|
Identifying Interests
- An interest is something you enjoy and are constantly curious to learn more about.
- A passion is something you love to do, explore, or learn about. A passion can absorb your focus and energy and give you joy without it ever feeling like work.
What this means for the Older Worker
- Personal interests and passions can be signposts to lead you to future job, career, or business ideas.
- A time of career transition is an opportunity to explore whether there is potential for you to seek work or to create a business based on your interests.
- Take time to explore your new interests. Move beyond past or long-held interests and try things you've always been curious about but have never had time for..
Nurture and Grow Your Interests
Your interests are good indicator of where you will find your passions in life. If you are vitally interested in something, such as carving the best decoys or sewing spectacular unusual quilts, these can be described as passions. An interest can grow into a passion if you spend time with it.
It is very useful to your interests. Your interests might suggest ideas about the work you want to do, or even a new career. n your list of interests there might be a great business idea waiting to be discovered.
It is not difficult to identify your interests though you may need a little help or encouragement to do so. As an Older Worker you may have a tendency to down-play your interests as not being all that important. You may have been taught that work is what's important and whatever you do outside of work has little value. If you've ever heard yourself saying "It's just a little something I do"; "I putter in my shop a lot"; or, "I sew a little", you're no doubt describing your interests and passions. Most people have some interest for which they constantly buy magazines, read books, talk to others or watch television programs about, or collect tools and supplies for-but really, they're only puttering - we think not! These are your interests and passions!
If you have not yet developed your interests, perhaps you have only been waiting for an opportunity to do so.
Develop Your Passion
How do you identify your interests, discover what's important to you, and potentially grow that interest into a passion in your life? Here is a simple test: look around your house and yard. Where do you spend your most favourite time? Doing what? Why? What aisle or section in your favourite store can you never pass without lingering for a long time-just looking or dreaming? Do you hang out in bookstores or the magazine section of the grocery store? What magazines do you pick up most often or what are you looking for in magazines? What can't you wait to get your hands into-a car engine? A batch of cookies? A basket full of spinning or knitting yarn, or a bucket of compost? Each of these things will tell you something very interesting about yourself and could contain a signpost to your future.
What have you always dreamt of doing someday? When is "someday"? Could it be now? Why not?
Giving yourself permission to do what interests you, instead of what you've always done which was to do what needed to be done, can be quite terrifying. It can feel selfish to follow your own interests and start to build a future around them. But who loses if you are frustrated, unhappy and unfulfilled? Who wins when you are enthusiastic, energized and delighted with your life and what you're doing with it? Your enthusiasm will spill over into all areas of your life and create positive and satisfying results. Best of all, you'll feel younger and healthier-happiness has a tendency to do that.
Things to think about
- Your current situation may provide you with a golden opportunity to more fully explore your interests and passions and build a satisfying life around them.
- There is often a strong connection between your interests and the type of work you will find meaningful.
- If your passion means you will need to change course in your career or life or go back to school, it's never too late to start. Remember; you are likely to have 30 years to explore your interests between the age of 50 and 80.
Things to do
- Make a list of your interests-the ones you have spent time developing and the ones you've always hoped you'd have time for someday.
- Once you have a list of interests, put them in order of most important to least important. Just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you'll love doing it as a job or business.
- Take your top three interests and make a list of job or business ideas for each one.
|
