This is the second post in a four-part series on the Power Position framework, which I introduced last week.
Last week, I wrote about the overlap between what you care about, what you’re skilled at, and what the market pays for. This week, I’m going deeper into the passion and interests circle. It asks for something specific and potentially uncomfortable.
What you care about vs. what you’ve decided to care about
These are two different lists, and I see clients struggle to parse them out.
A government program manager says she cares deeply about public service. A nonprofit leader says her passion is mission-driven work. A product manager says she’s interested in developing inclusive products.
That may be true. It may also be the answer that sounds right. The answer shaped by years of professional identity, what supervisors rewarded, what looks good in a cover letter, or what your colleagues expect you to say at a networking event.
The longer you’ve been in your career, the harder it is to tell the difference.
The question that cuts through
Here’s the one I want you to sit with: what would you do if no one was paying you to do it?
Not what you would do if you were rich or what you dreamed about at 22.
What do you find yourself doing, reading, talking, or caring about, as the person you are today? Not the person you planned to be. The person you are, with the responsibilities you have, and the energy you have left at the end of a Tuesday.
That answer is closer to your real passion list than anything you’ve put on a resume.
It’s also harder to answer than it sounds, because many of us have been performing our interests for so long that we’ve lost track of the difference between what we care about and what we’ve decided to care about.
That’s what happens when your interests are also your livelihood for fifteen years. The professional version of you and the whole you merge, and untangling them requires deliberate effort.
The exclusion question
There’s a second question most worksheets skip entirely: what parts of past roles did you dread, even when you were good at them?
That answer belongs in this circle too. It’s where you start triaging.
Being good at something doesn’t mean you should keep doing it. Being asked to do it, getting promoted for it, being known for it — none of that obligates you to build the next chapter around it.
I work with women who are excellent at people management and would rather never manage another person. Women who are skilled at stakeholder communications but find the work depleting, or who have built reputations on a skill they no longer want to use.
The exclusion list is the most underused tool in mid-career planning. It’s what tells you where not to go, which is sometimes more useful than knowing exactly where to head.
The “should” interests audit
The last piece of this circle is the hardest. Look at your Passion & Interests list and flag the items that are there because they sound right.
The ones that look good on paper or what other people expect of you. The ones you’ve convinced yourself you want because the alternative feels too uncertain.
Star those items to flag for re-examination.
Some of them will turn out to be real interests after you’ve stress-tested them. Others will reveal themselves as career-identity holdovers from a version of you that doesn’t exist anymore.
Either way, naming them is the first step. You can’t separate real passion from inherited passion if you won’t admit which one is which.
Where to focus this week
If you’re working through the worksheet, the two questions I want you to spend the most time on are four (what you want to avoid) and five (your “should” interests).
Those two together eliminate the dead weight. What’s left is closer to a usable answer.
Download the Power Position Exercise here.
Next week, I’m going into the Skills & Experience circle, and the question that matters more than “What am I qualified to do?”
What came up when you worked through your Passion & Interests list? Was the “should” pile longer than you expected? That’s usually the most telling part.
If you've worked through the Power Position Exercise and want a second set of eyes on it, The Power Position Review is open through June 3. One 45-minute session, one circle, one next step.