How to choose between your passion and a paycheck

Photo by Wisdom for World Domination

If you had a choice between pursuing your passion and getting a job with a steady paycheck, which one would you choose?

After I spoke to a room full of students in a career talk session months ago, one of them asked: “How do I pursue my passion if it is deemed an unprofitable career?”

The young girl said she wanted to be a theater actress. But her parents want her to study nursing, to go abroad as a caregiver and to earn dollars she could send back home.

She was still in high school and her parents are the ones spending to send her to college so “disobeying” their wishes was something she said she could not do.

But what about her dream of becoming a theater actress?

Remember how we were dreamers?

Photo by kcc_10

When we were kids, dreaming and having an ambition was an easy thing.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” somebody asks.

And we would just say it out loud. “I want to be a doctor!” “I want to be a lawyer!” “I want to be a ballerina!” “I want to be a movie star!”

We say it with certainty, fully believing that our dreams would come true someday.

But the sad thing is, when we grow older, we suddenly become aware of the harsh realities of life.

• Wealth versus poverty.
• Being ambitious versus being practical.
• Pursuing your passion in life versus having a real job.

More often than not, being practical and getting a real job wins over pursuing our dreams and our passions.

We are told that we need to have real jobs that can put clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads and food on the table.

We are told that it would be stupid to pursue something just because we want to especially if there is no salary or profit guaranteed.

Bottom line: We need to earn money to survive.

We see many of them: people who jump onto the wheel and get stuck in jobs they don’t even like doing because they need to earn money to pay the bills.

They comfort themselves saying, “It’s okay. I’ll get to do what I want someday.”

But when will that someday come?

For passion and money

Photo by Placebo Effect

One of the best pieces of advice I picked up from reading self-development books is this:

Find out what your passion is and devote your life to make a living out of it.

Oprah loved talking to people and she was real good at it. How did she make a living out of the one thing she loved to do? Have her own talk show.

Sounds simple and easy? Not really.

Before Oprah got her own talk show she first became a host for a radio talk show in Nashville in 1971.

Two years later, she became a TV correspondent and co-anchor for the local news program.

Three years later, she moved to Baltimore and became an anchor for the local 6 o’ clock news.

Two years later, she became a co-host for the local talk show.

Finally, seven years later, she moved to Chicago which became the birthplace and permanent home of “The Oprah Winfrey show.”

Add up all the years together and you’ll see that that it took Oprah 14 years to achieve the ultimate dream.

Since then she had expanded her passion to become a television pioneer, a magazine founder, an actress, and an online leader. On top of that she also became a TV and radio programmer launching shows that help change people lives.

But more than being one of the wealthiest women in the world, her biggest achievement was becoming a living angel extending helping hands to millions of people around the world.

All because she did not choose between her passion and a paycheck.

She acted to make her passion the source for her paychecks.

So how do you do this?

Photo by Altus

This is a process I’m going through myself. And to illustrate the steps below, I will be giving my own examples. Normally, these questions would trigger pages and pages of writing in my journal but I’ll just be giving you the condensed answers below.

1. Find out what you are passionate about.

This is a very important step because your passion will guide you to the path you need to take. There is a good list of questions on how to find your passion, but here are a couple to get you started:

Q: What excites you?

A: I get excited when it comes to the area of personal development. You can set me loose in a humongous bookstore, but you’ll only find me in the self help section. The books there are treasures for me because I consider myself a student of life and a work in progress.

Q: What do you love to do?

A: I love reading personal growth books. I love writing in my journal. These two loves have been part of me as far back as I could remember. But I also discovered as I was growing up that I love teaching, conducting speeches and facilitating seminars. In high school, I remember some of us were given the opportunity to be teachers for a day and I loved it immensely. I also loved it when we had public speaking exercises in class and I always chose inspirational pieces from my favorite authors.

Q: What are you good at?

A: I consider writing and speaking as my primary strengths.

Q: If you did not need to earn money for a living, what would you do?

A: I would establish an organization that promotes self-development. Start my own lifestyle show. Write an inspirational and motivational book. My friends say my optimism is inspiring to them. And I consider that one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. I want to inspire and empower people to pursue a passionate and positive life.

Q: What is that one thing that you love to do that you are willing to do it for free?

A: A few months ago, I was invited by my former high school to be part of a career talk session. I wasn’t paid a single cent but I loved every minute of it! Given the chance, I would volunteer again for free.

Take the time to answer these questions for yourself if you still haven’t found your passion or when you need to re-focus your passion.

Remember that when you do this, you have to focus on yourself. This is the time to shut out other people who tell you what to do. Believe in the power of possibilities. Replace thoughts like “I can’t do this” or “This is simply not possible” to ” I can do this” and “If I act, anything is possible.”

2. Brainstorm ways you can make a living out of your passion.

Now this is a challenging part because it’s often easier to just think about the usual ways to earn a living like getting a 9 - 5 desk job. Not to mention, easier to implement too.

But remember this, while changing your life for the better means you need to take a huge step forward, it also means you will get a huge reward in the end too: a full life lived with passion and purpose.

When you start thinking of the ways to earn money from your passion, connect it with the things you love to do.

If one thing doesn’t work out, open your mind to other possibilities. For every single thing that doesn’t work out, there has got to be a dozen doors opening up for you. You just have to open your eyes wide so you can see them.

Remember too that it has to be something that feels natural to you. Because if it doesn’t, then it probably means it’s not what you should be doing in the first place.

A personal example: I wanted to establish a career on television and dreamed of making it big just like Oprah. I thought it would be cool to follow her path and be a news anchor first. So I took action, I applied believing it was the one for me without really thinking if it was the right path to take.

But the moment I started my audition and faced the camera, I felt like fish out of water. It all seemed so unnatural to me. I was made to annotate a video footage taken of soldiers engaged in warfare and I went blank.

All the while I was thinking: “What are you doing auditioning for a news anchor position? You don’t read the news. You don’t like news!”

Who was I kidding? I didn’t like covering stories that dealt with death, war, crime, politics, corruption and all the negative things you can come up with. Yet there I was putting myself on the spot.

Later on, I realized, I mixed up making it big with making a difference.

Being on TV sure gives me a shot at fame but that is not the only way I can pursue my passion.

So what other doors could open for me?

Blogging because it comes so naturally for me. It’s just like writing in my journal only that you get to read it.

How will I make a living out of it?

By making my blog an income earner. And if you’ve been around the blogosphere long enough, you’ll know of those people who are making a steady income off their blogs. I’m just taking baby steps but that is a path I’m exploring now.

Another option is becoming a professional motivational speaker. Judging from the career talk experience I mentioned above, it was definitely something I’m all fired up about. In the future, I’d like to expand it by actually conducting seminars and workshops that would not be just about speaking and motivating people but real doing and moving people to take action and see results.

I’m sure there other ways I can explore my passion. (If you’ve got suggestions, I would appreciate them too.) But these are the doors I’d like to enter now. If and when I do close them, I’ll just move forward and open another.

3. Make a plan based on your answers in number 2.

Take it easy and just explore one thing at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time. Remember that planning to perfection may tire you out and get you nowhere. So the best way to go is, make a simple plan and work on it right away.

For example, I’m focusing on blogging and making my blog an income earner. So my basic plan would be like this:

Phase 1:

1. Determine the focus topics of my blog.
2. List down possible articles.
3. Pick one topic and write about it.
4. Publish on blog.
5. Repeat letter b to d.

Phase 2:

1. Get traffic to my blog.
2. Find advertisers.
3. Set up income streams on my blog.

Of course, each step is composed of more micro-steps but by just outlining the basic action plan, I already have a good idea of what I need to do to get started.

4. Act on your plan! Now!

Once you’ve got your basic plan, act on the first thing right away. If possible, right now!

Since I decided to relaunch this blog, I have been challenging myself to publish at least one blog post a week. One seems like an awfully low number but right now, it is the most realistic number for me. Once I get the hang of things, I will raise the bar higher and challenge myself to post more frequently.

Right now, what matters to me is I write posts that are easy to understand as well as pleasant to read. More than meeting a weekly quota, I want to post meaningful and valuable entries that would make a difference to you.

Sometimes, I hit a brain slump and I can’t seem to process ideas in my head

Sometimes I get a motivation slump and I just can’t move myself to write.

But one thing’s for sure: I just keep trying and doing it until I get it done.

After I’ve achieved my goals for this blog, then it would be time to expand and reach for bigger goals.

What if….?

You’re really running in a rat race and you can’t afford to stop now or else you’ll be in debt.

You have a family to support and children to feed .

You have no capacity to support yourself yet like the student I mentioned in the beginning of this post.

Are you in a dead end and you have absolutely no choice but to stay where you are?

Only if you choose to.

I believe that in every situation, everyone has a choice. Sometimes we just don’t think we have a choice because the other options are often harder and riskier to take than others,

I am married with two kids and I work in a regular job.

I could either stay in my regular job and benefit from the steady income it would give me or I could just drop everything and plug away at my blog hoping it will bring in the profits fast enough.

Of course, the second option sounds stupid and impractical because I have a family to support but it doesn’t mean I should stay stuck.

The best thing to do: maintain my current job and set aside time to work on my passion project. Until such time that my passion already brings me the paychecks enough so I can quit my regular job.

Sounds hard? Maybe. Workable? Definitely!

I would give the same advice to our confused student. Follow your parents and take the course they want you to. But find ways to explore your passion on the side. Join theater groups, undergo theater training or perform in local plays. When you reach a point that you can make a living out of your passion career, devote your whole life to it and give up everything else.

Re-frame your thinking about your current situation.

Rather than seeing challenges as obstacles, look at them as stepping stones.

It means you have to work harder and manage your time smarter, but when you’re finally living the life of your dreams, you’d know it was all worth it.

How do you choose between your passion and a paycheck?

You don’t.

You find a way to make your passion bring you the paychecks and watch your amazing life unfold.

How are you pursuing your passion?