What are your passions? This is a very important question which all of us should ask if we want to be happy and successful.
Some of you will ask “why?”. The answer is simple. Do you want to do something you don’t like to do? Or do you want to do something, just because you need to survive? Most of us do that. Even I myself do that.
I have plenty of friends, who graduated with IT degree who are not earning as much as they wanted to. They often asked me for advice…saying that they hate IT (and yeah, they spent 4 years in university studying IT) and stuff. In the end, some of them end up in direct sales, IT sales, or a mediocre IT personnels.
You can’t be successful if you are not passionate about what you’re doing.
True, all of us need a steady income to survive….to pay off loans…debts…looking after our family…etc. However, everytime we work on that SOMETHING which we are not passionate about……we’ll feel “empty”…..since that is not what we wanted to do. I am sure some of you have the same feeling.
Try to ask yourself…what are you passionate about? What will do you if you have free time? Minus your hobbies such as sleeping, gossiping, etc……I am sure you have few things which you really like to do. Try go to that direction….think about the things you can work on which will allow you to do something you are passionate about and help you to earn a steady income.
Let’s summarize this…
- Start by asking yourself “what are your passions?” or finding out what do you normally do whenever you’re free?
- Think about what you can do with those passions of yours. How can you get an income out of it?
- Start testing out few ideas with minimal commitment. Try to make an effort, but not as to neglect your main priority, which is your current job and responsibilities.
- Once your mini experiments started to show you some promising results…try to expand them and dedicate more efforts to them.
- If they didn’t end up the way you were hoping they would….then move on and start testing other ideas.
And this is exactly what I’m doing right now. Again, comments/opinions/suggestions are welcome. Hope it helps.
10 comments
Comments feed for this article
December 24, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Mark
I couldn’t agree more with your advice to others about finding the passion in your life. In the IT industry, those who have the passion can and are easily separated from those who do not.
December 26, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Angie Tan
Hmmm…
Long time ago, I was asked if my job was a job to put food on the table or something I was genuinely interested in.
I replied, “sort of both…”
Anyway, I found it easier to work in a job where I was passionate about something than at a place where I was just working like a robot.
In any industry, it is about passion, or else, you’ll just be a factory worker, coming in daily, working until the time you get home.
December 28, 2006 at 2:24 am
dresramblings
One of the most difficult things to do is to walk away from something that you truly believe in because it does not capture your sense of accomplishment anymore. Despite having successes and feeling as though you have a purpose to get out of bed in the morning, it becomes more and more difficult to remain driven. That can make a change in careers more difficult since you want to feel as though you’ve done all that you can. Sometimes the environment can be what keeps you from feeling as though it has been accomplished. At least that’s what I’m starting to realize.
December 28, 2006 at 1:41 pm
drowmage
Someone once said to me – “Find a job which you have passion for and love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I think this holds true to what you’ve mentioned in your blog above.
Took me a lot of guts to walk away from the IT industry and to jump into writing, and it sucks at times to not have a steady income. But I’ve got to say it feels beautiful not having to hate waking up everyday and facing the computer screen.
December 28, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Mark
Very interesting points. I find myself reflecting back even on myself. I am excited to be apart of the IT world, but I feel like I am settling at my current job for different reasons. Sure, there are those few around me who are passionate about IT, but that is typically not the case where I work.
Am I dreaming? There has to be a company big or small out there who wants someone who is passionate and enjoys what he does each and every day. No?
I’m afraid, a lot of people are in the IT industry for the paycheck, it is a little too obvious.
December 28, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Alvin
IT industry will have shortage of resources (in terms of work force) soon. But, if you are not passionate in the IT world…then, you won’t last long.
To Mark…yes, there are companies out there who need passionate people like that….but they are rare.
December 29, 2006 at 1:39 am
Mark
LOL! Thanks Alvin…if you know of one, I’d be happy to hear their name.
December 29, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Alvin
Google? LOL.
January 4, 2007 at 10:21 am
Is your business idea good enough? « Alvin Lim - The Thinker
[...] If you really have a business idea which is good enough to make an impact, do your research first. Make sure you are 100% committed in making your business idea a working and successful business. It must be something you are passionate about. Do some research on it, or so-called market survey. Try out few different routes to market your idea and study the feedbacks. You can find something similar in my previous post “What are your passions?“. [...]
March 9, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Music Video Parodies by Wong Fu Productions - Why Can’t Our Graduates All Be Like Them? « The Drowmage’s Den
[...] The Drowmage thinks that these guys don’t just have talent, they have passion. Passion for what they do. [...]