My Personal Story about Passion

This week I share a personal story about finding passion in my career. Watch now!

VIDEO SUMMARY

Last week I made a video about how to find your passion. If you are someone who is figuring this out, I think it is helpful to hear other people’s stories about how they found passion in their work. I feel very lucky to work in an area I find exciting, engaging, and interesting. When I look back on my life, there were specific moments that showed me I was heading in the right direction in my career. If you keep following those signposts, you end up living a passionate life.

I need to explain that this is not easy. It is hard to listen and recognize these moments when they happen. I have spent a lot of time and effort doing introspection, and journaling on the question “what do I want to do with my life?” You should realize that this takes time. Today I am going to share with you a story from my experience. My hope is this helps you, when you think about your own life.

This story happened when I was 17 years old. I am going back really young. I have always been the type of person that likes big ideas, and thinking deep thoughts. I love that. One of my favorite things to do is just sit and ponder the great questions of life. When I was 17, I was in high school. In history class, I was learning about capitalism and socialism. I was fascinated. These were big ideas about how to structure an economy. I read as much as I could about these ideas, and both capitalism and socialism have very compelling arguments.

This happened in 1997. In 1997, Coca-Cola released a new soft drink called Surge. To provide you with some backstory, Coca-Cola codenamed Surge the “Mountain Dew Killer,” because they were trying to steal market share from Mountain Dew. To achieve this, Coke ran a huge marketing campaign, and the target market was people just like me: 17 year old male high school students. They had these commercials of people riding skateboards, and drinking Surge, and looking cool. And this marketing campaign worked. I loved Surge. It was my favorite drink.

One Saturday when I was 17, I wanted to get some Surge. There was a 7-11 convenience store down the street where I lived. I walked down to the 7-11, and bought myself a can. I can remember this moment like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the curb in front of 7-11 drinking my can of Surge and thinking about capitalism and socialism. I am running through all the typical arguments, and then an idea hit me. I looked at this can of soda and realized this drink would not exist under Socialism. This silly soda that I loved so much (that was probably horrible for my health) would not exist. It was in that moment that I fell in love with business. What I saw was how the act of commerce has tremendous power to create value for people. I understood that this business was able to make my life as a poor 17 year old high school student just a little bit better. In that moment, business became very real to me, because I could see the impact in my life.

Looking back, I must have been a weird kid. I do not think this is what most 17 year olds do on their Saturdays. I was only 17, so there was still a lot I did not understand about economics. That is not the point though. This was a defining moment when I felt engaged and excited about something. It was not sports. It was not celebrities. It was business.

Like I said earlier, it is hard to recognize these moments when they happen. I am remembering this moment 20 years later. If I had recognized this moment right away, I should have started making videos 20 years ago. But I did not even know what an accountant did when I was 17. But as my career has progressed, I have been able to remember these moments that show how accounting, for me, can be really meaningful work. This was just one moment, but I actually have a whole list moments. My hope is that you think about your life and find your moments. I think this process is fun, and I wish you the best of luck in identifying the things you are passionate about.

Leave a comment down below letting me know what you think!

If you find these videos helpful, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance Inc. shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.