Career Advice from the "Passion Catalyst"

There's more to finding your dream job than simply figuring out what you love and doing it. "People typically—and often erroneously—believe…that a career change is an overnight thing, where Friday night 'I'm this' and Monday morning 'I'm that,'" suggests career coach, Curt Rosengren. But "career change tends to be a long-term thing." In his experience, people tend to give up too soon.

For starters, "I can't now" doesn't mean "I can't ever." "The thing I always encourage people to do is to sit down and say, 'OK, well, when could I?'" says Rosengren. He advises defining the change you want to make and then figuring out the track you can take from where you are now.

The other thing to remember, says Rosengren, is that making a list of what you love is only a starting point and may not yield an obvious career choice. You need to ask yourself, why do I love what I love? He uses his love of travel photography as an example: "A big part of the reason of why I love it is the exploration and discovery…[which] tends to be in place whenever I'm on fire about something." Recognizing these underlying characteristics is what allows you to identify potential paths.

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