finding passion

[dice]

i was registering for my college courses the other day with my friend and was shocked when he opened up the catalog 5 minutes before we got there and picked out his major and courses, and pretty much what he will be doing with his career, in 5 minutes. I than realized that what he did is actually better than what im doing, which is wasting semester after semester majoring in business while i wait for my passion to find me. So I've decided to make a change, I am going to find my passion ASAP.

I've been reading posts about finding passion all morning. One tip is to look back to my childhood and see what i enjoyed doing and how i spent my free time. Basketball, Baseball, Golf, and Playing video games are reoccuring hobbies in my life, with the latter being the one i spent the most time on. The problem with these is that being a 20 year old college student makes me feel as though I've missed my boat on professional sports, and becoming a professional gamer, although the sportscenter segments were very motivational, is just pathetic and most likely won't pay the bills.

One thing I've done since as long as I can remember is I've kept a daily scheduler of all of my responsibilities, and am constantly making lists and organizing. It's just how my mind works, very structured and organized. When im doing a certain task or trying to learn something new, I will organize information and ideas on a piece of paper every time.


My reason for this post is I definately need some input from other people b/c im more confused than ever right now. I don't seem to be able to think of a valid passion to spend the rest of my days working at. What am i not looking at, should i just say f all these ideas and go out and start experiencing a bunch of new crap.

 

[Life-Trainee]

There are career tests that you can take. They determine what kind of field would most likely suit you based on your interests and personality. Most schools give out these tests.

 

[AlwaysExcel]

Or you can do what I do and have a sufficiently interesting career that supports my passions after work. The career doesn't have to be your passion, it just has to keep your interest.

 

[brod716]

Originally posted by AlwaysExcel
Or you can do what I do and have a sufficiently interesting career that supports my passions after work. The career doesn't have to be your passion, it just has to keep your interest.

Amen to that. I know lots of people who make engineering their lifestyle. For me it has always been a future 'job', something that I'm interested in studying, something that will pay my bills well enough to do things I'm passionate about, but I'm definitely not passionate about it. I don't think that's bad. Very very few people actually get the luxury of being passionate about their jobs and actually being paid for that. Well, maybe porn actors or I guess non-real-life jobs like you had mentioned - sports, film acting, etc.... my .02

 

[MetalFortress]

Why not go into the videogame industry, or into videogame-related journalism (magazine writers/editors/etc)

 

[dice]

heres another question, is it pretty impossible to get into a pro sport when u decide that u want to do it at the age of 20 ?

 

[true|hockey]

don't worry, I have my degree done and finished, and still have no idea what I want to do after college.

As for professional sports, don't bank hopes on them so late. It takes a special kind of athlete to make it in the pros for any sport.

 

[legolas]

Actually your passion should have nothing to do with your dreams. It seems you're confusing passion and dreams.

Now if you really want tofind out what your passion is, ask yourself "What is the thing that when people ask me to do I almost jump at the opportunity?" For me it's fixing stuff, anything, especially computers. Yet it's now what I want to do with my life. Maybe if I had nothing else to do, I'd do it as a hobby, but only if I was rich enuogh to never have to work again

One piece of advice about college. I went to college for Computer Science. Do you want to know why? Because of the .com era and the hope of six figure salaries. Do you know what I regret about college? Focusing too dammn much on my major and it's requirements. Pook has it right. One has to plant in his mind all the seeds of knowledge when one is young.

I'm pissed at myself for not taking a sinlg art class, a history class, philosophy, political science, economics more English classes and so on. I stuck myself stricly to the requirements for my major and considered any class not belonging to the major a "filler" class, and thus I payed less attention to them. Lucky for me I enjoy psychology so I was able to go for a minor AND use it to fill in requirements.

Most of the time, people get out of college and almost never find a job that 100% fits their education. Then they take more specialized courses afterwards and find a job that way. So why not exercise your brain and take as many classes as you can get away with that don't belong to any major? In most colleges they allwo you to take many 100 and 200 level course without decalring a major. Take some random classes, see what you like and find a degree somehow. You know you won't work in the field anyway.

I have friends who are taking degrees in history and art. What kind of jobs will they get that way? The truth is any kind of job. Education is not job training. It shouldn't be anyway, although that is what they want to make it as. If I hadn't taken some psychology courses, I would have never met any girls in my computer classes, AND I would be boring to talk to, since I'd have no broad horizons.

 

[CLOONEY]

Thanks legolas. So your telling me to take an art course, and I will get a job as an economist?

Or to learn history, and apply for a management job?

Man, of course u have to do a degree in the feild of work you want to go into. Then u do more specialised training afterwards.

But u SHOULD major in what you want to do once u finish.

If u do history and art, u probably wont get a job......unless u try REALLY hard to find a job in that field, or u get REALLY lucky!


As for the advice. I would not start your degree until u have some idea of what you want to do. If you have no idea, dont start. I know too many people who wasted years bumbing around at uni and now are doing totally different degrees. In that same time, I worked, saw the world and will get my degree before them!

 

[diplomatic_lies]

Well I found my passion through realising what I enjoyed when I was 10.

I always enjoyed building things (not with bricks, but stuff like building little empires in video games, or building a house with HouseDesigner).

I also liked making money. Ever since I was a kid I'd find new ways to make money (excluding working at McDonalds). I'd sell mobile phones, drugs, porn, anything.

So I combined building empires with making money, and I came up with being an entrepreneur (I wanted to be a dictator at first but I realised that took too much work).


So find those little things you like doing. Combine them. Let it simmer. Then take it out of the oven and you'll have a bunch of interesting careers.

(By the way you CAN make art a career - Something Positive Comics recently got donations of $22,000, and the guy who drew the Webcomic has quit his job)

 

[TheRisingSon]

Actually, what you major in is relatively unimportant. I have plenty of friends who majored in History. They do have jobs in management. Don't know how it is in Australia, but in the States job requirements are long the lines of "BA in Liberal Arts." i.e. in anything other than a science degree. Heck, my sister was even a programmer for a while with an English and Political Science degree. One of my best friends went to a merchant marine academy. He is now in law school. A degree simply shows that you are capable of starting something and then finishing it.

 

[CLOONEY]

Originally posted by TheRisingSon
Actually, what you major in is relatively unimportant. I have plenty of friends who majored in History. They do have jobs in management. Don't know how it is in Australia, but in the States job requirements are long the lines of "BA in Liberal Arts." i.e. in anything other than a science degree. Heck, my sister was even a programmer for a while with an English and Political Science degree. One of my best friends went to a merchant marine academy. He is now in law school. A degree simply shows that you are capable of starting something and then finishing it.

Oh really........yeah obviously it is VERY different in Australia. What u study in Australia means EVERYTHING. People who study arts degrees are pretty much useless to employers. I know some of the largest business employers in Australia, and as soon as they see the arts part on the degree they throw it in the bin. No offence to those studying arts in Australia, but thats the way it really is.