What do you do? How many times have you been asked this question when you’ve first met someone? I honestly couldn’t tell you how many times I have been asked, too many. It is part of the way we are programmed, we have a set of questions that we ask that are socially appropriate. Like what do you do, and what is your name? This is fine for the most part, I mean if we are just chatting to someone new we don’t want to dive in with, “so how many relationships have you had?” Um yeah, that probably wouldn’t go down well.

We tend to stick to what is socially acceptable, we don’t wish to offend, and in reality most people we make small talk with (perhaps about the weather), we actually have no desire to get to know further. We don’t have time to be friends with everyone, and some people we will click with, while others we just won’t. But the thing with asking “what do you do” is that we then define that person by their job title which may have a lot less to do with who they actually are as a person. Knowing someone’s job title does not always indicate what they are passionate about, what makes them happy, or what makes them tick.

When one of the first questions we ask is “what do you do“, it is easy to jump to an opinion of that persons interests or personality type.

You may hear;

  • accountant  ‘boring, or math geek’,
  • ‘nurse’  ‘caring’,
  • politician ‘liar’,
  • judge ‘think they are better than anyone else’
  • car sales person ‘manipulator’
  • athlete ‘only interested in sport’

When the first thing we know about someone, other than their name, is their occupation it is easy to jump to conclusions, but what if instead of asking ‘what do you do‘, we asked “what do you enjoy doing’?

It may be their job an that would be great, we all want to be passionate about our career, but our career may not represent what we are passionate about, or even what we enjoy. If someone said “I pack shelves at a grocery store’, it may not mean that they are passionate about groceries, but then again it might. If someone says ‘I am a stay at home mum,’ it doesn’t mean all they want to talk about is their children.

So here is a thought, next time you meet someone, maybe ask them what they enjoy, or what they do on weekends, or what they are passionate about. You could find you have more in common than you think, or maybe less. Only one way to find out.

What do you think about this topic? Are you someone who is passionate about your job? I’d love some feedback. Feel free to share your passions in my comment section too.

Thank you for joining me, love Mac xx

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