Passion is such a big word. It comes with a lot of pressure and expectation. Hearing someone talk about the career they love and are passionate about can make you feel isolated because you don’t have that and furthermore, you don’t even know what it is. In my experience most of us don’t just find the career we are passionate about, sitting there before us, waiting for us to step into it. Most of us have to go looking for it and many of us (me included), find that the career we are passionate about, evolved over time.
In short, if you want a career you are passionate about, you need to go and find it. But how? Today I have 3 things for you to try that you may not have considered before. Not every one of them will relate to you, choose the one that fits your circumstances best or combine them to power into a career you are passionate about.
See Passion As A Journey
Stop seeing passion as simply what you do. I like to think of ‘passion’ as a feeling and who I want to be, not just what I am doing right now. This means you can have more than one passion and that you can be working towards feeling passionate about your career. Take the pressure off the idea that you should be able to find one thing in this exact moment that you are passionate about and don’t give up because it just isn’t practical for you to pursue your passion right now. Instead, make living a passionate life a journey. Some of the most passionate people I know have a job they go to earn money and then have a passion they pursue outside of that. Others are preparing for living that passionate life by studying or working their way up the career ladder. If you can’t have a career you are passionate about right now, be passionate about pursuing it for the future, or find other ways to bring it into your life right now.
Brainstorm
First, choose a way to brainstorm that you are comfortable with. There are a lot of programs you can download if you like a ‘digital’ approach. You can also use a whiteboard, which is great for lots of space, or if you are like me, pencils and white paper work well.
Before you start, let go of any pre-conceived ideas about what you should be passionate about, or need to be doing with your life. Don’t even consider if what you are writing down is possible. You can analyse your brainstorming all you like later. For now, no editing!
The first step is to just start writing. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to prompt you; What interests you? What gets you excited? What did you want to be when you were a child? Do you follow people on social media for no real reason other than you are drawn to what they do? What do they do? You may also like to consider what you do in your spare time and what you wanted to be when you were a child. Ask others what they think you are great at. In short, do some research and go exploring to find your passion.
Next, study the list. Again, don’t think about practicalities. As you study the list highlight the things that stand out. What can’t you stop thinking about? What are you drawn to? What does it feel like when you imagine yourself doing this?
Once you have done this, spend time over several days analysing what you have highlighted. Now is the time to get more practical, but don’t think about what you can’t do. Instead, think about this thing that you have identified as a passion and then consider what you have to do to bring it into your life.
Commit
At any one time, I could have 3 or 4 things I would happily pursue because I am drawn to them and all of them are things I would do passionately. But, I don’t have time to do everything and I expect you are the same. I see a lot of people spend a huge amount of energy and time just thinking about what they would like to do and many, many people never do even one of those things. I have been that person too. If there are a few things that have you excited, pick one and analyse what you have to do to bring it into your life and then commit to doing that. Don’t worry about whether you might regret it later, or regret not choosing one of the other things. Those thoughts are negative and encourage you to procrastinate. Commit to doing something. It is amazing how pursuing one passion successfully can lead to you to pursuing others. Remember what I said earlier on, living a passionate life is a journey. It doesn’t have to be limited to one thing, but if you are going to get one thing done, you have to commit at some point and just do it.
If you’ve found yourself reading this blog post then chances are you have a passion for weddings and events. We can help you take action to turn your passion into a dream career. Click on your nearest academy campus below to find your perfect course and connect with our course consultants who are on hand to help answer ANY of your questions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Ligthart is a lead Tutor with the Academy and Founder of I Do Crew which specialises in offering On the Day Wedding Coordination. Christine is passionate about creative small business and helping others to achieve success. At home you will find Christine hanging out with her family, listening to old records and loving life on the farm. www.idocrew.com.au
Pin for later:
