Why? A simple question
a post from the Occupational Adventure (sm) Blog

I should preface this post with an explanation that I am a Passion Catalyst (sm) - in short, I help people identify their passions and create careers that ignite them.

When it comes to finding your passion in your career, there's no way around it. Self-exploration is where it all starts.

Want a short, simple way to squeeze exponentially more insights from those self-exploration efforts? The secret word o' the day is...

"Why?"

Just that one little word, vigorously applied, will give you incredible insights.

For example, take a look at a commonly recommended question for finding your career passion..."What do you love doing?"

A valuable question, but by itself it falls far short of the insights that could be gotten by following the answers up with, "why?"

Because "what" you love doing isn't the whole story. You can say, "I love doing _____," but whether you're conscious of it or not, what you really mean is "I love doing _____ because _____, _____, and _____." You and I could say we love the exact same thing, and the underlying reasons might be completely different.

Asking "Why? What is it about it that is so enjoyable?" lets you dig down and find the underlying characteristics of the things you love doing. Once you know those, you can start trying to incorporate them into your career, whether by making small changes where you are, or identifying a whole new direction.