Passionate Interests Improve Well-Being

A recent series of articles in the Journal of Career Assessment has explored the connection between interest and well-being. The premise is that stable, enduring interests (like those that are measured by interest inventories) lead to an emotionally satisfying life and a sense of fulfillment as a part of well-being.

In other words, doing what interests and motivates you makes you happy. It is nice of the career assessment people to provide a scientific framework for what is intuitively obvious. The problem for most people, however, is that they rarely take the time or make the effort to identify, clarify, and specify what those motivated interests are. And even if they take that first step, they rarely go on to set goals and make a specific plan to pursue those interests.

In my many years of clinical practice, I have met hundreds of people who cannot even identify their strongest interests, or answer the simple question: What makes you happy? And most people have to really stop and think about the answer to the question: What kind of work makes you happy? It is surprising that many individuals simply accept the premise that work is work, and is not supposed to make you happy.

It is important to do self-assessment at all stages of life; self awareness takes effort and time and sometimes requires the use of counselors or assessment tools. Very few people have a clear idea of who they are, and even fewer create a plan to meet their needs.

One interesting exercise is to ask people who know you well to give you feedback about yourself. Family members, close friends, and coworkers that work with you every day may have important insights to offer you. Of course, once you do this type of self-awareness exercise, you may decide to make some changes, accept some challenges and become a happier person- so proceed with caution....