Find Money and Meaning By Balancing Practicality and Passion

One of my favorite phrases from Jackie Kelm’s book, Appreciative Living, is: “Pull back the curtain.” Think of a slightly open stage curtain. You can only see what’s exactly in the center of the stage. There might be just a podium or a microphone. But when the curtain is pulled back, you can see the entire orchestra, which just minutes before you didn’t know was there.

That’s exactly what the “fixed” mindset vs the “growth” mindset does to your career opportunities. We only see just the small amount of information we’ve been exposed to. When people feel trapped in a job, it’s often a function of a fixed mindset which assumes that everything is static and can’t be changed.

Many college students I work with see just four career tracks: lawyer, doctor, investment banker, or consultant. And while those career options are great, they are definitely not the only choices. And when some of those choices are blocked (a poor grade in organic chemistry ends the medical career or a g.p.a. keeps them out of law school), they panic. And just like these students who are restricted by their fixed mindsets, workers who explain why they are trapped in or can’t change their current jobs are equally restricted. They say things like, “This is the only job I can get”, “I can’t use my interests—they won’t pay the bills”, or “There aren’t any other good jobs around here."

One particularly knotty challenge of the fixed mindset is that you feel the need to prove yourself right—justify your decisions-- by seeking the very evidence that keeps you stuck. By citing seemingly unsolvable challenges like family, geographic location, education, etc., as factors which control your career and subsequently your happiness, you limit your vision to that small opening in the curtain.

In the ongoing debate about whether one can pursue a passion or must stay “practical”, the middle ground is often lost. People jump to extreme stereotypes: the passionate but starving artist living in their parents’ basement, or the soulless business person working in a meaningless job they hate even though it pays well. But that’s just a fixed mindset at work. The truth is there’s a lot of middle ground between these options: you just need to apply a growth mindset and think broadly and creatively about your options. You need to be willing to break out of the box you might be stuck in by focusing on creative solutions, compromise, change, and new ideas.

I see fixed mindsets in my role as a college career counselor all the time: students who love American literature, history, or philosophy whose parents, understandably concerned about their future, push them to major in engineering, or at the very least, economics. Many students straddle the passion/practical dilemma by taking double majors or by majoring in their “passion” while minoring in the “practical.” And this is actually a very creative and helpful solution, because for most of us, money and meaning are equally important variables. By studying varied subjects and being exposed to all kinds of thinking, you are more likely to uncover a creative career solution which incorporates your seemingly disparate interests.

So have you gone too far to one extreme of thinking? How could you begin to find the middle ground between passion and practical?

If you have interests or passions that you put aside to pursue the practical, maybe it’s time to rethink them. Maybe there are creative ways you can incorporate them into your current job, or maybe it’s time to look at whether your thinking might have been too fixed when you first entered your profession, and it’s time to change professions.

Is this a possibility for you? Do you suspect that you might have fallen into a fixed mindset due to circumstances beyond your control?

Here’s a simple way to start moving out of the fixed mindset:

Ask yourself “What if…”

Pull back the curtain and allow for the possibilities that come from that simple phrase.

For instance, instead of thinking, “I can’t change my career…,” try thinking:

“What if I could change something about my situation?” or

“What if I looked at other opportunities?”

Don’t force yourself to answer immediately; allow your mind to ponder it for a while.

Maybe your family is more flexible about moving than you thought. Or maybe there are other opportunities within a reasonable commute. Or maybe…just allow yourself to consider the possibilities. (By the way, if you want to read more about the Fixed vs. Growth mindset check out this great blog post and read Dr. Carol Dweck’s book.)

Growth Mindset Essential Reads

How to Love Your Job Even If You Don’t Love It Yet

The Curse of Hyper-Independence

Here's a way to apply the growth mindset to one of your interests that has been neglected:

• Let’s say you’ve always had a gift for teaching, but you rejected or ignored it a long time ago because you didn’t want to become an elementary school teacher. That was a fixed mindset at work. Let’s apply a growth mindset. How else could you become a “teacher”?
• Are there opportunities in your workplace to offer training to new employees? Can you mentor younger people in your profession?
• Maybe you need to think about how or where you could teach others—through a website, webinars, online classes you create, writing blog posts, or running seminars at your church or local library.
• Start thinking about what you would teach: what are your interests or passions that you could talk about forever? What do you know about a subject that other people probably don’t? What does the world need that you could teach?
• Also think about who might be interested in your teaching. Many retired individuals are eager to learn about all sorts of things—perhaps you could share your knowledge with them. Many children need help with reading, math, music, art, computer skills.
• And, yes, some of these ideas might work better as hobbies or avocational pursuits at first, but who’s to say you couldn’t ultimately develop a business or entrepreneurial venture based on what you learn. Maybe you’ll create the next greatest app that will solve literacy problems for good. (Don’t know how to create an app? The growth mindset would encourage you to take a class and learn.)

Here’s one more thing to do:

• Get out a piece of paper and write down 5 interests you have. What do you do easily and enjoy (even if it requires work or extensive planning or thinking)? Don’t worry about whether you will make money at it or whether there’s a job in that field. Just focus on you and what you like. Got that? Good. Write down 5 more. Keep going and adding to the list. Watch for trends, ideas that “pop”, and where your energy goes. Working in a job you don’t like can sap your energy: just focusing on what you do like can help you feel alive again.

And if you've perhaps gone too far to the passion side of things, use your new growth mindset to come up with creative ways to get the income you need. For every interest you write on your list, jot down an idea for how to make money with it.

Give the growth mindset a chance. Pull back the curtain of your life and expand your possibilities.

©2016 Katharine S. Brooks. All rights reserved. Find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Image credit: Image copyright Moyan Brenn's Albums. "Dream" Flickr Creative Commons. Permission to use per Flickr page.