Passion is everything. You’ll know you’re passionate about something when the thought of doing something excites you and you are even more excited about doing that something. Even when you fail, you’ll regroup and you’ll find passion in the approach it takes...to succeed.

In Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart your Job, Your Career, and Your Life, author Sally Hogshead notes passion may sound cheesy “but you have to see it as a nonnegotiable element of your career success.”

If you’re looking for a way to jumpstart your career (or even re-jumpstart it) the biggest factor may be your personal philosophy about your approach to your work. Staying energized and passionate in your work as a librarian is a struggle for us all from time to time. But successful people find ways to re-ignite that passion and work smart. Librarians don’t have to work 50-60 hour work weeks to be passionate about what they are doing for a living, but as professionals we need to take the time to continually refine our on-the-job focus and take stock in how even the smallest sacrifices we make everyday can translate into big successes for unsuspecting people (i.e. patrons.) Being motivated in the little challenges and obstacles during the work day puts us in the line to excel in the big projects and challenges that lie ahead.

I am a public librarian by profession. It is also worth noting that I am a public librarian in one of the busiest tourist towns in the Midwest. To say my library is hopping during the peak tourist season is an understatement; we routinely serve a clientele from over 30 different countries each summer alone. Awhile back I figured the key to my success as a public librarian was making people my #1 passion, rather than librarianship itself (I'm passionate about both, folks.) If that sounds kinda awkward...well, it is. But by making people my top priority I always find ways to come through for them in their requests and in their needs, and that in turn, brings out the best librarian in me. My continual development as a librarian is the result of never wanting to fail the patrons who count on me each and every day.

How do you keep passion alive as a librarian?