not enough ! Passion has been the buzzword for long. It was said, as long as you have passion for something, everything will fall into place magically! The fame will come, the money will come and you will live happily forever !

Unfortunately thats not true. The real world values skill and competitive advantage, while we, as students, value passion.So, how do we bridge the gap? How do we eat the cake and have it too?? How do we earn money, work with purpose and enjoy life as well??

Ofcourse, there is a way !!!

Let me give you an example. Every one of us has a story to tell from our childhood when we loved doing different things at different times in our life. As kids, our tastes and preferences change, however there are some preferences that remain fairly consistent. Those preferences probably define what we love doing in our life. For example, lets say you love the sea and you always go on a vacation to various beaches and lakes around the world. You love swimming and sailing. Things like these dont change.

So that could be defined as a passion, however its not going to give you a lucrative career by itself ! You cant be a swimming coach and earn money just because you love the sea. You need the skills and more importantly, competitive advantage, the edge that the world will pay you for.

So lets now think about what you could do that merges your passion with a certain skill. If you would like to spend a lot of time by the water, you could choose to be an Oceanographer or a a Marine Biologist. If you dont like research, you could also join the merchant navy. Oceanographers who have a specialised degree in Physics/Maths study the influence of ocean on the environment and climate. Marine biologists study the marine organisms in the sea. While this is a very superficial description of the careers, it gives you an idea .They are employed by several organisations in Environmental monitoring.

By pursuing such careers you can ensure that you continue with your passion and also develop the competitive advantage to get paid and live your life with satisfaction. You are also addressing a purposeful mission of solving environmental problems through your skills.

This would make your parents happy as well.