Following Your Passion Is Not Just Luck

Although the title of this post is Following Your Passion Is Not Just Luck, I do feel incredibly lucky that I am able to have my own business and do what I want.

Self-employment has been amazing for me so far, and I can’t believe that I had any doubts last year of what having my own business would be like for me.

I worked hard to get to where I am. I was working and going to school around 16 hours a day, 5 to seven days a week, for over five years. I believe that how hard I worked in the past 5 years led to where I am today.

And, I’m still working hard. Thankfully, I’m not still putting in 16 hour days 5 to 7 days a week, but I am still working hard. I have been better at utilizing my time and being more efficient, which has been good for me (and probably those around me as well because I’m sure I’m not as cranky).

Here is what I think it takes to become successful and do what you want.

You will need a plan.

Someone recently told me that it’s not your passion if you have to plan it out. They believed that if it were your passion, then you wouldn’t have to do anything that you didn’t really want to do. They believed that you could just do what you want, carry on life the way that you want, and everything would just come to you.

That really didn’t make any sense to me.

In order to get what you want, you will have to do things that may not be fun. One of those things is to make plans/goals in order to reach your dream job.

There are several questions that you will probably want to ask yourself:

• So, what is it that you love to do?
• What are your goals?
• Do you see yourself doing this forever, or at least a long time?
• Can you actually make money doing what you want to do? Can you survive off of that income?
• How can you start out with your passion? How long will it take?

You will want to create a realistic plan of when and how you can follow your passion. You might not be able to get your dream job right away, and it may take some time. However, you can make a good plan with actionable steps in order to reach your dream job.

You might not have fun.

Doing what you want might mean that you need to make sacrifices.

There were many times when I had to lose out on sleep (I think a good night was 5 to 6 hours, normal was three to four in a night).

I used to wake up for work around 6 a.m., work until around 5:15 p.m., start classes at 5:30 p.m. and not get home until 10:30 p.m. Many people do the same thing and have KIDS so that they can reach their dreams. Seriously, I don’t know how some people fit everything into their day.

You just have to think about your end goal and what you are working towards.

You will have to take a leap of faith.

The scariest thing about following your passion is actually making the leap to follow your passion.

You will be nervous. You will be scared.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone who wasn’t scared to follow their passion. It’s only normal. However, if you are following a realistic plan and are working hard, then following your passion should be attainable.

Do you think being able to follow your passion is just luck? 

What tips do you have for someone who is wanting to follow their passion?