A Little Discomfort Never Hurt Anybody

Although it did not feel like it at the time, I can think of several times in my life where the unease of doing something outside my comfort zone was the path to new opportunities and ways of being for me. It is these times, whether we place ourselves in these situations or serendipitously stumble onto them, so that we can go beyond any self-imposed limitations. We gain courage and confidence to be ourselves and to let others see parts of us we may not have known existed. We also learn to accept our own imperfections.  We make the realization (hopefully) that when we “trip and fall,” so to speak, picking ourselves up and continuing to move forward seems a better alternative to staying down. 

Several years ago, a colleague said something to me that I thought was pretty mean and hurtful in front of several other colleagues. It was incredibly embarrassing for me at the time, but I realized there was some truth to what she was saying. I do not remember exactly what she said, but it was something about how I annoyed her because I never gave an opinion during our discussions and tended to go along with what others were saying about the topic when I eventually did speak up. Truthfully, I was, and sometimes still am, extremely shy. Also, I had significantly less experience than most of my colleagues at the time. My lack of opinion had more to do with lack of knowledge and my own insecurities about that. That incident changed my life forever. I started asking more questions to learn more and expressing my opinions despite my fear that I would embarrass myself by exposing my inexperience. What I found is that I learned a lot and I learned it much more quickly by actively engaging my more experienced colleagues. To this day, my tendency to speak up continues to help me learn important lessons.

So I continue to do those things that are uncomfortable to help me gain courage and become a better person. Those of you that share similar experiences, I would love to hear them. Please share them with us. Or try something outside your comfort zone and tell us how it went.

Where Your Mind Goes, Your Career Follows

My training in psychology has taught me that the mind is an extremely powerful thing. This conclusion can be drawn from the enormous body of psychological and neuropsychological research that has examined the human mind and its potential. To the scientist in me, this is powerful evidence. Even more powerful than this is my experience of numerous others (including colleagues, clients and friends) who have placed an amazing amount of concentration and focus on how they want their lives to be and achieve unbelievable feats. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by all that inspiration. It is food for my soul.

Of course, the only experience that I can speak about with any authority is my own. In my fourth year of graduate school, I began working with clients with substance abuse problems and found it incredibly satisfying and rewarding. In every other clinical training experience after that, I looked for opportunities to work with individuals who had substance abuse problems and grew to love this work more and more. As I planned my future career, I stayed focused on my strong desire to work in this clinical area. Once I did this, it seemed as if what I wanted in my career presented itself to me at the exact right time. I was accepted to a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship program in substance abuse treatment that I never in a million years thought I would be offered. Then I was offered “the perfect job” developing and managing an outpatient addiction treatment clinic. Honestly, the process of getting to where I am in my career seemed effortless at times. Not to say there were not tremendous growing pains that made me a stronger and better person and professional, but I believe my focus got me where I needed to be to help me create my Career Passionz. 

One way to manifest your Career Passionz is to use visualization to focus your mind on the outcomes you want. Our next blog issue will be a visualization that you can use to help you focus your mind on your Career Passionz. See you then.

Introducing our Fearless Leader

Dear Career Passionz Community,

One of my core beliefs, formed when I was very young, was:

An individual can accomplish ANYTHING (s)he wants in life. The only question was when?

Your life may deviate, through twists and turns, but you will hit your milestones until you have reached your goal. This central tenet has been my guide, and although my resume looks like a mashup, it really illustrates the openness and determination with which I have searched for my true calling. Today, the sum of my experiences has led me to a road called Career Passionz. My career wanderlust has come full circle and I found that my career correlates to my personality. This is where we can help you. Career Passionz was created to help people find their ultimate career, the set of jobs where they are a high-performer and overachiever.

So, please take our Career Passionz personality test, and see where your career match-up might lead you. We serve as a guide, and hopefully we won’t get you lost. Who knows? Maybe there’s a person who is a perfect fit for an Underwater Basketweaver career! Always strive for you next goal, and never ever quit.

Remember to dream big because the sky is the limit.

Adventurer and ESTJ,

Felicia Hsieh

I was very lucky to have found my high-performance team, Rachael and Joseph. Thank you because you are key to completing the Career Passionz dream.

CAREER PASSIONZ’ Official Blog

Before getting into the some of the great content that will be available through this blog, I thought I should write a little about the purpose of the Official CAREER PASSIONZ blog, what I hope to accomplish with it and why I came on as Chief Research Officer for CAREER PASSIONZ. 

The purpose of this blog is three-fold:

1. To facilitate self-discovery and discovering your CAREER PASSIONZ.
2. Through this increased self-awareness, finding and/or creating a job that has meaning and purpose to you.
3. Sharing the journeys of those in the CAREER PASSIONZ community in an attempt to inspire and support one another in the search for meaningful and fulfilling work.

This blog will cover many topics related to career and self-discovery including:

• Our journeys toward finding our CAREER PASSIONZ.
• Creative ways to learn about yourself and find job opportunities.
• Things learned from others who have taken this journey, especially those of you who are a part of the CAREER PASSIONZ community, about self-discovery, self-improvement, and finding happiness in our work & life.

I am writing this blog for folks who are searching for more meaning through work, as well as for folks who feel stuck in their current circumstances that are looking for inspiration and support as they face their “next frontier.” I want to also invite those who have successfully found their CAREER PASSIONZ to share their stories and wisdom with us.

Ideally, I will be adding posts weekly about the topics I listed above, but it may be less often at first given I am very new to blogging and I am just beginning to learn the basics of WordPress. 

I am writing this blog because I want to inspire others to follow the path down which they may find their “passionz,” despite the uncertainty and fear that can come with trying something new or making changes in one’s life. I am also doing this to create a safe, supportive environment where you can explore what job might be “right” for you. Lastly, but most importantly, I am doing this because I believe in the vision of Felicia Hsieh, CEO of CAREER PASSIONZ and believe she can offer those of you who join our community the tools to help you find meaning and purpose in your work and lives.

Why Try Career Passionz?

One of the reasons to give Career Passionz a try is our unique approach to helping you discover what brings meaning to your life. We are by no means “experts,” but we each have a unique story about the way we discovered our own “Passionz.” It is our hope that sharing our journeys will help jump-start yours. It is our sincere belief that within each and everyone of us are the answers to what will make us happy and content. The Career Passionz approach is to help you get to know yourself better to find the answers that may, at this time, be obscured by fear, frustration or lack of awareness. 

In my own journey of self-discovery, the most critical element was the individuals I encountered who were able to act as a mirror that forced me to stop and take a look at my character strengths and limitations. When I saw things in the mirror that made me proud or excited, I knew I needed to keep moving in that direction. When what I saw in that mirror was painful or ugly, I knew I needed to take a step back and re-evaluate the path I was headed down. As I struggled with finding work that was meaningful to me, these folks offered a tremendous amount of support. They not only offered me increased self-awareness, they also showed me through example how to accept and be comfortable with myself, which opened a number of doors toward opportunities I could never have imagined previously. I am sure I could not have achieved what I have without them being present at just the time I needed them to be in my life, and I have an tremendous amount of gratitude for this. 

So that is the Career Passionz Approach. Through connecting with others who are searching and have found their Passions, you will have the chance to reflect on your values and get support to move in the direction you want to go. Through sharing your own journey of self-discovery with others, we can create a community  to allow all a place to go to get support and gain courage to go after their dreams. Everyone who joins us is an “expert,” and together our “expertise” can help each other reach our goals.

We here at Career Passionz sincerely hope you’ll join us.

Rachael Guerra, Chief Research Officer

Rachael has a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri – Columbia. She works in an addiction treatment program for a large public hospital in the Bay Area. 

Welcome to Career Passionz!!!!

7/4/2008

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

Confucius 

Welcome to the beginning of a wonderful journey. Career Passionz (CPZ) has been created for those of us who have an enthusiastic passion for life and want to translate that passion into a career with purpose and meaning for ourselves. This time of economic downturn has brought difficulties and losses for many. Even the most optimistic of us begin to feel down and demoralized. 

One thing we have found to be true in our own lives is that loss is always accompanied by opportunity. The best approach is to make a conscious choice to see these opportunities, instead of getting completely consumed with the injustice and disappointment of the circumstances. We sincerely hope that Career Passionz can be that opportunity for you. As the Confucius quote above says, having a true passion for what you do frees you from the monotony of “work.” So it is no coincidence that the inauguration of our blog comes on Independence Day. We want to build a community where people find their freedom from work through finding jobs that fulfill them personally and spiritually. Times of great difficulty make many people rethink their priorities and look for the things that make them truly happy. Our vision for Career Passionz is a place where you can learn more about yourself. A place where people can travel the road of self-discovery together and support each other on the way. The number one rule at Career Passionz is “IT HAS TO BE FUN.” So we plan to provide you with fun and inspiring ways to get to know yourself and find your PASSIONS. 

We have big plans for our company. Eventually, you will be able to officially join our group, create a profile, add your own content, and get exposed to different opportunities to find a career about which you are passionate. This is only the beginning. Please return to our blog on a regular basis to read and comment on our content and to keep updated on new and exciting things we are doing to help you find your path. Please add your comments and tell your friends to come and participate. We look forward to taking this journey with you.

Felicia Hsieh, CEO

Rachael Guerra, CRO