Finding Your Passion While Building Your Career
Finding your passion has always been exciting and nerve-wracking.
The thing is, most of us want the easy path, may it be in work, school, or in choosing our hobbies. And everyone is giving us their advice, telling us to “find your passion”.
I have heard this phrase a gazillion times, but I’ve never really realized the gravity of it until recently when I decided to go freelance.
I am Kristine, an Architect by profession and by heart.
I’ll share with you some tips on finding your passion career as I also share my personal journey.
Let’s get started!
4 Effective Tips on Finding Your Passion
Get the Right Perspective
Finding your passion in life is not a goal, rather it’s a journey that involves myriads of changes and decisions along the way. Hence, setting the right perspective is a crucial step.
A lot of people want to follow their passion, but many don’t have the right mental state to do so. Some easily get swayed by problems and struggles and some give up without even trying.
I remember a very powerful quote from William Arthur Ward,
The greatest failure is the failure to try.
If you go inside a store with already a mindset that everything in that store is overpriced, you will never find a bargain and all products will never appear appealing to you.
The same thing goes for searching your true passion. If you fail to convince yourself into believing that you can do it, you will never be able to do it. You will get stuck to where you are and remain closed to all the possibilities.
Really, how can you expect to find a fulfilling job when you yourself don’t believe it exists?
I have always been a person who is too cautious to make hasty decisions, and I still do. However, I allow myself to say ‘YES’ to every good opportunity and believing I can make all my clients love my work even when working solo. This is exactly what I did and I am happy I made that decision.
Make Your Passion Profitable
Most often than not, many people confused passion for their hobby. I made the same mistake too. I have always known that I have a penchant for sketching and design and think that as long as I can do it, I’ll be happy.
Well, I was— until the competition is getting tough and reality hits me hard.
Don’t get me wrong, making your passion your hobby is a good thing. But what many fails to realize is that in order for that passion to flourish, it needs to be profitable.
If you want to share your passion to the society, isn’t it more fulfilling if you also make a living out of it?
Some people lose interest to pursue their passion simply because the purpose of doing it changes from “loving it” to “having to do it.”
My take is that finding your passion is not enough, make a career out of it. One way to do it is to believe that people are actually willing to pay for your skills. Believe that your talent is worth it.
Allow Personal Growth while Honing Your Skills
I have a lot of friends and previous colleagues who appear to be satisfied with their work but suddenly feel the need to take a leap of faith by changing their careers.
The reason? They found out that they are only growing vertically but not horizontally. What I mean with this is that they care so much to get promoted and working so hard to increase their income that the sense of fulfillment becomes a strong feeling of competitiveness.
I have always loved my work and find happiness in every project that I completed. However, working for an organization didn’t bring much fulfillment as I have to comply with the company’s vision and ideals. I feel like my creative juices are limited to what the company approves.
I may be able to hone my skills by exposing myself to different projects but I feel like my real talent is being caged. It’s like I don’t have any opportunity to also cultivate my personal growth.
So, how did I overcome this?
I allow myself to learn again. In fact, we should never stop educating ourselves. I joined groups and organizations where I meet people who I can consider as mentors and as friends. Surrounding yourself with people who also seek personal growth is actually healthy for you socially and mentally.
Build Connections with the Right People
In connection with the previous tip mentioned above, I would like to emphasize that building a connection is a necessity if you want to know how to find your passion and purpose.
Imagine wanting to start your own business but you haven’t found the right business niche yet. The thing is that you will never be able to do so if you surround yourself with people who have the employee mentality. Every time you voice out your plans, most of them will not understand and may sometimes focus on the negative aspects instead of the positive.
This is why the first tip “setting the right perspective” is very essential. I’m not saying you should stop hanging out with these friends. What I’m saying is to have a separate circle of friends where you can confidently discuss your passion sans the judgment and will actually boost your confidence and support your passion.
I have learned that synergy is important to become successful. This is why I try to build connections with people who I know have the same ideals as I am.
Let’s Talk About Synergy Further
Fun fact: synergy is one of the secrets to success. When all the people involved in the project— may it be between you and your family and friends, a client and a service provider or an employee and employer— are getting something good out of the relationship and partnership, then the result is prosperous and successful.
Finding your Passion is a Personal Journey
I hope your quest to finding your passion will be sooner than later with the tips above. The next blog is about my journey as a freelance architect. If you have been thinking of jumping on the bandwagon and becoming a freelancer, then watch out for my next blog!
For now, let me know your thoughts and share your journey on how you found your career passion!
