This post is for everyone who is stuck in a rut or in a job you don’t like. If you dislike where you are today, do something about it to make a change. If you are unsure which direction to go, you may want to take some online classes after work or work on your hobbies during the weekend. The first thing you should do is to try and find your true passion.

What is your true passion?  Typically it’s doing something that you enjoy. You find that you are spending your free time learning more about it and trying to get better honing in your craft whether you get paid or not. When you enjoy what you do, it shows, and know that you CAN eventually make a living from it.

I’m not an expert on what other people’s passions are but I know how I was able to find my true passion even if I took a long route.

KNOW YOUR TRUE PASSION

Typically your passion is something that you’ve been doing since you were younger. Did you enjoy buying the latest clothing trends? Playing video games? Drawing?

If I look back on my life, I’ve always been rearranging furniture in my bedroom and my parents’ home. Preparing to go to college, I didn’t know what to major in. I should have just gone with my passion. I didn’t really think about it and didn’t know I can make my passion my career, so I majored in biology thinking I wanted to be a doctor, and ended up switching to marketing for convenience (view the post Advice I’d give my younger self). After graduating with a business administration degree with a concentration in marketing, I took the long route and eventually took interior design classes to get better in my craft. Taking these classes made me realize that I wanted to do it ONLY for myself. I knew that I wanted to keep my passion alive and didn’t want my true passion to become a job and make me lose interest in the field. Knowing that fact was worth the experience.

How did I know to NOT pursue my true passion? It’s because I already knew myself and how I liked to work.

KNOW YOURSELF

Even if you know what your passion is in life you have to know yourself. Do you like to work in a collaborative environment? Do you enjoy making cold calls? Or are you more introverted and prefer to be in front of a computer?

With interior design, I made a conscious decision to not make it my career because I knew that it could be demanding with clients and didn’t like the waiting period of ordering custom pieces and having my design compromised.

Luckily while I was in interior design school (which I pursued after work), I was already designing websites as a hobby. The common thread with web design and interior design is DESIGN. I found that designing on a computer helped fill my design/creativity requirement in my life (which made me happy) and I liked seeing my designs come alive immediately on a computer screen. I liked that I could easily change the color of the website or the logo on the fly. It was so unlike interior design in that I ‘d have to wait several hours to paint an entire room or wait weeks to see a completed installation. When I figured that out, I knew that I had to get into web design and work on websites for a living and that’s what I did. I worked my way up to become a webmaster and did all aspects of digital marketing (web, email, videos, and social media). Fortunately I was able to utilize my marketing degree and use my love of design in my career.

DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE EVEN IF YOU DON’T GET PAID

Even if I’m at home now, I still love learning the latest things on the web and creating things on the computer. If you find yourself drawing, painting, volunteering, blogging, or doing things you love to do and are not getting paid; know that is definitely your passion.

Even if I found another passion (web design) for a career, I still enjoy interior design as my true passion when I occasionally get a chance to help out family and friends decorate their homes. I’m happy that I’ve also been able to use the computer to help me pick out exterior paint colors and use applications to space plan homes.

BE OPEN TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Be open to the opportunities that open up to you and seize it as long as it is something you enjoy doing. Things always change and situations that are out of your control can affect your life. So you have to be open to different opportunities that approach you. You should try to see if the new opportunity also aligns with what your passions are and how you work.

Eventually if you are open to change and seize small opportunities here and there it can open up new possibilities in a new career that excites you. I never thought working on the computer would bring me happiness but it does. 🙂

If you are patient enough, you can turn your passion into a career that can help support you and your family. Just take a risk, work hard, and you will eventually see the results. Don’t chase money, chase your dreams (your passion). Also check out the Three Tips on the Secrets of Success to help you achieve your dreams. Good luck! 🙂