“Do you have a job and your life works around your job?
Or do you have a life, and your job works around your life? It took me 23 years at a corporate career, and a life altering diagnosis for me to say, I can’t do this anymore! I can’t keep running on this hamster wheel and feeling I am really never getting ahead. Yes at one point I enjoyed my career, but my life was built around my job. As I saw my boys growing so fast in front of me, I thought there has to be a better way.
Unfortunately, it took the words “You have cancer”! This was my breaking point. This is when I decided that I need to dream bigger, I need to overhaul how we did everything in our family, and work towards something greater than I could even imagine! At this point, I didn’t know exactly how I could turn my passion into my career, I just believed it was possible. I kept my focus on the what, and believed the how will come!
Working toward your big dream is hard work. Some dreams take years to achieve and a huge amount of effort. Although pursuing your dream is hard work, there’s good things about the process too. It’s easy, and only natural, to get overwhelmed from time to time, but it’s important to enjoy working toward your dream. Often it’s as simple as knowing how to look at your situation.
Why do we talk about passion when we are talking about our career?
It is because, when we are aligned with our passion, we exude energy, power, excitement, drive and commitment. You probably know someone that is very passionate. They have an impact on others. They are the people who often become our leaders or become the achievers in this world. They achieve what they want, and most of us talk about them and often envy them. It is scary to think that less than 10% of people are visibly pursuing their passion. We all want to live lives of passion, but getting there can be tough. If you want to wake up every morning energized and ready to set the world on fire by doing what you love, by turning your passion into a career it takes hard work. It takes a very strong mindset to trust the process.
At times when it can feel you are getting no where, when you have those thoughts in your mind that are so negative it hurts, you need to push through. You need to have a crystal vision that when you think of it, you feel it in every cell in your body. You need to hang on to this vision to carry you through the dark times.
If you are truly ready to get started with a life of passion, here are a some ideas you can do to move yourself closer to your passion.
Put yourself out there. To pursue a life of passion you need to put yourself out there. Volunteer for opportunities that come your way. Put your hand up for new experiences. Challenge yourself. By putting yourself out there, you’ll open yourself up to a whole new world of possibilities and ways to live a passionate life every day.
Connect With Others Who Share Your Passion. Reach out to people who share your passion and get to know them. Surrounding yourself with passionate people will put you in an “anything is possible” mind frame and make achieving your life of passion that much easier. There’s a old adage that says “you’re the sum of the five people closest to you.” Make sure you’re surrounded by other people who are living out their passions and soon, you will be too.
Bring Passion Into Your Daily Life Bit by Bit. It doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing approach. If you’re ready to start living your life with passion, you can start today by making small changes to your day-to-day routine. Start living your passion in a small way today, and continue to add pieces of what you love. With every week that passes, you’ll be getting closer to living the life you dream of.
Know yourself.Before you can get started, you need to know yourself first. Get to know what you love doing, what gives you natural energy, and conversely, what pulls you down and drains you. By knowing yourself, you’ll know whether the passion you are pursuing is the right thing for you.
Start Taking ActionNothing great ever happened without big action! Start taking action today to take a step in the right direction toward your dreams. It might be as simple as doing some online research, enrolling in an art class or sending out some emails about volunteering with a local community group. Whatever it is, take that first step today.
Make Your Passion Part of Your Identity. To start living a life of passion, you need to identify with it deep inside too. There’s no point in pursuing things that are only surface deep, so make sure your passion is something that deeply resonates with you inside and out first.
Put Yourself First. It’s a wonderful thing to put others first, but sometimes you need to put yourself first. Of course some things like supporting your family and being there for your friends are essential, but in other areas of your life, you can cut back on your unnecessary obligations to make time for what’s important. Carve time out of your weekly schedule for pursuing your passions and little by little, you will get there.
Keep Up the Momentum. Keep your momentum going by doing something to get closer to your passion-filled life every single day. Some days are busier than others, so naturally not every day will be a haven of productivity and goals being achieved. That said, every day, no matter how busy you are, do one thing to move closer towards achieving your goals.
Believe in Yourself. More important than anything, you need to believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will either, so it all has to start with you! Believe in the power of your dreams and know that although the road might be long, you will get there.
If you are interested in more information about living your life with passion, I have a workbook that will help you narrow in on your passion, plus many other resources. It takes drive to live a life on purpose and to not settle for your comfort zone! If you are reading this, there is probably a good chance that you have a feeling or thought keeps coming up for you. This is your sign telling you it is time to start living on purpose, to start living your passion.”
