life. That's a risk."
I strongly recommend you watch this video. It's only eight minutes.
Have any of you left a secure job to pursue a passion?
I'm doing that right now. I'm leaving my job in event planning to pursue my passion for digital content creation. I hope to use my digital video skills to propel a career in broadcasting. It's scary because my job is so safe, and I could probably do it half-assed until forever. The problem is, if I stayed, I'd have no soul.