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.
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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.