Passion has become a buzz word of our generation, seems everywhere you turn somebody will have amazing tips on how to either find your "magical" true passion, or how to monetize it.
Well here's the thing ladies: most of it is just plain bull*&%#!
Here you have the countdown of the 6 BIG, FAT and ANNOYING lies that self-proclaimed gurus like to tell you about finding your passion, and why the real truth is so much more exciting!
Avoid those traps, and you'll be on your way to rocking your passions (yes! plural - see below).
1. Your Passion Will Just "Come to You."
They talk about passion as if it's a magical fairy you can entreat with cookies. Here's the thing: sometimes passions and their matching career do just fall out of the sky. But if you wait for that forever, you'll find yourself very bored, very unemployed, and very unfulfilled. Finding your passion does take some hard work. That means setting out a course of what your passions are, trying new things, meeting new people, understand how your passions be applied to a career, and what you can do to break into those careers!
2. There's Only One Passion
"Finding your passion"... do you notice the problem here? Passion is not plural. Gurus love to say there is only one magical passion for each of us, but that's not true - you have hundreds of passions. A passion is something you enjoy and are interested in. Passions are what you want to BE, not what you want to DO. You can have a passion for medicine, painting, and hiking all at the same time, and limiting your mindset to only one is really holding back your abilities.
3. You Can Make a Job Out of Any Passion
If you're looking to turn your passion into a job, then it does need to be marketable. The key to deciding which passion can actually be a career is by asking yourself two question - are you good at it? And are you ready to fight for it? We've all seen American Idol enough times to know that a love for singing does not equate a rock star. You have to be good at it your passion if you want to make it into a career. Also the ride is not always going to be smooth, to turn your passions into a career demands dedication and hard work.
4. You Have to Pick A Passion and Stick to It
Passions change and evolve as you do, so it's just about impossible to be satisfied with one passion and one career for your entire life. Look at Leonardo da Vinci - he was a painter, an engineer, a mortician, and countless other professions throughout his life because he had many passions and he embraced each. What did it do for him? It made him successful, influential, and happy. So don't listen to the gurus - you can be a doctor, then a ballerina, then an astronaut if you want! Just take them one at a time.
5. A Passionate Hobby Should Be Your Career
A hobby CAN be your career, but don't fall into the Hobbies Trap. Hobbies is something you do for fun, for enjoyment, for relaxation. Sure, some people manage to leverage their hobbies into thriving careers, but don't obsess too much into monetizing your knitting hobby into a successful business. Sometimes the things we enjoy on our leisure time, are just meant to be that - our little "me moment" for fun.
6. Your Passion Has to Work in Your Environment
Maybe you would be an exceptional graphic designer, but if there's no call for it in your local market, you should become something else, right? That's where you're wrong. This is the perfect time to jump out into the big, big world! Move to a new place, change your environment, and chase the surroundings that will allow your passion to thrive. Better yet, the global world has gone online and the new technologies offer almost endless possibilities to pursue your passions.
Main Image credit: pirate_renee
