228: Turning Your Passions Into Your Career With Christie Mims

Christie Mims 00:00

Passion is like a North Star, and your job is fueled by your passion.

Introduction 00:09

This is the happen to your career podcast, with Scott Anthony Barlow. We help you stop doing work that doesn't fit. You figure out what does and make it happen. We help you define the work that's unapologetically you, and then go get it. If you're ready to make a change. Keep listening. Here's Scott. Here's Scott. Here's Scott.

Scott Anthony Barlow 00:33

Welcome to the Happen To Your Career podcast. I'm Scott Anthony Barlow. And this is the show where we share stories of how high achievers find career happiness and meaning. One of the funny things that I've observed working with people is that many of us want to feel passionate about our work, but most of us don't understand what passion is. Or even if we do, even if we have our own succinct definition of what passion is, turns out, it's drastically different than the next person's.

Christie Mims 01:00

Passion is bigger. It's who you are coupled with what you have to offer the world. And your job is how you can express that in so many different ways. So your passion is like a North Star, and your job is fueled by your passion.

Scott Anthony Barlow 01:13

That's Christie Mims. She's a world renowned career coach. She's the founder and CEO of the Revolutionary Club. She also helps people become coaches. And she's done career advice for Forbes, LearnVest, Brazen Careerist, Yahoo and honestly a whole bunch more. But she's also become a good friend over the last few years. And she and I connected up years ago because, honestly, there are so few people that are making a really great living, running a coaching business and helping people in the way that both Christie and I get to do, and the few that do, kind of stand out like a sore thumb. So we got to meet each other a number of years ago. And Christie has a really interesting story, quite frankly. And honestly though, like every success story, there's quite a bit that happened before she got there.

Speaker 1 02:08

I was unsure about how to define myself.

Scott Anthony Barlow 02:10

This is Tender. He found himself stuck in needing help figuring it all out.

Speaker 1 02:14

I've amassed a variety of skills over the years, I was confused about my professional identity. And I felt lost and unsure about which route to move forward. And I wanted to clarify my skills and interests with a view to identifying my next career move.

Scott Anthony Barlow 02:29

Listen first to Tender's story later on in the episode to learn how he used coaching to help him finally figure out what fits him.

Speaker 1 02:36

I wasn't aware of just how strong my skill set is. So I feel really good about the possibilities that are open to me now.

Christie Mims 02:44

What I do is I am a career coach and I have a business called The Revolutionary Club which is all about creating the community, the education, the support and the information and motivate you to work you love. And I've been on a mission for four and a half years now to help people figure it out because I think the world is truly a different place if more people love what they do. So that is my mission because we spend way too much time at work to hate it. And so that's what I do. I help people figure out what they love to do and then make it happen.

Scott Anthony Barlow 03:25

I like making that happen.

Christie Mims 03:27

Yes. I'm nothing if not action oriented.

Scott Anthony Barlow 03:33

Okay, so as you already know, I'm a huge fan of that. And that's part of the reason why I wanted to have you on the show. But you haven't always been doing that, right? Is that fair to say?

Christie Mims 03:44

That is fair to say. That is an accurate statement.

Scott Anthony Barlow 03:51

Where does your career begin? I'm super curious about that because we've done a little bit of research and you and I have talked a little bit from time to time about it. But I'm curious where does all of this begins for you? How does this story start?

Christie Mims 04:06

Let's go back to the University of Virginia. Yes, no. So I was an undergrad with no clue. And so I majored in history because I really have a really good memory, and I enjoy the Civil War. Anyway...

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:24

Do you really? It is awesome.

Christie Mims 04:26

Yes. I basically almost double majored in military history. Anyway...

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:32

Oh my goodness, I did not know that at all. I'm learning now.

Christie Mims 04:35

I know. So, my fourth year in College, and I'm thinking, "what am I going to do with my life?" So I roll into the Alumni Center and I look up what do people with history degrees do. 95% become lawyers, 3% become Foreign Service officers and the rest are housewives, and I'm like, "Oh my God." Like, what I quickly found out is that if you have a degree in history, and you're, you know, good in your room, and you do not want to become a lawyer, like on pain of death, you know, the avenue really open to you is consulting. So I ended up getting recruited, well, I ended up getting a graduate degree in international relations. And then I got recruited, I worked at NATO, and I got recruited back to Washington to be a consultant and the sort of Defender. I was like, okay, going back, one year in DC, that's where I'm from, I hate it, forget it, I'm just gonna do it for a year because I enjoy getting a paycheck. And I'd been a poor graduate student, and then I'd been like a poor person working in Brussels, which is terrible, because I have a chocolate addiction. Yes, so swayed by the money. And eight years later, I was still there. And I fell into that trap that I think is really common. I, you know, got into consultant, I enjoy making money, I wouldn't mind making more, that promotion looks really good. And I ended up getting promoted really quickly. And I went from, you know, a lowly associate sort of consultant who mostly takes notes in the back of the room, to the director of my business unit, and the youngest principal in my area. And so I was responsible for a team of 30, I was, you know, running these huge multimillion dollar, big defense contracts, you know, managing my team, doing all that. Every day that went by, with every new promotion, I kept thinking, "you know, more money will just make me happier", or "this awesome, like, principal job title, like, that'll be the end. Then, I'll just be done, I'll be happy." And of course, like, it was soul destroying, and soul sucking. And every day, I was more and more miserable. And I felt like the most ungrateful person in the world because I had a great paying job, I had great colleagues, and I actually had great clients. So you know, since I wanted and lead this sort of, like, great life in Washington, but I was just so miserable. And I kept thinking, "why can't I just be grateful for what I have?" But eventually, I'm like, my boss offered me another promotion. And when she was talking to me and inside, I don't know if this has ever happened to you Scott, but on the inside, I was screaming the word "no." And I was trying to, like, my mind was like, you're starting to have creepy eye contact and you smile a little. It's not like she's staring out. I was just trying so hard not to say it out loud. You know, when someone's like, "Hey, here's this amazing position that I think you're going to do, you know, great at, and here's all this money", and you're like, "Oh no!". And that was the point when I'm like, "Okay, I have to do something different. I cannot live this way anymore." So I stumbled around a little bit. And I basically just started to pursue anything that seemed interesting to me. And one of the things that was interesting I knew were coaches, as well as consultants, they'd gotten certified to sort of bring that back to the consulting. But I thought, you know, let me explore this, because I really want to own my own business, I really want to do something more than build PowerPoints that no one looks at, you know, I want to have more of an impact, let me just... this is one thing I want to check out. And so that was... I had a couple of different ideas for what I really wanted to do, and I kept coming back to the fact that I love to help people in their careers. I really do. And when I went to the coach, it changed my life. Seeing how I could use coaching to help people in their careers just opened up a new world for me. And I got certified. Then I panicked, because I was like, "oh my god, now I have to quit my job and go out on my own. What happens now?"

Scott Anthony Barlow 08:43

That means just like automatically, it's like, "well, now I'm certified. Okay, I gotta run. Oh, you know, I'll see you later. Time to panic."

Christie Mims 08:50

I mean, yeah, I totally panicked. I'm like, "what next? Like, am I really gonna do this?" Who do you want to be in your life? Because I, you know, living in... for anyone who lives in D.C., if you ever, you know, you're riding around on the metro, like, half the people on the metro in the morning look like they died like 20 years ago.

Scott Anthony Barlow 09:09

Okay, so you are the... I've talked to probably six or seven people in D.C. area in the last maybe five days. And you are the third person to say that– almost verbatim. So apparently it's true.

Christie Mims 09:21

Yeah, D.C. is unhappy. So I just looked at these people and then I'm like, "I don't want to wake up at 20 in the Metro", so I thought, "Who do I want to be in this moment? I want to be someone who at least explores what I love, who, you know, worst case scenario, I can continue to be a consultant, like, we're like cockroaches, you can never get rid of us." So, you know, I'm like, alright, so I had that conversation with myself. And I just thought this is what the best version of myself would do. Here's some, you know, here's me facing fear in the face. I'm gonna do it. And you know, it just... one thing led to another and, you know, Forbes gave me a bunch of other awards. I've gotten to reach over a million people with what I do. And it's kind of amazing. And so that's how it all went down.

Scott Anthony Barlow 10:09

Okay, super cool. I have so many questions. Let's bow to it for just a second. Okay, so first of all, I'm really curious, you know, you went through, you're getting promoted really quickly, you're getting all of those opportunities, and it seemed that, at least the way that you described it, it was very much just what they're sort of putting in front of you, as far as opportunities. And I'm really curious if that's how it actually felt in the moment or whether it felt different. But I'm curious, most of all, why you think we always seem to go after what somebody else wants versus ask that question that you asked, which was, "who do I want to be"?

Christie Mims 10:55

Yeah, that's a great least resistance. And because it's really, really hard to fight conventional wisdom. If everyone around you is saying, "Oh, you should stay on the safe path", or "Oh, you should go after that promotion." And your company is saying that, your friends are saying that, your family, saying that, your spouse is saying that, it's really hard to fight that. It takes so much energy and momentum, it takes overcoming so much fear. And I think so it's the path of least resistance, many ways to rationalize it, and I think that's when most of us just keep staying on it.

Scott Anthony Barlow 11:36

I think you're right. And I'm thinking about this for myself, too. For some reason, I've noticed that I have, like, a tendency to not do what everybody else is doing. And I found myself listening to Rage Against the Machine the other day, which is probably the first time I've heard Rage Against the Machine for a number of years. But I used to listen to it all the time in high school. And one of the songs, like, "F you, I won't do what you tell me." And I just like, keep repeating that over and over and over again. It's like, was it because I was listening to Rage Against the Machine that all of a sudden I wanted to do what everybody else is doing? Or what's going on here? But I am curious what really prompted you to break away from that eventually? I mean, aside from, you know, you're getting crazy eye going on, and children in the corn type thing, as if you're trying not to tell your boss "No", but was there anything before that? Or was the gradual workup? Or like, what was sort of the defining piece that took place?

Christie Mims 12:38

A couple of things. One was just the overwhelming misery, like, I literally could not continue to live like that and that built up over time. The other thing that I think happened was, well, a couple of things, I started to... a lot of times we complain about things, and we sort of half ass, if you will.

Scott Anthony Barlow 13:04

Like what do you mean?

Christie Mims 13:05

"Oh, I hate my job. I should get a new one." "I hate my boss, you know, maybe I should...I don't want to do this anymore." And we complain about it, but we don't actually take action. And I think for me, what happened was I finally started to stop complaining and started to take real action. And before that, I was just hiding behind my complaints. And so those two things helped me kind of overcome my biology because I think our biology wants us to stay safe. Our biology wants us to stay on the beaten path because we, you know, that's how you pay your rent, that's how you put food on the table, you know, your biggest needs, right, as a human. And so, that really, that's a strong pull to not rock the misery and just taking action so I could see that other people are making a living doing interesting things, you know, helped spur me to overcome sort of that stasis that I think a lot of us fall into. And one other thing happened, and this happened, it was after I knew I was going to become a coach. I'd already taken all the steps I needed to start, I was just like, waiting for the right moment, if you will, which I kept putting off. A friend of mine, not a friend of mine, my colleague, he was my age, and I just thought to myself, "What am I waiting for?" So that was what helped push me to finally put in my resignation. And really take that step. I was just waiting, I'd done the work. I just hadn't quite, like, signed the papers if you will. So yeah, that put it in perspective, that helped me put it in perspective.

Scott Anthony Barlow 14:51

That is morbid or, whatever you want to call it as it sounds, like, every time somebody close around me passes away, I don't know, that's a huge amount of motivation. I don't feel bad from drawing motivation from that, because I think that, to some degree, that's what they would want. But it feels weird that... it sounds weird as I say it that, I get a whole bunch of motivation to move forward, you know, from other people dying.

Christie Mims 15:24

No, but exactly though. I guess you're right because it just opens how you always can have an excuse, but that's not going to change anything. So why not take a risk?

Scott Anthony Barlow 15:35

Exactly. Very, very much so. And, okay, so we covered off that, you know, that led you down the path of saying, "hey, well, maybe I should explore coaching. Okay, well, now I've got my coaching certification. You know, I should probably do this, but I'm ignoring it for a while. Okay, now I need to do this." And you got on that train. So what did that look like from there? I'm super curious.

Christie Mims 16:04

When I first started to explore coaching, or when I started my business and really got going?

Scott Anthony Barlow 16:09

When you started your business and really got going, what did the first year or so look like? And I'm super curious, because we've got so many HTYCers, that are making a career change right now. But then a lot of them want to make a secondary step of starting something on the side or starting a business. So I'm curious what your journey looked like.

Christie Mims 16:29

Wacky pants.

Scott Anthony Barlow 16:32

Of course, I would expect nothing else from you, Christie.

Christie Mims 16:34

Yes. I mean, I quit without any clients. So I had no income from my business when I day one. So that was terrifying. And then I was sitting there in my apartment in DC,, like looking over a really ugly concrete parking lot, this was not the life I wanted to lead. I don't think I want to be in Washington anymore, because I no longer have to be. So where would I go? And so I made the decision very quickly to move to San Francisco. So the first six months of my business were a conglomeration of getting rid of my apartment, selling all of my stuff, moving with a friend for a couple of months while I got ready to move to San Francisco, and then driving across the country, and setting up. And so that was both awesome, because I felt like I was walking my walk as a person, but it slowed my business growth a little bit, because I had a lot going on. But once I got to San Francisco, things really started to take off for me. So I finally got, really, it allowed me sort of that physical freedom of being where I wanted to be, allowed me to embrace who I was a little bit more in my business through a little bit. And so doing that, helped me start to close. In the beginning, I did one-on-one private coaching, which my business was way too big for me to do that anymore. But it was, you know, allowed me to close this first VIP client, which, you know, started to bring in a really, really good income. So by the time I'd been in business for a year, I was actually really, really in a much more stable place, and that I had been.

Speaker 1 16:35

I was unsure about how to define myself because I've amassed a variety of skills over the years, I was confused about my professional identity, and I felt lost and unsure about which route to move forward.

Scott Anthony Barlow 18:44

Okay, here's the thing. So Tender's array of skills and his experiences made it really difficult for him to nail down what he actually wanted.

Speaker 1 18:53

I wanted to clarify my skills and interests with a view to identifying my next career move.

Scott Anthony Barlow 18:59

When he came to us for coaching, he gained a much needed clarity.

Speaker 1 19:03

Career coaching has been enormously helpful in refining and defining my skill set, my strengths, my interests, and most importantly, the areas of opportunity that are now available to me. I am clear about my identity, what I can offer future employers and also what services others can buy from me if I choose to go self employed.

Scott Anthony Barlow 19:26

Now, Tender, really put in the work to make things happen for his career. Congratulations to Tender on identifying what work fits you. Also if you want to figure out what work fits you and find that fulfilling career that lights you up, gives you purpose and what helps make it happen, coaching can help you step by step. Want to find out how? Go to happentoyourcareer.com and click on career coaching to apply or simply pause this and text MYCOACH. That's MYCOACH to 44222. Pause right now and we'll send over the application.

20:01

I would say, do not hesitate to give it a go. It's absolutely an investment in yourself.

Scott Anthony Barlow 20:10

Within that first year, and even beyond, it sounds like there was some point in there where you said, "Hey, I need to embrace more of who I am." And you said, "I started to allow my personality to shine through." And I'm curious what that looked like for you. Because I think that that is key for people in any career journey, regardless of whether you own a business or whether you are working with somebody else. But, people are generally happier when they go through that transgression is whatever I've observed. It also is not easy. So I'm curious what that looked like for you. Because I know that during that time, there's so much growth.

Christie Mims 20:52

Yes, no, that's a great question. I so wish we had visuals because I could show you my different web. When I very first started, I was like, "I'm a career coach, let me help you with all aspects of your career in a very boring black and white way." And I'm going to have like, yeah, and I sort of was afraid, I didn't have my face on any of my materials. I was super, I wasn't say super corporate, but I was super bland in terms of how I talked about myself, how I marketed myself, the materials that I presented. And I also felt like, "I'm a career coach, I can help you with anything with the word career and everything, right? I've been a hiring manager, I've, you know, hired and fired people. I've mentored people, like, I've interviewed people, I've, you know, all this other stuff", I can't do everything. And that wasn't my interest. And so what I realized was, what my interest is helping people find work that they love– the passion piece, that more than anything. And then I stopped, I said, "Okay, so let me forget the rest of it to some degree and focus in on that first piece of the puzzle." And then, you know, I said, "Who am I? You know, I'm not corporate. I write a little differently. Like, I want to have fun helping people with their careers, even though I take it very seriously. It doesn't have to be this terrible, painful process, why not make fun of, not make fun of it, but like, have some fun with it while I do it." So I started to get, you know, I started to blog a lot more honestly. And with a lot more humor. You know, I started to occasionally like, you know, use a four letter word here and there. And, like, any corporate website you've ever seen, because it's so bright. And that's part of who I am, I'm, you know, I want people to feel a sense of forward momentum and brightness and movement when they think about their career. And a lot, you know, some people hate it, that's fine. I'd rather you either love it or hate it. Because that means, if you hate it, you can go find someone that you love and get the help that you need. That's awesome. And if you love it, I can help you, and that's great, too. So, to write more, in my real voice, I started to be less worried about what other people think or what corporate or what professional is. And I really focused on who I wanted to help and why. And doing that allowed me to be even more of myself.

Scott Anthony Barlow 23:13

How do you advise people to, and I'm always looking for different ways to do this, because it's something that comes up again and again and again. How do you advise people to think about that if they're not in total control? Like you had your business, and although that first year may not have felt like you're in total control, ultimately, I mean, you get to make the decisions that either you know, sink or swim, or whatever, insert your cliched analogy here, right? But how do you think about that in terms of what would you recommend for other people that are really trying to find themselves to be able to express themselves, especially if they're within that corporate environment? Or whatever else it might be?

Christie Mims 23:57

That's the real question. Yeah, if you're working for someone else, it's a little bit different. But one of the things that has always helped me, and this is true of whether you are an employee, or you're a business owner, or whatever, is to think about some of like, your biggest personality traits that are positive, and how you want to harness them and how you want to communicate them to others. Right? Because you can be known for being a strategic thinker, you can be known for being the person who is calm in a crisis, you can be known for being the person who has a great sense of humor, who is able to connect with people. And so just kind of thinking to yourself, "What about me, as you know, what about me do I really like and that is valuable in this corporate environment?" Ask yourself those two questions, and then start to really socialize that with yourself, like if I want to be known for these things, so let me really think about what do we want to be known for these things. So let me start talking about a little bit, and say things like, "yeah, you know, I'm happy to talk to that difficult client because you know, I'm really calm in a crisis", you know, and just putting it out there in the world. And I think that's the way to start to take control and to own the best part of you in a way that's going to facilitate your career.

Scott Anthony Barlow 25:18

I love that, I absolutely love that. I think when you do that, too, then you begin to get feedback. And almost the same way that you described your website, like, some people are gonna love it, and some people are gonna hate it. And for the people that are going to hate it, then you can, you know, slowly remove less of those in your life.

Christie Mims 25:39

Yeah, and those people can find help from a person that's going to... they're going to listen to. And that's great for them. Good. Like, you know, awesome. If I can't help you, I want to find someone who can, you know? So yeah. And so I did the same thing for me. I said, "you know, who am I? I'm someone with a sense of humor. I'm someone who's a little offbeat. I'm someone, how can I express that?" And so if you look at my website, you'll see how I express it.

Scott Anthony Barlow 26:04

You'll see. We'll drop the links into the show notes and everything like that. But I would encourage you to go over there, check it out, you will see. Oh, trust me, you will see. Okay, so behind the scenes here, and I don't know if I've told you this or not, I can't remember, I can't remember how all this came about or exactly how we met or anything, I should remember. Now, I feel bad that I'm saying this. And it's going out to like 1000s of people and stuff. But I remember seeing your website for the first time. It's like, "Oh, I have to know this person." Because it was apparent that you had already gone through that, I don't know, transformation, transgression, whatever you want to call the thing where you get comfortable enough with yourself, that you're willing to express it to the world. And I think, also, that's the reason for some of my other questions to you that we're just talking about, I think that's part of why that's so important. Once you get comfortable enough with yourself, you have a tendency to attract more people to you, because people want to be around others that are confident enough in themselves that they're willing to express themselves. So first of all, that, in action. But then I don't know, I must have dropped an email or something, maybe two or three people mentioned you, we've got some mutual friends. So that must have been how it went down.

Christie Mims 27:25

Someone else.

Scott Anthony Barlow 27:29

That's right. Yeah. Like three people in a row told me, "Hey, have you met Christie? You have to meet Christie." And then nobody introduced me, so I'm like, "I'm just gonna email her. All right. Make me an introduction. All right, fine."

Christie Mims 27:42

Here we are.

Scott Anthony Barlow 27:43

Here we are, like a year or so later. Okay, so let me ask you, you mentioned, you went through all this, you went through the whole career coach thing, you said, "hey, I can help you with anything. Let me help everybody. Awesome new business."

Christie Mims 27:58

Yeah, totally.

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:01

Yeah. And then eventually, you said, "Okay, I love this passion piece." So I would love to have a conversation with you about passion. I know, you and I had earmarked to have this discussion, because we haven't had a chance to go too deep into it. But I'm super curious, one, because passion is a question I get a lot of questions about.

Christie Mims 28:23

Yeah, it's the number one most asked question.

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:25

Yeah. And there's so much confusion around it, too. So I'm hoping we can talk a little bit about this. But first of all, like before we get into any of it, and I'm just curious, your thoughts around passion. Why passion as opposed to anything else? How do you even define passion? Like what are we actually talking about here, Christie?

Christie Mims 28:46

Oh, my gosh. That was like three questions.

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:48

I know. I do that. I'm sorry.

Christie Mims 28:50

Like, why was I so interested in passion? Or why do I want people to be more interested in passion?

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:56

Let's just start with, what do you define as passion? And by the way, so, I said, I'm sorry, but I'm really not sorry. Because that's me. I asked 17 questions at a time. That's how I roll.

Christie Mims 29:06

Yeah, I know. Question stacking. Good.

Scott Anthony Barlow 29:09

If you don't like it, let's do another podcast.

Christie Mims 29:13

So two ways. So the first way that I define it is passion is who you are. Your job is how you express it.

Scott Anthony Barlow 29:24

I like that.

Christie Mims 29:26

Great. What do you mean? When people are like, "Okay, let's get down and dirty on how you start to figure out your passion." And this is...as you know, Scott, this is a much bigger conversation than we can have on this podcast. However, so what I tell people to start with just to start, because there's so much around the topic of passion. Passion is interest and engagement. Interest and engagement. So that means you are not just reading and time involved in it in some way. And so those two things together are how I talk about passion.

Scott Anthony Barlow 30:08

Okay, so that is... part of the reason I love that is because that is drastically different than how I've heard passion defined or applied before.

Christie Mims 30:23

Awesome. Let's get it off the beaten path.

Scott Anthony Barlow 30:26

That's probably why I like it. That makes sense to me now. This is all starting to become clear, fnally.

Just one one podcast conversation. I knew there's a reason I like you Christie, maybe 17 of them, but along those notes, then, how do we actually do, really do something with that? Because we started out this conversation where you like civil war. Yeah, that's where it's at. You were passionate about that to some degree, right? But then decided that wasn't the right way to express it. Because you said, "Hey, a job is one of the ways that you express it", right? So how do you even think about that? And how do you decide what is the right way to express it? Because that's one question that I get constantly is like, "Hey, I love golf. I eat and breathe golf. I am not going to be a pro. What do I do Scott?" Like here, dump it on your doorstep.

Christie Mims 31:30

Yeah. No, no, that's a great question. How do you decide? So the first thing is like, when I tell people to separate passion from the job, because on the bigger, like, the grander scale of things, because let's say you decide your passion is to be a neurosurgeon, right? Or your passion is to be Beyonce, like, true story, I'm not Beyonce. So like, does that mean I have no passion in life? Right? You know, if I'm a neurosurgeon, and I lose the use of my hands, is my life over? No. Passion is bigger. It's who you are coupled with what you have to offer the world. And your job is that you can express that in so many different ways. So your passion is like a North Star, and your job is fueled by your passion. So that's the first thing. So this is why it gets confusing, because I'm using passion a little. I'm fast and loose with the word passion right now. I'm using it to talk a little bit about jobs as well as like a bigger meta purpose for why we're here. But someone who loves golf, I'd say, golf is not your passion. Your passion is actually greater than that. There's something about physicality, about the game, something that's driving you, and golf is one way to express that. But there's other ways to express it. So let's step back and think about your passion first, that the world.

Scott Anthony Barlow 33:00

I like that. So step one, realize that what you're probably seeing is a manifestation of your passion to some degree, rather than the passion itself. Is that what you're saying?

Christie Mims 33:10

Yes. So because passion is rooted in who you are, and what you have to offer the world, it's something that sort of grows with you, but it's really intrinsic to you. But over the course of your life, you're going to have different interests, you're going to be in different life stages. And so how you choose to express that passion would change is the fact that you might have some, you know, have kids, not have kids, you know. And so there's, over time, the way you choose to express your passion is going to evolve and change. That's just a fact of life. So sorry, let me pause there.

Scott Anthony Barlow 33:47

Pause. No, that's perfect. I absolutely love that. And I was just thinking about this too, this is really, really interesting, because we talk about something we call "signature strengths" on our show all the time and refer to it constantly. And what I'm realizing is there's a little bit of overlap with how you think about passion compared to what we often call Signature Strengths. And I really particularly love the... look, it's who you are, it's greater than that. And I think that's important, regardless of what it's called, and whether it happens to be passionate or anything else, I think that you're 100% right. You've got to figure out these other things, the "who you are" portion of it before you can progress and really have any sustainable level of happiness.

Christie Mims 34:37

Right, and this is the mistake that basically everyone makes. They just think about, "if I can just get any other job or another job, I'll be happy." And it's like throwing spaghetti against the wall with no clue. And this is why people often end up in a new job that's unhappy or another job that's unhappy and they can't quite break the pattern, and the reason is they haven't figured in the world, you know, "what is driving me?" Until they do that, many people are kind of doomed to make that mistake again and again and again. The other thing that I want to offer and I talked about this in my community, too, is passion versus hobby. So when you talk about a job that's really being fueled by your passion versus a hobby, because a lot of us, like, I love chocolate. Right? Chocolate is like a little hobby of mine. I spent time in Brussels. Yes, I spent that another time. But, I've flown through the Brussels airport out of my way just to, like, sprint around and get like, no, it doesn't matter. The point is passion fuel job is something you do even when it gets hard. And hobby is something you do because it's easy.

Scott Anthony Barlow 35:48

Oh, hold on. Say that again. Let me make sure that I understand. Passion fuel job, something you do when it gets hard. And even when it gets...

Christie Mims 35:58

A hobby is something you do because it is easy.

Scott Anthony Barlow 36:02

Oh, that is quite possibly the best way I've heard it. But...

Christie Mims 36:07

Yeah, well, you know, there we go. Bam. Mic drop.

Scott Anthony Barlow 36:12

And this is all folks. Yeah, that's perfect. I love that definition. That's like tweetable

Christie Mims 36:21

Awesome. Feel free to tag me.

Scott Anthony Barlow 36:22

Yeah. Sweet deal. Okay, let me ask two other notes on that, first of all, so before we go too much further, I gotta ask you about cheeky Christie. What's the story?

Christie Mims 36:42

So twice in my young Christie Mims spent a lot of time in Europe after college. So I studied abroad in England, but I also taught for a year in England and I bartered there. I found it difficult to connect with English people, which I was really surprised about. Because I thought you know, we share our same language blah, blah, blah. You know, I'm tall with fair skin like, I don't tan, we should all get along.

Scott Anthony Barlow 37:14

How can they not love you?

Christie Mims 37:16

I know. But what I realized is, then I just realized, I should just forget it. Like everyone there is a stereotype to some degree and a little bit more reserved than I am. I'm like, I'm going to smile at you in a very weird way and just come up and talk to you. And I found that they would forgive me because I was a cheeky American.

Scott Anthony Barlow 37:39

You can play stereotype too.

Christie Mims 37:40

Yes, I was, totally. I'm like I'm here to tip well, and smile a lot, and make eye contact. But yeah, it was so weird because as soon as I was like, overly friendly, I found it much easier to connect. And people would be like, "Ah, you're being the cheeky American." So that's where my Skype handle comes from.

Scott Anthony Barlow 38:03

Okay, so I'm taking notes because I will... I think the day this airs, I'll be in London for the first time.

Christie Mims 38:11

Oh, London. That's where I was bartending. Oh, yeah, I've had a really checkered career.

Scott Anthony Barlow 38:17

Yeah. So I'm getting it. We didn't even get into those stories. Now I'm disappointed. We'll have to do, like, round two sometime. Okay, so what's one place I should absolutely hit up?

Christie Mims 38:27

Oh my gosh, I think you should have high tea at The Savoy, and you should go see the mousetrap. The longest running play in history. Agatha Christie, it's in the West End. It's not far from The Savoy. You can have Theater tea, high theater tea, and then go, it's a little bit... high theater tea is a little bit more deanery. Awesome. And I love, I mean, personally like total tourists. I love the Tower of London. I am such a fan.

Scott Anthony Barlow 38:53

Sweet. That's the real reason I invited you on, by the way.

Christie Mims 38:57

Travel tip.

Scott Anthony Barlow 38:57

We got to spend time and like...

Christie Mims 38:58

Oh, yeah, it's awesome. So I love London. Oh, and have a street pasty. Get, like a steak or chicken pasty off the street. Awesome. It's just awesome. It's cheese and flakiness and meat, and it's hot. It's good.

Scott Anthony Barlow 39:16

Sounds delighted. I'm sold. That is...

Christie Mims 39:19

I think transitions are where I used to. Transition foods.

Scott Anthony Barlow 39:24

I will find out. I will let you know. Well, me and my family, we will hunt down street pasties. Okay, awesome. This has been a ton of fun. I am super curious for a couple of different things. One, I know that you've got, geez, you've got a whole bunch coming up, even in the next few weeks here. So two questions, one, if people want more on passion, what would you recommend for them? And then the second question is more questions stacking you get in this year, where can people connect with you and get more info?

Christie Mims 40:00

If you want more passion, today is a great day because today's the beginning of our five day totally free career happiness revolution passion challenge, and I'm gonna give you the structure, the accountability, the knowledge that you need to start to jumpstart, figuring out what it is that you love to do. So for everyone, you're welcome to sign up for it and join us at careerhappinessrevolution.com/htyc. And it's gonna be awesome. And I think it's really hard to find your passion by yourself, but we've got a couple thousand people who have signed up, who are doing this and who are going to go through it with you. And so, five days of awesomeness to help you figure out your passion. So I hope everyone signs up. Who's listening, get yourself there now, it starts today. And for everyone else, you can reach me at revolutionaryclub.com and learn more about me and what I do.

Scott Anthony Barlow 40:05

Everything Christie and I talked about will be over at happentoyourcareer.com/228 including where you can download the transcript for this episode, and you get a whole bunch of other tools that we've put into a bit of a step by step approach here. And next week, this is going to be such a fun episode. We will talk about the science behind perfect timing with one of my favorite authors on the planet.

Dan Pink 41:04

Passion and contribution are focused in very different directions. Passion is all about me. And contribution is all about other people. I really don't think that professionals care about passion.

Scott Anthony Barlow 41:36

That's Dan Pink. And back when I was working in HR, I first heard of him and I read his book "Drive" which honestly changed the way that, not just me, but many people looked at what motivates us. Join us next week right here on Happen To Your Career, where Dan breaks down exactly how you can use timing and the science behind it in ways that you never imagined to become more productive at life and work. Until then. I'll see you later. Adios. I'm out.