People are always saying that…follow your passion. Do what you love, the money will follow. If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. Sounds great, right? Sure, unless you don’t know what that is or how to get to get there.
I talk to people all the time who either know what it is that they love to do and just can’t quite put it all together or people who just haven’t figured it out yet. The advice that seems to resonate the most with each of these people is that it’s the little things. It’s not always about the dream job that you always wanted or pursuing a seemingly impossible feat like being the next big star on Broadway. For many people, it’s about enjoying your life and finding a career, or even a company, that supports that.
For me, it was partly about running my own show and partly about writing. Writing is the love part, although I always knew I wasn’t meant to be a starving artist. And running my own business is almost the necessity. I’m smart, driven and creative and have always known that I needed to be taking the risks, making the decisions and reaping the benefits. To give you an idea of how deep it runs, my imaginary friends worked for me…in my office 🙂
So resume writing was a natural fit, but it wasn’t always where I knew I’d end up. The point is that it’s partly about the journey, and knowing enough to know you don’t where the road is taking you. When I was in “figure it out” mode, I just did SOMETHING every day. Whether it was finding a book or blog that inspired me or claiming the domain name with my name (which, incidentally I don’t even use anymore), I kept myself on the path to discovery.
Everyone has a different path and there are no solid answers. One of my favorite pearls of wisdom from my super insightful father is that grown up decisions often have no right or wrong answer. There are just different choices with different sets of consequences and benefits. Allow yourself the freedom and the forgiveness to take risks and make mistakes and be open to new experiences. Finding your passion is a lifetime’s journey, not a day’s work.