In November of 1999, I was asked to go on a six-month business trip to Japan. At the time, my situation at work was so bad that I knew I needed to get away. I agreed to go to the other side of the world and told myself that no matter what, I would find a way to resolve the issues before I returned to New York City.

I went to the bookstore by my house and bought a collection of soft covers designed to tell me my purpose in life. What color was my parachute? Was I destined to be an actor? A mathematician? Social worker? What was my dream job? I wanted answers and these books promised to deliver.

And I can't, in good conscience, say that they didn't. For me to claim the books were no good, I would have had to use them. I cracked the cover of a few, but I didn't make it all the way in any of them. I guess I wasn't motivated enough to find out my true calling. Which is a little odd, considering how bad things really were.

I'm not exactly sure what stopped me. I think it was partly the canned exercises that seemed pointless and partly the fact that I already knew most of my strengths. But mostly because I didn't care for the way they categorized people. I don't like being labeled "perceiving" vs. "judging" or "extrovert" vs. "introvert". I believe the real world is much more complicated than that. There are times when I think more and times when I depend on my feelings to guide me. It depends on the situation, the people involved, the state of mind I'm in and many other factors. I got frustrated not being able to answer the questions and gave up.

Which, in the end, turned out to be the best move.

I came back to New York and decided to change my job and my schedule so I'd have more free time to explore some of my other interests. In the year that I've been back, I've figured out the best test. It stems from one single word. The answer to what your calling really is lies in the answer to this sentence:

What are you passionate about?

Which can be rephrased as: What moves you? What do you enjoy doing most? What can't you stop thinking about? What would you spend all your time doing if you didn't need to worry about money? What feels more like play than work?

These are all ways to ask the same question. There are many reasons a job might not work out for you. A bad manager, unbearable work mates, obscene hours, undesirable location, too much travel, not enough travel, not enough mobility, etc. These are issues that might cause you to change firms, departments or locations, but not careers.

I think what defines the best career for you is the thing you're most passionate about. It can be something that's directly tied to the job like being an artist cause you're passionate about painting. Or something that indirectly allows you to reach your passion, like being an investment banker cause you're passionate about being rich. Once you can honestly admit to yourself what your true passion is, setting the path to reach it is inconsequential.

I'm not saying it's easy. If you're passionate about art, money might not come easily and therefore you might get discouraged following your passion. Or that it has to be a single thing. You might have several things and then you'd try to find a way to combine them. Or your passion might change and you might need to alter your life completely. Either way, I think that once you know your passion, you're much more likely to find happiness and success.

Here are a few items on my "passion list":
Learning
Reading
Helping Others
Technology

What's on yours?

Previously? The Other Way.