Saturday, March 14, 2020

Should You Do What You Love for a Living What are the Pros and Cons

Should You Do What You Love for a Living What are the Pros and ConsDo what you love. That sounds so lovely and so easy, right? spielblttchen your obvious passion, and find a way to get paid for it. Easy peasyexcept when its not. Doing what you love isnt always the easy optionit could require sacrifices, complicated decisions, or even the realization that you dont know what you love to do after all. So what do you do? Should you find a reliable career path that doesnt stress you out, but also doesnt really excite you? Or should you pursue that passion project, and risk it all on that path? googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Theres no one-size-fits-all answer here. Both have benefits and drawbacks. Lets look at some of both.THE PROSLets say youre feeling ready to turn that photography hobby into a small business, or take the job working for that tiny nonprofit instead of the wealthy conglomerate. What are the benefits?Legacy is greater than c urrency.If you choose a job that pays the bills but doesnt feel like your calling, you dont get any promises that it will pan out as the best financial option. But entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk is pretty militantly on the go for it side, arguing that you can monetize what you love, as long as you hustle.Money doesnt have to be your personal currency.And Im not talking about bitcoin or Chuck E. Cheese tokens here. Your relationship to your work may be your own personal currency, worth as much as the financial benefits you might find elsewhere. Dont get me wrong, you leise need money of the cold hard variety if you enjoy food, shelter, and wifi, but your personal currency might not always align with money considerations.Youre mora invested in your job.If youre doing something that engages you personally and professionally, you may be more likely to be attentive and creative.Stability might not outweigh misery.If youre truly unhappy or under-stimulated at your stable-but-meh job, the re sulting stress and malaise could actually be harmful to your emotional and physical health. Some research suggests that happy employees are 12% more productive, so why not find work that makes you actually happy?You spend more time at work than anywhere else, so why not make it countWhen you think about spending 40+ hours a week doing something (anything), how does that make you feel? If the idea of spending that time processing Excel reports makes your face involuntarily scrunch up, thats a sign that maybe you should look for something more in line with your interests.THE CONSNow lets take a peek at the devils advocate side. What are the potential drawbacks of making your passion your career?It may close off other paths.If you lock yourself into a path you may have chosen as a youngster, you may not find it as easy to branch out and develop other skills, growth areas, etc. In his book So Good They Cant Ignore You, Author Cal Newport argues that youre better off bolstering skills in stead of interests, and giving yourself career capital that you can use in various avenues throughout your career.Theres no guarantee your passion will be a fulfilling professional choice.Have you ever really wanted something, then gotten it, and realized that hmm, this isnt as great as you thought it would be, in your head? Theres a real chance that following the follow your passion advice (you follow me?) isnt a great long-term choice for you, once you get into the stage of needing it to pay the bills.If you follow your passion, youre probably going to fail.Another Ted Talk-er, this time Benjamin Todd, a career coach, walks through the scenario of pursuing that passion, and finding that the work itself isnt all that fulfilling. Todd argues that theres no real evidence linking interest-matched jobs and job satisfaction.What if your passion changes?Most career choices dont have to be made once and kept forever, but changing paths can be a major challenge. If you do choose your passi on as a career, think hard about what happens if you wake up one morning and decide that youre not so keen on that hobby thats now your livelihood.What you love may not be where your talents lie.For example, I love TV. I love watching it, talking about it, reading about it. But as much as I enjoy it as an art form, the industry isnt really aligned with my educational background or skill sets. Those are both things that can be picked up and developed, but personal investment isnt always enough to make the professional leap. If youre a rockstar at accounting, and can put together a profitable and reasonably satisfying career doing that, is that the worst thing in the world?How Do I Pursue My Passion as a Career?Okay, so if youve gotten through the pros and the cons, and mucksmuschenstill want to move forward with this do what you love thing, theres a major logistical problem how? How do you get departureed? What do you consider? What do you do to move this ball forward, so that its no longer an I should do this pipe dream?Think hard about the choice youre making.Career choices shouldnt be made lightly, or impulsivelythe consequences of your decision can mean the difference between loving your job and being unemployed and unhappy.Set a timeline.So many awesome ideas die on the vine because they get lost in the realities of daily life, and dont have a schedule attached to them. Ill do it later, tomorrow, next week. Once youve made the decision to pursue your passion project as a career, come up with your game plan. That includes timing. If you want to be in a new job by next year, start working on your resume and building skills now. Set interim goals that you can hit in the meantime, so you feel like youre making progress toward the ultimate goal of working in your passion field.Be realistic.If youre 36, its probably too late to be a ballet dancer or an astronaut if youre not already on that path. Turning to your inner child to help identify what youre passionate about can be great, but this choice really needs to line up with the adult youve become, and your realities. Similarly, heres where you decide if your love of Ukranian chamber music affords any actual job opportunities in your area. Dig in and do some research about what the job opportunities are for your interest.Take classes and build your skills.It may be that pursuing your passion means starting your own business. If thats the case, learn everything you possibly can about how to start and run a business, and the various hardships you might face. Take classes online or in person to start building a structure to go with your new career goals.Be brave.At some point, youre going to have to take a leap here. You should absolutely take the time to figure out if this is the right path for you, but you also need to be prepared to end that phase and just go for it.When you make the decision to go for it, understand that youre taking a risk. But isnt everything a risk when you get right down to it?What If I Dont Know My Passion?A lot of pressure is put on the stichwort doing what you love, that sweet spot where your interests, skills, and opportunities line up so magically. What if you like some things, are good at some things, but dont know if that constitutes the kind of passion that demands a career change?Life coach Terri Trespicio advises you to stop looking so hard for that passion. Try different things, and dont be afraid to fail while you look for the most fulfilling career path. Passion is the full force of your attention and energy that you give to whatever is right in front of you. And if youre so busy looking for this passion, you could miss opportunities that change your life. You could also miss out on great love because thats what happens when you have tunnel vision trying to find the one. Start by finding what you like to do, what youre good at doing, and go from there. If youre open to letting your passion find you instead of the other way around, you could find yourself on that doing what you love path without even meaning to be there.Theres no single way to pursue your passion, but as long as you put time and energy into figuring out a) what that is or b) how that fits into your life and your career, chances are youll be just fine.

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