Find your passion by helping others with theirs

Lately I have noticed a lot of people talking about whether you can find work that feeds the soul.   Intellectually, of course, it makes perfect sense that finding such work is possible.  But how, exactly, are we supposed to find it?  It is not as if job postings come with little notes like "fun and inspirational work" or "meaningful on many levels."  Indeed, if we saw such comments, we'd likely dismiss the postings in the belief that the pay must be so low that the only redeeming values are these intangibles.

If you are in the job market, I'm sure you've heard this pearl of wisdom: "follow your passion and the money will follow."  Yeah, right.  Certainly, if you do things that you are passionate about, you'll be good at them, and eventually people will be willing to pay you.  But, how long will that take? And what exactly is your passion anyway? And where do you start?

In founding CountMeIn!, this little enigma was front and center.  How can people get involved in meaningful work when they themselves don't know what that work would look like?  Then I had a thought.  What if it didn't matter that you thought the work was meaningful?   Instead, what if you thought that the work was meaningful to someone else?  That proved to be the key.  

People looking for meaningful work turn out to be thrilled to help other people realize their meaningful work.  So, the CountMeIn! model brings people who have not yet found (or have not fully realized) their passion to people who have.  A funny thing happens when we do this.  Folks find productive things that they can do while looking for that longer term solution.  People get immersed in industries that they find interesting.  Success in those industries round out resumes.  They lead to connections.  They lead to other work.  Perhaps, they lead to passion.

If you are looking to change careers or move into work that fills your heart and soul, you may want to consider the CountMeIn! path.  By giving some of your time to the work of others, you may just find the key to your own future.  At the very least, you'll know that the work has meaning to someone, and that makes it worth doing.