7 Steps To Turning Your Passion Into A Fulfilling Career

“One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.” — E. M. Forster

You may have already read my Super Quick Guide to Finding Your Passion. (If not, go read it, I’ll wait.) And you may have already come up with a list of possibilities as to what your true passion is. But you might be stuck as to how to transform these passions into a viable career. Check out the simple process below to start living your dream.

1. Submerge yourself – Choose 3-5 options on your list that excite you most. Now go and learn everything you possibly can about each subject one at a time. Read books on it, talk to people who are experts in that field, read relevant blogs. Do everything you can to learn about the subject at hand. Start taking notes on what skills you’d need to master and what else you’d need to learn to become an expert in this field. Live, eat and breathe your topic but be careful of analysis paralysis. Don’t spend too much time in this phase of the process.
2. Narrow things down – Take a look at your shortened list and be honest about which items you’d like to keep on there. You may have already eliminated options after you started researching them. Be careful not to nix subjects because you don’t feel they are realistic. Only get rid of the options that you don’t feel as passionate about or wouldn’t fit in with what you want from your life.
3. Test it out – Here’s the most important step. Now you may be left with 1 – 3 options. Prioritize which possibility you’d like to experiment with first and start doing it. Do you want to become an author? Start writing. A speaker? Start speaking. You can start small but try to make it public as soon as you can. By going public you’ll be motivated to improve, you’ll get feedback from others and you’ll begin building your reputation. Going public doesn’t have to be something grandiose. It can be as simple as letting your friends and family know that you’re dabbling in image consulting or as easy as starting a blog on photography. Focus on the feeling you get when you’re doing your thing. Does it get you excited? Do you look forward to doing it?
4. Evaluate – After you’ve tested out each of your remaining possibilities. Evaluate how each of them made you feel. Which gets you the most excited? Which of these can produce something that people will pay for or get excited about? Which can you see yourself doing for years? Don’t worry about whether or not it’s a traditional career path. Pick one – or two at the most – and focus on that.
5. Confront your fears & limiting beliefs – Facing your fears can be challenging. After all, our fears often act as a defense mechanism to ensure we don’t get hurt or disappointed. The first step is acknowledging what you’re afraid of. Then think about why it is there. Is your fear trying to protect you in some way? Next dispute your fear – think of examples that challenge your fear. For example, if you believe that you could never make money doing what you love think of examples of others who are doing precisely that. Ask yourself. “what’s the worst that can happen?” Most of the time, it’s nothing you can’t handle. Lastly, plan and prepare for taking your next steps. If you have a solid plan, there is less to fear. Take small steps and focus on the present. Make sure to congratulate yourself on your small victories as you move forward.
6. Decide what you can sacrifice – Now it’s time to find the time to pursue your passion. If this is something that is truly important to you then you’ll be able to find time to squeeze it in. Prioritize your life so that you have the time to put in the work you need. Maybe this means you have to wake up earlier or stay up later. Or maybe you have to work through lunch or on your weekends. Figure out what it takes and get it done.
7. How to make a living doing it –  Ah, this is the biggie. This won’t happen overnight. You’ll have to discover your passion and become great at it. It might take time – months or years – but if this is truly what you’re passionate about then you’ll enjoy the ride. There are a lot of ways to make a living through your passion. You may have to change jobs or go back to school. Perhaps you just need a certification or an apprenticeship. Or you can work for yourself. You can look into consulting or freelance work. You can develop a product – either an information product like an e-book or a physical product like dresses. You can even make a living through writing a blog. The world is your oyster. Be creative and seize the day.

None of this will be easy. It takes a lot of soul-searching, experimentation and courage. Most of all it takes a lot of commitment. But it’s definitely worth it so that you can look forward to Mondays instead of dreading them.

Until Next Time,

Nailah

Need more help discovering your passion? Or have you figured it out but have no idea how to incorporate it into your daily life? Contact me [nblades@gmail.com] about my coaching packages designed to help you live the life you deserve!

The Super Quick Guide to Finding Your Passion

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius

One of the biggest challenges I see 20-somethings face is figuring out what they want to “be when they grow up.” A lot of us  enter the workforce expecting high-paying, glamorous jobs that will bring us lots of success and oodles of satisfaction only to be severely disappointed when reality strikes and we’re stuck in boring, unfulfilling jobs. And let’s face it, our careers consume such a large part of our lives so it is really discouraging when you’re unhappy with yours. I’m a big advocate for living your passion. I believe that everyone should feel utterly happy and passionate with their lives. Why? Because when we’re genuinely happy we possess the confidence and power to create our best lives. And this is precisely what the world needs. The world needs us to be operating at full throttle. The world needs us to be head over heels, over the moon happy. The greatest change happens because of people who are deeply passionate and satiated with their lives.

So I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “Nai” – and yes, you can call me Nai – “It’s easy for you to say to live your passion because you’ve found yours. How do I find my passion?” Well don’t you worry, below are my 9 steps to finding your passion:

1. What come naturally to you? Some people are always hosting fabulous dinner parties. Some people are always organizing or fixing things. We often take for granted the things that just flow naturally for us. We all have unique gifts and talents that come naturally. Think about your specific skills – are you analytical? A creative mind? A problem solver?
2. Which of your skills do you wish to use? It’s not enough that we’re good at something, we have to actually enjoy using that skill. For example, I’m actually pretty analytical, so for years I worked in jobs that required analytical thinking. I finally came to the realization that while analytical thinking may be a particular skill set of mine, it was in no way something I was passionate about.
3. What is your Essence? Our essence is our natural qualities. Think about which qualities ooze from your pores? Are you a naturally caring & compassionate person? Are you serious or funny? Be careful to think of what your true essence actually is and not what you’d like it to be. It’s important that you’re honest.
4. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Assume that money, time and energy aren’t an obstacle – you would absolutely succeed in what you set out to do. What would it be? Also think about what you would do even if it paid very little. If you would work at something for free, you’re very likely passionate about it.
5. Who are the people you admire and why? Think about what types of people you admire? What makes them admirable? Chances are you would not be able to see or appreciate the admirable qualities in them if they were not already within you. You will probably begin to see trends in what types of people you admire.
6. What are your unresolved dreams and desires? We all have a seemingly “ridiculous” dream job that we’ve always wanted to do but our fears or self-doubt have held us back. Make sure to add all of your dream jobs to your list no matter how unrealistic they may seem. You also want to think about what you wanted to do when you were younger. When we were young, we were allowed to dream without someone telling us to grow up or be realistic.
7. What parts of past jobs or projects have you enjoyed? Was there a particular project that you thoroughly enjoyed? Or maybe you always enjoy the problem solving aspect of your jobs. Think hard about what aspects of your past jobs you have truly enjoyed. What made you excited?
8. What do you read about? Think about what books and magazines you enjoy reading. Which sections in the bookstore you are consistenly drawn towards? When I look through my Google Reader it’s full of blogs about Beauty or Personal Growth. It’s no coincidence that the two businesses I’ve started are centered around those two topics.
9. What do you spend your free time doing? Make a list of what you do in your spare time. Can any of these things be turned into your dream career?

Really think hard about all of these questions and make a list of what comes out of it. You now have a list of possibilities of what truly drives you. You’ve probably noticed some reoccurring themes or ideas on your list. Take the time to narrow your list down and start thinking about how you can turn your passions into a dream career. For example, maybe you identified you have a passion for hosting & entertaining friends. Can you turn this passion into a career in event planning?

This process won’t be easy but it will set you on your path to discovering your passion and living it. Wouldn’t it be awesome to jump out of bed on Monday mornings instead of frantically pushing the snooze button? Good luck & have fun!

Nailah

Need more help discovering your passion? Or have you figured it out but have no idea how to incorporate it into your daily life? Contact me [nblades@gmail.com] about my coaching packages designed to help you live the life you deserve!