No Passion? Follow Your Motivations & Know Your Ambition Instead

Get to Know Your What, Why, and How Far.

“Follow your passion” is the often-encouraged career advice. Yet for many—from high schoolers to mid-career changers—it’s rather futile guidance. How many people do you know who can tell you what their singular passion is? In fact, in the book, “Designing Your Life,” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, they note research by William Damon of the Stanford Center on Adolescence who found that “only 1 in 5 young people between twelve and twenty-six have a clear vision of where they want to go, what they want to accomplish in life, and why.”

Passion is defined as: “An intense desire or enthusiasm for something.” If you have clarity around your passion and you can make money following it, you are one of the fortunate ones. For the rest of us (about 80% per above) who aren’t clear, lack the intensity of a passion, or have multiple interests, we often only get a subtle glimpse of what we should pursue, as Po Bronson concluded in his popular book, “What should I do with my life?” Passion can set too high a bar and be too narrow a filter to determine potential paths for your career.

In addition, passion isn’t the singular focus that always leads to success anyway. Morten Hansen, a professor at U.C. Berkeley, reported on his research that studied top employee performers and their relationship to finding Passion and Purpose in their work in his book, “Great at Work: How Top Performers Work Less and Achieve More.” Not surprisingly, those that had High Passion and High Purpose were top performers, averaging in the 80th percentile, and those with Low Passion and Low Purpose, were in the bottom 10th percentile. But what was interesting was that those with High Passion and Low Purpose actually were lower performers in the 20th percentile compared to those with Low Passion and High Purpose that fell into the 64th percentile. The takeaway—you don’t have to have a passion, per se, to find success in your work. In this case, finding purpose is a more powerful driver. (Read on to learn more.) Chip and Dan Heath reported on this research in their book, “The Power of Moments,” and wrote, “Graduation speakers take note: The best advice is not ‘Pursue your passion!’ It’s ‘Pursue your purpose!’”

So, what advice should be given instead? Seek out your Motivations and your Ambition—The What, The Why, and The How Far. Even if passion gives you some insight, per its definition, it only tells you an area in which to explore a career. It doesn’t break work down further into how you like to apply yourself, what type of activities engage you, and why you’d be willing to commit time and effort to your work. Your motivations can do that, giving more granularity to the type of work you should pursue. Then, honestly considering your ambition can bring further clarity to your motivations and can ignite your energy to put effort into your chosen profession.

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When it comes to motivations, it’s helpful to break them down into The What and The Why.

The What is the type of work activities that will be enjoyable and engage you, ones where you will be eager to put in the effort to master them. We are not all the same when it comes to our motivations. We shouldn’t follow the common “should’s” (e.g., I should be a General Manager, I should become an engineer, I should be a CEO, I should be an entrepreneur and start a company), because these all require aptitude and enjoyment of different types of work activities. Thus, we need to be clear about what truly motivates our actions.

This sounds obvious. Of course, do activities I enjoy. Yet, when making career decisions, we often don’t prioritize these factors. Instead, we make decisions based on titles, salaries, and other externalities. When it comes to motivations, behavioral psychologists often call these two factors intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations. According to research by Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago, people are more positively motivated by intrinsic motivators, which are considered internally derived benefits, positive outcomes, or experience from an activity itself (e.g., learning new topics, building skills, mastering a competency). In their language, “experience matters;” one eagerly gets up to go to work when they are motivated by the activities they do during the day. Yet, we often prioritize the extrinsic, outcome based benefits that result from the activity and are externally derived tangible rewards (e.g., receiving a bonus, getting a promotion), especially when we’re not in the moment and involved in the task experiencing positive emotions. Thus, the research suggests one needs to fight against the urge to focus on external motivators when making career decisions. When determining The What, put aside the practicalities like salary and title for the moment.

Finally, don’t think that it means workdays should be solely about enjoyment. Research by Barry Schwartz, famous for his theory on the Paradox of Choice, and colleague Amy Wrzesniewski of the Yale School of Management has shown that work you love is not all about pleasure or that outcomes don’t matter. In an academic paper, they shared how we often engage in activities that are unpleasant when in pursuit of something we want to master or in which we want to become excellent. For example, practicing athletic or musical drills is not much fun, but often are exercised to help people become a better athlete or musician. Schwartz and Wrzesniewski also state that what’s more important is the association between the activity and the outcome vs. the outcome itself. Net, don’t just focus on what makes you happy. Think about where you eagerly put in effort, what you want to practice, and where you want to excel.

To determine your What, ask yourself:

Interests: What do you find interesting or positively challenging? What do you enjoy thinking about? What activities and topics draw you vs. repel you?
Curiosities: What topics are you curious about now?
Activities: What’s your interest in various work activities? Where and in what activities do you naturally spend your time? Where do you lose yourself? What work engages you? When are you in flow and lose track of time?
Skillsets: What knowledge and skills do you enjoy leveraging?
Mastery: What do you want to practice and excel at? Where are you willing to put in the effort to become good at something or to get to the end outcome?
Grit: Where do you demonstrate grit, remaining engaged and persistent despite difficulties?

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The Why is what drives you. It’s about finding purpose and meaning in your work. Many academics and professionals, in their own way, now champion finding your Why.

Barry Schwartz in his book, “Why We Work,” and Daniel Pink in his book, “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” speak to this concept and how research has demonstrated that it leads to people being more satisfied and fulfilled in their work. Schwartz talks about purpose as doing work that improves people’s lives and about how a focus on purpose can turn one’s work into a calling rather than just being a job or career. Daniel Pink similarly speaks to the importance of finding how one’s work can contribute to something beyond oneself that is enduring.

Tony Robbins, the life and business strategist, advocates finding your emotion and drive, your motive for action. He also speaks to contributing beyond yourself as one of our six core fundamental human needs.

In Dan Ariely’s book, “Payoff: The Hidden Logic that Shapes our Motivations,” he speaks to the importance of finding meaning in one’s work. He defines meaning as, “having a sense of purpose, value, and impact—of being involved in something bigger than the self.” What’s good is that the examples and studies that Ariely shares also bring this concept down to a less lofty level that focuses on the importance of having one’s work feel like you have accomplished something that made an impact. For example, he writes the story of a software company that unceremoniously shuttered a significant project, leaving those on the project feeling deflated and as if their work was not valued. In an instant, their work lost meaning, and in turn they lost their motivation.

Fred Kofman, Ph.D. in Economics, VP at LinkedIn, and author of “Conscious Business” speaks to the concept of “Success Beyond Success,” where one finds success and fulfillment when aligning her actions with her values. In essence, one can find success regardless of outcome if she operates in alignment with her values, something that is completely within one’s control. Adding “values” to your Why can give you a roadmap on how to behave and bring purpose and meaning into your work.

These experts are suggesting the importance of understanding what drives you, getting beyond yourself, and finding greater meaning in your day-to-day work. Lest you think you can’t do that, Amy Wrzesniewski did research with people in various careers from janitors at a hospital to hairdressers and found the contrary. For example, with the janitors, they didn’t see their job as simply being about cleaning rooms, but rather a function of caring for patients and their families. They made decisions and behaved in ways that aligned with a broader purpose of care. Whether you clean hotel rooms or are a business executive, there is a way to find broader meaning.

To determine your Why, ask yourself:

Purpose: What is the larger purpose of my work? How does it serve a broader purpose? Does my organization have a clearly stated purpose?
Contribution & Service: How do you want to contribute and serve others, such as your customers, employees, and investors?
Emotion: What is your motive for action? What do you want to focus on—what can’t you not do? What gives you the intensity of emotion that drives you to action?
Meaning: What meaning can be found and created in your work? What value are you adding? What are you accomplishing and how are you contributing to something bigger than your individual efforts?
Values: What are the values that will guide your behaviors? How can you operate in alignment with your values that will make you feel proud of your actions regardless of the outcome?

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Finally, consider The How Far. “What is my ambition?” is a fundamental question many people fail to ask. Most of us just assume we’ll do the “should” (e.g., get to the next level, be a Vice President, be a CEO). But how many of us are honest with ourselves about how far we want to reach, when and how we want to get there, and accept the sacrifices that may be required to reach that ambition?

A great book on this topic is “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be,” by Paul Arden, the former Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. He starts the book by claiming, “Your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have.” Arden goes on to ask, “So how good do you want to be?” The options: “Quite good. Good. Very good. The best in your field. The best in the world.” These are all accompanied with a picture, the last one cleverly being aligned with a picture of Napoleon (i.e., The best in the world).

Arden states that it’s not talent that makes people famous or rich, but having a clear ambition and the drive to reach a goal that leads them to their desired outcome. Take for instance this account from a 2003 article in The New York Times in which Arnold Schwarzenegger said he saw himself becoming a movie star, millionaire, and even politician.

Oprah Winfrey has been quoted as saying, “I always knew I was destined for greatness.” Jimmy Fallon had a singularly focused goal to be on Saturday Night Live. Some people have the ambition of being a great mother and raising amazing children. Others have the ambition to be President of the United States. In his book, Arden gives the example of Victoria Beckham who said she wanted to be as well-known as Persil, a dominant detergent in Britain. How many of us have that clear of a goal?

Ambition is about what you want to achieve and how far you want to reach on any dimension. Claiming your ambition can have significant power and influence on your trajectory.

To determine your How Far, ask yourself:

Level: Where do you want to excel? What level do you want to reach? Consider Arden’s categories—where do you align?
Effort: Are you willing to put in the effort and go the distance to reach that level? Are you committed to your purpose or to your ambition to make it happen?
When: When do you want to get there? Why? Are you at a time where you want to further commit, lean in, and go for it? Or, are you wanting to pull back for a time, while keeping your foot in the door?

A final word on ambition is to consider that ambition is not a steady state. Our goals and desires may change over time. You might raise the bar as you increase in mastery. Your ambitions may ebb and flow over time to allow for necessary pauses to rejuvenate or fit in other priorities in life, such as having kids or taking care of aging parents.

In Summary

Passion as a guiding career principle does not work for all people, as many simply can’t tell you what their passion is. Even if they can state their passion, the concept doesn’t provide enough direction to know how to apply oneself. By focusing on Motivations and one’s Ambition, you can craft a clearer picture for where to focus your work effort. Again, put aside extrinsic factors such as salary when making fundamental career decisions. Focus first on the activities you enjoy and what you want to master. If you do find where you truly enjoy applying yourself and marry that with purpose, research suggests success will follow. Being clear on your ambition will further guide your efforts and how far you reach. This is a more viable approach to finding your vocation, career, or calling than the often unattainable bar of passion. So, get clear on your What, Why, and How Far.