Do What You Love! How to Identify & Pursue Your Passions
Article Originally Featured on the Muse.com
As Confucius said,
“choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your
life.” It’s great advice, but it’s not always that simple—it can be
difficult to figure out what you love and how to parlay that into a viable business
or job. So here’s a step-by-step plan for pinpointing your passions—and
four ways to help you start turning them into your career.
1. Remember What You Loved as a Child
Often,
our truest passions emerge in childhood, only to be squelched by real
life pressures. So think about what you loved long before you had to
worry about your career. Writing? Science experiments? Taking care of
people? Getting back in touch with those instincts is an important step
in finding your passion.
2. Eliminate Money from the Equation
If money were no object, what would you do? Would you travel?
Spend all of your time with your children? Would you start a charitable
organization to help abused women? Of course money can’t be ignored,
but don’t let financial pressures dictate your choices. Your career
should ultimately lead to financial security, but if financial security
is the defining motivator, it’s unlikely you’ll end up doing what you
love.
3. Ask Your Friends for Feedback
Sometimes
you’re just not the best judge of what makes you happy. Ask the people
who know you intimately when you seem the happiest and what you do the
most enthusiastically. Their answers may surprise you.
4. Read through a University Course Catalog
Find some quiet time and see which courses naturally interest you. What would you study
if you could do it all over? What courses do you think you could teach?
Which subjects scare you to death, and which ones do you find boring?
Revisiting these possibilities will help point you in the direction of
subjects and topics that you love.
5. Identify your Professional Hero
Of
everyone you know, either personally or in your extended frame of
reference (from your dermatologist to Oprah), whose career would you
most want to emulate? Reach out to her to learn more about how she got
to where she is, or, if that’s not possible, read everything you can about her career and life.
6. Think of What You Enjoy That You Also Do Well
After
you’ve done these exercises, think about what you’ve learned. Focus on
the things that you both enjoy and do well—whether you have a way with
animals, make a killer lemon tart, or are crazy for origami—and write
them down. Then, narrow the list to the top three or four things. Keep
it handy, review it often, and use it as your jumping-off point when
you’re plotting your career move.
Getting Started
Once
you have a solid idea of what you love doing, it can still be a big
leap to turn that passion into a viable career. Here are four easy steps
to start making the change:
1. Talk to a Career Counselor
Career
counselors help others figure out what they want for a living, and
they’ll have insights and tools to help you zero in on the things you
love most and do best, and also be able to offer ideas and guidance on
how to find a career that best suits those passions. Take advantage of
those resources.
2. Leverage Social Media
More than ever, we live in a social world. Once you've identified what it is that you love, get busy on Twitter,
Facebook, and LinkedIn, connecting with people who share your areas of
interest. Read blogs, join forums, and find out what it’s really like to
do what you love.
3. Start Saving Money
Once you feel strongly that you want to start down this new path, start saving.
A lot. The more money you have in the bank, the less finances will have
to rule your decisions. And the less scary it will be if and when you
do quit your job.
4. Just Do It
Ultimately,
you won’t really know what you love to do unless you actually bite the
bullet. Until you give it a go, it’s really just speculation. So,
whether you take a small step like signing up for a class or you dive head-first into entrepreneurship, roll up your sleeves and do it. You’ll never know until you try.
Article Originally Featured on the Muse.com
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