A reader writes to me asking how you can work on the things you like, in her case because she wants to apply more creativity to her work and her life. An excellent question and the answer is: it depends. It depends on the things you like…
The first thing I recommend is that you make a list of everything you love to do, everything and right next to it, explain why you like to do each thing, what is the motivation you get with that activity. This is something that we rarely do and it is surprising because many times it turns out that all the things that you are passionate about have a common characteristic that can be easier to apply to your life. For example, something that I discovered by analyzing some things that I like (such as dancing and cooking) and that surprised me greatly was the satisfaction I get when I move, that is, that physical activity is important to me (and it tells you someone who hates gyms…) and I can easily apply this to my life without making many changes. So try to draw things in common between your passions, find the most basic.
Three other considerations to keep in mind are:
- Your passion does not have to be your profession, sometimes all you need to do is introduce it to your life in a different way. And not necessarily in your free time, it could be in your work too. In the case of this reader or if you are also creative, how can you introduce that creativity into your work? For example, I have a client who is a coach and very creative and how do you express it? Doing exercises and custom templates for her clients, she is happy creating this kind of thing and has not had to change jobs. Another great example of this is Mayi Carles. Just because you love something doesn't mean you can live professionally from it. There are more viable things than others. For example, I am passionate about Japanese horror movies, but I don't think they will pay me to see them (I am not going to say that it is impossible, but it is unlikely;or maybe not, who knows). Find out if someone is professionally dedicated to what you have in mind, that would be a good sign… It is one thing that you like to do something in your free time and another that you want to dedicate yourself professionally. Something you do for pleasure is not the same as something you have to do to earn a living, so it is important to stop to think and find out what your life would be like if you dedicated yourself to it. For example, maybe you are passionate about clothes and you are thinking of starting your own store. After talking with other store owners, you realize that they hardly have holidays, that the hours are not compatible with what you want or that you don't like dealing with customers. Or maybe all of that is just what you want. So it is important to think about the practical aspect of the business or profession,to see if it fits the life you want. And yes, that requires research and talking to people who are dedicated to it and if you are not willing to make that effort, ask yourself if you really want to start a business, or change your profession or whatever you are considering.
Devoting yourself to your passion may be a good option for you, but first make sure that you take into account the three previous points and you will avoid some headaches…
