A Workaholic or a Passionate Worker?

It all started at the dinner table when I was 10. That's when I first remember listening to my parents talk work. They discussed meetings, deadlines, hiring's and firing's. It wasn't the typical dinner conversation where Dad asks, "How was work?" And mom replies, "Oh it was good."

No, it was down and dirty. They held nothing back. They coached each other, they argued about how one of them made a bad decision in a particular situation, and they openly shared the information with my brother and me.

I saw the passion they had for their work. I saw that they woke up every morning for more than a paycheck and brought their work to the dinner table because they cared, not because someone told them to.

These days, I've joined the work conversation. My calls home usually revolve around business. I tell my father about launch dates and prospective speaking or consulting gigs. He tells me about the new position he needs to fill and the fundraising dinner he hosted the other night. I tell my mother about the interesting dynamics of working in a start-up. And she tells me about all the craziness that comes from overseeing a big corporate merger.

The problem is, I've become increasingly worried that I'm turning into a workaholic. I work most of the day, and then I work after dinner. I find myself daydreaming about something work related during a movie. I was in San Francisco for my cousins wedding last weekend. I definitely enjoyed myself, but I couldn't help but work a few hours each day.

The fact is, my life revolves around work. But according to Seth Godin, I'm not a workaholic. I'm just lucky enough to be a part of a new class of worker.

"A workaholic lives on fear. It's fear that drives him to show up all the time. The best defense, apparently, is a good attendance record.

A new class of jobs (and workers) is creating a different sort of worker, though. This is the person who works out of passion and curiosity, not fear.

The passionate worker doesn't show up because she's afraid of getting in trouble, she shows up because it's a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on vacation… because posting that thought and seeing the feedback it generates is actually more fun than sitting on the beach for another hour. The passionate worker tweaks a site design after dinner because, hey, it's a lot more fun than watching TV.

It was hard to imagine someone being passionate about mining coal or scrubbing dishes. But the new face of work, at least for some people, opens up the possibility that work is the thing (much of the time) that you'd most like to do. Designing jobs like that is obviously smart. Finding one is brilliant."

Since corporations took over many years ago, work has been just that, work. Today, it can be something far different. Today, the smartest corporations are designing jobs that people can be passionate about, and the smartest people are tirelessly searching for those jobs or creating their own because they know that the right job can be a gift.

When you find that work you're passionate about, you will discuss it at the dinner table, you will leave the beach an hour early to write that blog post and you will answer a quick email during a movie. You'll do all of this not because you're a workaholic, you'll do it because you can't imagine doing anything else.

So, what's your passion?