Essay Example on Pursuing Your Dream Career: The Role of Passion and Pragmatism

Passion refers to something which drives you, something that completes you, something that satisfies you. Passion is what you have always dreamt of being, that which you work hard to achieve. Passion plays a very significant role when it comes to pursuing and choosing a career path. Most often, people prefer pursuing careers in their dream. However, the challenge may be, how good or skilled one may be in their dream career (de Grey and Aubrey 387). This is where the aspect of pragmatism chips in. Pragmatism, in this scenario, entails believing in practical things rather than the theories and ideologies behind them. Pragmatism is all about the practicality of a thing or an idea. It involves having the necessary skills to perform a given task to satisfy some needs fully. When it comes to the real world, most people find it hard to stick to their passion but end up being pragmatists. This is because most careers require an aspect of practicality besides having the passion.

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Though it should be appreciated that pragmatism can lead to the fulfillment of an individual's passion (de Grey and Aubrey 388). For example, one may have had a passion for becoming a doctor but ended up being a teacher of Chemistry or Biology teacher. This may not hinder them from pursuing their passion. They can use the teaching profession just as a stepping stone to further their studies towards the field of medicine. In this scenario, the pragmatism aspects help an individual to be a professional teacher but later on uses his capacity to advance and hence accomplishing their passion. It, therefore, pans out that pragmatism can help one to make your stream come true.

It should be recognized that there exist similarities between passion and pragmatism. One of the pronounced similarities is that both passion and pragmatism may lead to good careers in life. Being passionate about something acts as a driving factor that enables one to focus on achieving some given goals in life (Levens and Laura Rodgers 337). For instance, having a passion of being a doctor drives one to work hard towards the path of medicine and ultimately accomplishes their goals. Furthermore, both passion and pragmatism lead to enhanced productivity and efficiency in the work field. If an individual gets careers that they have passion for, then they will perform them with a lot of love and concern. Though, it should also be noted that a pragmatic individual is equipped with the necessary practical skills needed for the effective execution of a task. It, therefore, means that both passion and pragmatism have an effect of enhancing productivity and efficiency.

However, it should be noted that there exist some disparities between passion and pragmatism. For one, passion is intrinsic; it is an internal drive that pushes an individual towards achieving specific goals and objectives in life (Levens and Laura Rodgers 338). This is contrary to pragmatism, which is not associated with an internal drive but rather a satisfaction. Furthermore, since an inner drive motivates passion, it has no much attachment with money but rather a satisfaction for the fulfillment of a dream. On the other hand, pragmatism is money centered. A pragmatic individual is endowed with skills and knowledge and is hence concerned with making money from their skills. Pragmatism is, therefore, focused on financial satisfaction as opposed to just a fulfillment of a dream.

Conclusion

Conclusively, both passion and pragmatism play a vital role in shaping an individual's life hence their future. Both are significant when it comes to making individual decisions concerning career paths. It should be noted that both passion and pragmatism have some similarities and differences. Furthermore, it is worth recognizing that pragmatism can lead to the fulfillment of passion.

Works cited

De Grey, Aubrey D.N.J. "Anti-Aging Passion And Pragmatism: Effective Bedfellows At Last." Rejuvenation Research, vol 21, no. 5, 2018, pp. 387-388. Mary Ann Liebert Inc, DOI:10.1089/rej.2018.2139. Accessed 9 Oct 2019.

Levens, Laura Rodgers. "Curiosity Doesn'T Kill Cats: Passion And Pragmatism For Adventurous Life-Long Learning." Review & Expositor, vol 114, no. 3, 2017, pp. 336-340. SAGE Publications, DOI:10.1177/0034637317716987.