Last updated: October 23, 2025

This episode originally aired on April 5, 2021 (Episode 240). I’m resurfacing it because it’s helped so many listeners find their passion and take the next step with confidence. If you’re weighing a change or craving more meaning at work, start here.

Finding a Career You Love

If you’re trying to find your passion at work, you already know the feeling: excitement on one side, uncertainty on the other. Many people have a good job on paper and still feel a tug toward something more aligned. That tension is normal, and it doesn’t mean you need to blow up your life to fix it.

Clarity grows when you reflect on what matters, choose a direction, and take small steps consistently. In this interview with a certified career counselor, we share ways to find your passion at work while protecting the relationships and routines you value most.

Why It’s Hard to Choose (and How to Get Unstuck)

The pandemic resulted in sudden changes in our lifestyles, they also gave us plenty of opportunities. This time at home allowed us to take inventory of what’s currently happening in our lives (and what isn’t). During that time, big questions bubbled up: Am I on the right path? What do I actually want? That pause helps you notice what matters. However, if you linger too long, it can harden into Choice Paralysis and leave you spinning instead of moving.

To restart momentum and get “unstuck”, shrink the problem. Name your constraints, acknowledge your fears, and pick one action you can repeat tomorrow. Structure creates traction, and traction helps you find your passion with less guesswork. Most importantly, progress, however small, builds confidence while you learn.

Work–Life Balance on the Path to Find Your Passion

New directions often disrupt routines, so plan for the realities that come with change. Will training or school overlap with your current job? How will a shared home office with a partner, kids, or roommates affect your energy and focus? Naming practical constraints doesn’t kill your dream; it makes the path realistic.

Set a timeline you can sustain without burning out. If you’re caregiving, remember that parental burnout intensifies ordinary stress. Build support—childcare swaps, calmer bedtimes, honest conversations—before you change course. The more you stabilize daily life, the easier it is to find your passion and stay with it.

From Trait–Fit to Life Design (A Better Way to Find Your Passion)

Old-school advice matched people to jobs by traits and aptitudes. Helpful, yet incomplete. A better lens is life design, which treats you as a whole human with roles, values, and long-term goals that guide decisions. When you use that lens, you’re not picking a title—you’re shaping a life.Orienting around meaning changes what counts as a “good job.” It highlights fit, autonomy, and contribution, not just pay or prestige. With that clarity, you’re far more likely to find your passion and keep it alive as your life evolves.

How to Find Your Passion

If passion feels fuzzy, look backward before you look forward. List projects and environments that energized you, and note the tasks that drained you. Also name what you’d happily repeat—and what you never want to repeat. The patterns you uncover turn “passion” from a vague idea into concrete criteria.

This reflection also sharpens your career story. You can explain how you got here, what you learned, and why you’re ready for what’s next—even on days when confidence dips and you feel not good enough. With a clearer story and criteria, you’ll find your passion faster because you’ll recognize it when you see it.

Burnout: How Does This Happen?

Burnout creeps in quietly. Many of us choose majors and first jobs before we’ve done any real self-inventory. Then life picks up speed, expectations pile on, and survival mode takes the wheel. Without regular reflection, it’s easy to wake up one day feeling flat, cynical, or exhausted—and to assume the problem is your entire career.

Why does burnout happen? There are typically one of two reasons for burnout:

1. Loss of reflection: when you stop checking in with yourself, work can slide into autopilot. You forget what energizes you and what drains you, so every day starts to feel the same.
2. Outside pressures: big life changes—marriage, children, caregiving, illness, even a cross-country move—can push you into necessity mode. You keep going because you have to, not because the work fits right now.

The way out starts small. Stabilize basics like sleep, stress, and support; then reintroduce a short weekly check-in to note what helped and what hurt. As your capacity returns, look for meaning again in your past experiences and present wins. That renewed clarity makes it easier to plan a phased shift, or to find your passion right where you are, with smarter boundaries and better fit.

The 10-Year Vision Exercise

Picture your life in detail—where you live, who’s there, how you spend your time—and ask if your current path can credibly carry you to that future. If the answer is no, don’t panic. Choose the smallest next step that points in the right direction, and take it this week.

Small steps compound. Over months, they shift your skills, network, and options. That momentum often helps you find your passion faster than a dramatic, one-time leap.

Changing Your Career Path (Without Blowing Up Your Life)

You don’t have to overhaul everything to move forward. Start by getting expert support to sequence your steps, keep a simple reflection habit (short weekly notes on wins and drains), test ideas with low-risk pilots or informational interviews, and protect finances and relationships by phasing changes instead of leaping. Those steady moves create clarity and confidence.

In my Career Clarity and Professional Growth Intensive, I walk you step-by-step through the discovery process, help you create a strategic plan to make your dreams your reality, and then provide support and accountability as you walk down the path of actualization. This is a powerful program that moves you forward easily and effortlessly. I’d love to have you part of it!

The first step on this path forward is to attend a free coaching call with me where we’ll talk about how to design your ideal career and the five signs it’s time to make a career path pivot. Here’s the link to register. See you soon!

xoxo,
Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

FAQs: How to Find Your Passion and Build a Career You Love

How do I know if I’m burned out or just in the wrong career?
Stabilize basics first (sleep, stress, support). Then revisit your long-term vision. If your current path still isn’t a credible way to reach it—once you’re rested—you’re likely facing misalignment, not just fatigue.

What if I don’t have a clear passion?
Start with the past. Patterns in energizing vs. draining work appear quickly and make “passion” concrete.

Isn’t changing careers too risky with a family or mortgage?
It can be. That’s why timeline planning, small pilots, and phased transitions help you move without destabilizing what matters most.

How many steps should I take before I quit?
Enough to reduce uncertainty: a few informational interviews, a skills sprint, and one small pilot project often provide the data and confidence you need.

Can career counseling help me actually make a move, not just reflect?
Yes. A structured plan, regular check-ins, and accountability help you find your passion and act on it.