Careers vs Job: Follow your Passion

Money, money, money; money makes the world go round! Right? Now in this life of ours where we are constantly running from pillar to post, do we ever stop to question how we feel about our happiness? Is it the short-term job that we temporarily have and which provides us with ‘monetary relief’ that makes us happy or is it following our passion, regardless of the pay? 

Its quite a complicated situation to be in, because it can put us in the awkward situation of leading a highly stressful life and on the other hand leading one that is less stressful. However, happiness CANNOT be bought anywhere or FROM EVEN A JOB and that's the reality.

 Some people are just happy having a job where they can live within their means and that's about it.  

However, money is not everything and even a person having a lower paying job can very often lead a better life that a person who has a higher paying job (which is stressful and the person doesn't enjoy). 

In today’s time and age, many people use the words ‘career’ and ‘job’ interchangeably’. However, they are very different and it’s extremely important to understand the differences.

A career involves years of hard work in the same field and often several different positions. On the other hand, a job is a short-term form of employment where a person is paid. Short-term work opportunities include working as a waiter or temp. It is in no way linked to a person’s career.

It is very important to understand that a career can include a number of jobs, but it doesn't always have to mean that every single job a person does is part of his/her career. 

"Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion." These famous lines were said by British/American author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant. - Simon Sinek. 

It’s quite easy to spot out the differences between a job and career. It really takes a lot of time to grow as a person and especially on a professional level. Personal growth is very important and is in fact one of the most contributing factors of employee engagement. People, by and large have an innate desire to grow and learn and make a real difference in the world.                   

         

Job	Career
Short-term	Long-term
Low-career Growth	Professional Growth
Collection is Money	Collection is of Experience
A person just has to do the BARE MINIMUM	A person is expected to GO ABOVE and BEYOND
A person may leave work feeling angry	A person leaves work feeling happy
Monday’s are always tiring	Monday’s are most often energetic
People are uninterested in the values of the company	People are interested in the values of the company
People always look for escapes plans when things don't work out – i.e. look out for a new job	People are only interested in moving up the ladder in the same field
People feel they don't have enough time in the day	People feel they have fulfilling days
A job is just part of the ‘GRIND’ of life	A career is a journey a person is involved in.

If there were any video that could highlight the importance of what really motivates employees, it would have to be Dan Pink’s (an author of books about work, management, and behavioral science.) TED talk on motivation – The puzzle of motivation.  https://youtu.be/rrkrvAUbU9Y via @YouTube

Moreover, a lot of other factors have to be taken into account. While you ‘MAY’ want to have a career in a certain field, sometimes it is just not possible for reasons such as your perhaps not inclined to study that much or you have a natural talent in something else. Life can pull you in a lot of different directions and you just cannot have things the way you want them to be ALL THE TIME.

You may want to be a doctor but can you handle the amount of studies involved? You may also be talented at poetry but never thought of pursuing such a field. Sometimes we have to be rational: with ourselves, our abilities and what life; can offer us. At such times it is very important to understand the crucial difference between a job that you are doing and a career that you are in the process of making.