6 Steps to Turn Your Passion Into Your Career
Being in a corporate environment, working for a large company, can leave you feeling trapped under loads of pressure. You have pressure from your boss to perform, pressure to meet deadlines and pressure to go above and beyond expectations in order to get that 5/5 on your performance review. All of this might seem impossible because your time is swallowed by your day-to-day tasks. You are also pressured to fit into the corporate culture and bite your tongue while dealing with individuals that are, let’s say difficult. All this work to manage office conflicts, and expectations, while getting piles of work done is absolutely draining, and doesn’t leave you feeling like you’re making any significant impact.
Have you been there?
I can definitely relate.
The problem was that I knew I wanted to get out, but I didn’t know where I wanted to go. Fresh out of University, I had expected the workplace to be full of opportunity and exciting decisions. Instead it felt like a bunch of chores that I had to do to fulfill someone else’s vision. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to do that for long, I changed my path to one destined for fulfillment.
How did I do it?
Stop doing what makes you unhappy: There is a difference between having bad days at work and never having good days. If every morning is a struggle to wake up knowing that you have to go to work, and all you think about is when the day is going to end, you’re probably in the wrong place. This might not be step 1 for everyone though! If you have pressing financial obligations, leave this step for last!
Take some classes: The world is changing every single day, and if you’re not learning, you will inevitably get left behind. Keep your skills up to date, learn new ones, sign up for classes, watch tutorials, just aim to learn something new every day.
Create: If you have ideas floating in your head, that go something like, “it would be cool if…” or “what if I did….”. There is no better advice than, just do it. There is no time like the present and once you start creating, you’ll be surprised at how many more ideas pop into your head. Maya Angelou once said, “You can’t use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have.” She is absolutely right. Your creations will only improve with time, and you can’t improve if you haven’t created anything to improve on. So whatever your passion, whatever you are *DrivenBy…*, just start.
Utilize your network: Once you begin your creative journey, tap into your existing network for feedback. Your friends are a great support system as you begin your journey. Word of mouth is valuable and your friends will help spread the word.
Research: Make sure that you understand the industry that you are getting into. Every decision that you make as you grow your craft or your business should be supported by some kind of research. You will make mistakes along the way and you will learn from them, but you should always be able to explain why you did something.
Keep Going: At times you might feel like what you’re doing might not be worth it and might not be getting you anywhere, but just keep going. You are building something to remember and you have something to show for that. Keep in mind why you started and fall in love with the journey, not just the destination.
To me, success is simply loving what I do. Although my weeks go well beyond 40 hours of work, I am still excited about everything that I am doing. Being able to create and work on everything and anything “DrivenBy…” has brought me more happiness than any corporate job could offer.
So my advice to you is to know what you are driven by, and follow it. You’ll be happy to see where it takes you.
Go for it!
Did you find this helpful?
If we missed a step, let us know in the comments below!
