How to unleash your passion

Over these past two years in which I've been inviting my team to integrate their passions at work I've seen projects that integrate sports, video production, storytelling, coding, paying it forward, radio and much more.

There are people in our team who, over the course of a year, have already implemented more than eight projects that integrate some type of personal interest or passion. But I've also learned that there are those who don't feel the same need to integrate a personal interest in their work. That’s because they're already passionate enough about the work they've been doing for many years (how much more fortunate can you get?).

I also learned, that not everyone feels so comfortable about bringing their whole self to work. Perhaps it's because society has primed us to separate pleasure from duty, or that it has already taken sufficient effort to skillfully manage one life before, and another one after 5 pm.

And who is in a position to say whether those people are happy or not? Only each one of us knows how satisfied we truly are with the strategy we've chosen to live our life to this moment. And the From Job to Dream Job Quest is not about judging those who chose to separate their work from their hobbies, but to make sure that all Microsoft employees have the chance to inject more meaning into their work by pursuing their passions before 5 pm.

On the other hand, there are many people who would love to discover a passion but don't know where to start and ask me questions like: What happens if I don't know what my dream or my passion is? What do I do if I don't have a side project? What can I do if I can't think of anything original to redesign my job?

And there are even more questions!

What do I do if my manager doesn't support me? What happens if I start the project and then realize that I don't want to continue? Or, What happens if I have a sick relative to care for and I can't dedicate time to my side project?

Faced with these questions, Guillermo and I began to think how we might help. We realized that all these questions had a common denominator: they had all been formulated by people who wanted to, but had not yet found a way to integrate their passions with their work. Was it possible that within those same questions existed a mindset that was blocking these people from unleashing their passion?

Following that same line of reasoning we decided to run an experiment challenging the assumptions hidden behind those questions by asking ourselves: What if I don't need to know what my passions are, have a project, have my manager's support, have original ideas or have to do extra hours at work?

And that's how the Micro Dream Job Projects emerged: projects so small that they can be denoted by the factor of 10^-6 (the mathematical definition of Micro).

Note to self: Should we incorporate this question in the µicrosoft job interviews?

And now ... open the eyes to possibility and imagine a project for which you don’t need a budget, nor support from your manager: only the desire to do it. A project for which you don’t have to stay after hours: 15 or 30 minutes during lunch hours is enough. Imagine something so simple that it doesn't need to be unique or original: just something you want to do.

It doesn't have to be something big: it just needs to be real!

And it's not a commitment for life: it can be something you do just once.

So simple that you don't even need to know what your passion is: just encourage yourself to experiment. So close that it doesn't need to be a dream: just something that awakens your curiosity and fills you with energy just imagining it. So very simple that it doesn't even have to be a project: only an idea put into practice.

Of course, if your idea has a positive impact on the business, we will celebrate it, and if it improves our quality of work, we'll all be grateful.

The Micro Dream Job Projects are so simple that you may already have done several of them without even realizing it.

And yes, in all those questions, super-effective self-traps were hidden to prevent action. Apparently innocent words like passion, dream, unique, valuable, great or even the term project can make us believe that to start doing stuff we need something that we don't have.

So, we can lose sight of all that we DO have.

The best way to switch on our internal engine is to do something. Whatever it may be. Therefore, the first thing needed to unleash your passion is not to discover your passion but rather to get yourself going. And if you still can't think of anything to do, we have the definitive solution: get yourself close to people who are living their passion and help them out.

We formally invite you to join the From Job to Dream Job Quest: we are a group of people who are passionate about making work a personal fulfillment space so exciting that it makes you feel like you don't need to add a hobby after 5 pm.

The Micro Dream Job Projects are a hacking strategy for combating the mental and emotional ghosts that lead us to postpone. That's because action has the power to cure all kinds of insecurities, fears or doubts and increase our self-esteem. By doing we experiment, and by experiencing we learn more about what is the key to discovering what works best for us. And before you know it, you're already proudly bringing your whole self to work.

Examples? Sacha teaches us a Bachata step as an icebreaker in an extensive team meeting. In 15 minutes, Meredith gives a quick life saving tip on emergency preparedness during our team meeting, something she is passionate about and even certified outside of work. Holly organizes a Halloween party where the recruiters' babies parade as the superheroes they intuitively know they can become.

Are you interested in discovering yours? We invite you to start tuning into the From Job to Dream Job space: a Radio program where we explore this concept as a group (for now only open to Microsoft employees and interns, but later on, who knows?)

What could be your Micro Dream Job project this week? We propose as a first Micro project: share your ideas in the comments below.

Written by Diego Rejtman and Guillermo Echevarria