Job or Career: Which Do You Have?

"Are you working?" "What do you do for work?"

These are a couple of the questions directed at me in the past several weeks. What I do for a living really is no one's business. However, in a society caught up with status, money and titles, some people get quite nosey about others' source of income.

Well, were I inclined to respond in any detail to those questioners it would be to say, "I am pursuing my passion and I am abundantly provided for." The possible follow up question would be "What is your passion?" 

That would be a very valid question and one that more of us need to ask ourselves. "Am I living from and pursuing my passion?" An even more pertinent query is whether your income and your career path are products of this pursuit. Or are you like the majority doing a 'job' just for the paycheque?

Some experts feel that their is no real difference between having a job or a career. They are of the opinion that a career is merely a series of jobs through which a person gains experience while building or leading up to a career. This is true in many cases, such as starting as a cashier in a fast food restaurant and over time being promoted to various levels - in the same establishment or at other companies within the same industry.

A 'Career' is defined by www.diffen.com as:

• "an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework.
• a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking."

Do visit the website and check out their comparison chart of the two.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Confucius

My personal experience has led me to somewhere in the middle. Yes, I have had several jobs that opened doors to promotions, increase in salary and more responsibilities. With each promotion, not necessarily in the same company or even sector, my skill set expanded.  There were times in many of these jobs when I was pursuing my passion, which is to touch the lives of people in an empowering manner through communication, education and information sharing.

Like many, I have changed 'jobs' and seemingly have also changed careers, moving from diverse fields such as public education in Government agencies, to public relations and marketing for corporate entities and private individuals. My path later took me to chaplaincy, behavioral counselling as well as, to case management in hospitals and in the criminal justice system.

Betwixt and between these movements, my career objective has not changed.

That would be the crux of the matter to me, whether one has a job or a career (path or goal). If you are driven only by the money, clocking in just for the paycheque, then in my view that is a job whether you have been at it for five months or twenty years.

Margaret Young said it best, in my view, when she wrote, "Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want."

The question therefore is  dear friends, "Are you BEING or Doing?"

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Be blessed until tomorrow!

Photo Source: adteacher.blogspot.com