We all have things we’re passionate about. Whether it’s a hobby, a favorite song, your family, or something else, you can likely list off at least a few things that you love enough to say that you’re passionate about them. But how many people can say that their passion is rewarding them financially and personally? In other words, how many of us have turned our passion into a career?
The answer is ‘not enough’, and the reality is that doing so could bring with it a whole new perspective on life and your place in the world. But it’s not always easy – after all, most of our passions aren’t exactly work-related. If they were, that level of passion wouldn’t be quite so high for most.
But the fact is that you can take your passion and transform it into a huge part of your life – and maybe even more. Taking a closer look at the process, why it’s important, and how to succeed is well worth doing and something that could change your life.
Why You Need To Harness Your Passion
First, let’s get the obvious one out of the way – why you can’t afford to ignore the chance to turn passion into a career. To put it in the simplest terms possible, if you do this you’ll never truly ‘work’ again. That sounds like a cliché, right? It’s not. People who are really happy with their jobs and their careers have one thing in common – they love what they do.
Think about life for a moment and how most people move through it. Instead of dreading every morning and watching the clock as the minutes slowly tick by at work, wouldn’t it be better to look forward to waking up and heading to your career? Consider social media for a minute – we’ve all seen those memes about how much it sucks that it’s Monday or how work was a disaster, right? But there are plenty of people out there who see those memes and just laugh because they love Mondays – it’s a chance to do more of what they love to do, so why wouldn’t they be excited about it?
Yes, we all have bills to pay and need to provide for our loved ones, but there are other ways out there that can provide us with even more opportunity. The key is understanding how to seize them. No matter what your situation may be, there are likely ways to make it better if you find them. The key is making sure that you look hard for them and that you identify them when they arise. Doing so could change your life.
In short, choosing to follow your passion can help you be happier, earn more money, and even help you live a longer life thanks to benefits to your mental and physical wellbeing. It’s something that you just can’t ignore.
The Big Caveat
Before we go any further, let’s get one thing out of the way. We’re not saying that just because your passion is traveling the globe in your free time and trying out all the different exotic foods out there, that you’ll be able to turn that into a career. Sure, some may, but the reality is that it’s unlikely.
What we’re talking about here is finding something that matches your interests – something you can be really passionate about – and then taking that interest and turning it into a career that will reward you. You may not be as passionate about one of these opportunities as you are about painting or surfing, for example, but you can find things you’re passionate about that you can turn into a lucrative career.
With that taken care of, we’re ready to start looking a little further at finding your passion and turning it into something that will reward you in big ways.
Never Settle
This is worth touching on before we get into the specifics of finding your passion, too. Too many people assume that their current situation is the one that they’ll be relegated to for the rest of their lives. Adding to this issue is the fact that humans are creatures of habit. It’s easy to settle into a routine and stay there until it becomes a dull, monotonous rut that we feel we can’t get out of.
But the reality is that you should never settle. You should be able to find the confidence in yourself to make positive changes, and that begins by realizing that change is possible. Look at the facts and figures and you’ll see that network marketing and the power of the internet have both helped change the lives of millions of people.
Another thing to remember here is that the old line that ‘education equals better career’ simply isn’t true anymore. Some people with multiple degrees are absolutely miserable at work, while some with only a high school degree love every minute of their days. The key is to understand that it’s more about attitude, effort, and a willingness to take the first steps towards something better – even if it’s scary and breaks you out of your comfort zone to do so.
To put it plainly, if you feel that you can do better in your life, you can. And you should. And with the right steps, you will. With that out of the way, let’s start talking about how you can.
Finding Your Passion And Pursuing It
So how do you go about finding out how to transform passion into a career? As mentioned above, we’re not talking about turning your hobbies into something you can earn money from. Instead, we need to find some ways that you can find a career opportunity you’re good at and that you love, then turn that into a career opportunity.
To start with, we need to get a clear idea about you and your life – your beliefs and your desires and more. Let’s start with a self-assessment. Grab a sheet of paper or open a blank document in your computer and get started.
• What Are You Good At? – Write a list of everything you’re really, truly good at. Be honest with yourself and give yourself the credit you deserve here. Also, look outside things like your hobbies. Include everything you’re good at while at work and at home – from cooking to organization to communicating with others to making people laugh and beyond.
• What Skills Do You Have? – Now make a list of skills you’ve mastered over your life. Things you’ve been trained at for work, things you learned on your own, and more will go here. Whether it’s negotiating a sale or using Quicken or something else entirely, include all the skills you’ve developed.
• What Do You Want to Learn or Do? – This is essentially ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ for people who are already adults. You can include your childhood dream, but don’t leave out things you’re interested in now that you’d like to learn more about. Want to learn more about physical fitness and health? Did you want to be a fireman when you were young? Include them all on your list here.
Now you’ve got a fairly comprehensive list of your innate skills and interests. The next step is figuring out a few more things about what you’re really, truly interested in doing. Think about everything on your list and then think about the following points. As you do, try to relate it to work related activities or to meaningful activities that you do or want to do.
• This gives me extra energy that I use to get through each day
• The thought of this makes me smile every time I think of it
• When I do this, the hour’s fly by
• I’m excited to wake up in the morning when I know I’ll be doing this
• I constantly think about this
• I love doing this so much I’d do it for free on a regular basis
As you go through that list, think about what fits into the space where the word ‘This’ is located, and then think about how it relates to your potential professional life. We don’t mean “I love watching TV so much I’d do it for free” – we mean something more along the lines of “I love using social media so much I would do it for free”.
Sure, social media can be fun and a huge time waster. But that actually fits into your daily routine in the professional world – you can use social media every day to promote your passions. Look at all of the items on the list above and really think about what fits into the space for “this”, and relate them to your potential career.
Doing this realistically should help you see what it is that excites and interests you and how you can transfer that passion into the business world.
Think About Your Future
Now we need to generate some additional passion for you. Think about your future – 10 years ahead in time. Now make a new list that includes the following:
• What your day is spent doing
• Where you live
• Who you spend time with
• What your bank account is like
• What you’re doing for your town or community
Do you have a clear vision? Is it a good one? Can the points you listed in the section above help you reach these goals? Now make another list – and this time use all the points above but instead of writing down where you think you’ll be and instead write down where you want to be.
• What do you want your day to be spent doing?
• Where do you want to live?
• Who do you want to spend time with?
• What do you want your bank account to be like?
• What do you want to do for your community?
How similar are the two lists? Hopefully they’re pretty close – if so, it means that you’re finding the confidence you need to start taking the first steps towards a better future.
The next step is to figure out how to reach the goals you’ve just set up for yourself. Take the list you made of your passions and interests and skills and then look at your long term goals. Now start identifying opportunities you may have to combine them into a career.
The Reality Of Transforming Your Passion Into A Career
Before we finish up, it’s time to talk just a bit about reality versus fantasy. It’s easy to say “I want a million dollars in the bank and a fancy house within the next 10 years”. But is it realistic? It’s important that you start off by setting goals that are closer in line with what you could potentially do instead of the wild ideas that will be tougher to meet.
We’re not saying you won’t ever reach that goal – just that setting up a path to it with smaller goals along the way is a better option that won’t lead to as much discouragement and will keep you working and motivated.
Also, be sure that you find an opportunity you can love. You have the information right there in front of you in your lists, now you’ll need to use it. If you’re great with computers, are interested in health and a clean body, and have a good ability to talk to people, for example, it may be worth looking into a network marketing business selling essential oils or fitness supplements. That would combine all of your interests and skills and let you take the first steps towards better success.
The secret is that there really is no big secret. Instead, hard work, determination, confidence in yourself, and a willingness to take steps that could be scary at first are the keys to unlocking your true potential and turning your passion into a career that will reward you in numerous ways. Take the time to look into it more completely and you may see more chances to do so than you even realized were out there.