The road to job satisfaction can be many and varied, but put simply very few of us are actually able to get the job of our dreams. That doesn’t mean though you can’t insert your passions into the workplace. Not only can the workplace be more enjoyable if you inject your passions into your role, but in terms of personal branding, it can help build and reinforce your ‘brand’ in a business sense. If managers know you as the “technology” guy or the “sports” guy or the “health” nut, then you never know what opportunities may come your way due to your elevated profile.

Here’s an example. Just recently I was commissioned to help a career changer articulate his intention to transition from being a Magician to an English Teacher! Career changes are never easy, but particularly so when the individual changing careers does not embrace the transition with his heart! As a full-time magician and entertainer my client, we’ll call him “Merlin” had a passion for his work. It was who he was, but as is the very nature of the entertainment industry, assignments were not always continuous. Feeling the need for greater security, Merlin had decided reluctantly to opt for a job in the education sector as a teacher. He’d done it before, in fact, “had been there, done that and had the T-shirt!” He couldn’t have been more ambivalent about this new venture. Clearly the thought of not working as a full-time magician made him miserable and his responses clearly indicated his lack of interest in the whole concept of being anything than what he was. Understandable reluctance. After all, he had the job of his dreams–who would want to leave that?

However there is a way to counter the job one has to take for money and security, and that is to inject your passions into it! Imagine the joy of the students if the teacher walked into the room and wrote “English is Magic” on the blackboard, drew a bouquet of flowers from his sleeve to a student who responded with a correct answer, or wrung water out of a handkerchief when he was about to give out homework! Not only would Merlin have fun bringing his passions into his job, but his students would respond well and classes could be fun leading to greater learning and good results. Merlin could find himself being a sought-after teacher, and who knows what opportunities could come from that? An offer as a drama teacher, the opportunity to lead an end-of-year school magic show? By building and reinforcing his brand and injecting his passions into a job, opportunities could come out of the blue for Merlin. A positive attitude, a willing spirit, and a bit of creativity can save an individual from being bogged down in a job he hates to being a stand-out success.