Defining your Passion - on Fear

Welcome to Week 5

Defining your Passion

Topic ~ on Fear

To recap:

Week 1 - Defining your interests

Week 2 - Removing obstacles keeping you from success

Week 3 - Changes necessary to make your dream happen

Week 4 - Establishing your niche

Week 5 - Fear

Clicking on the Passion button on the sidebar widget will capture the complete series.


Fear.

When you say the word fear, you mind may conjour up scary movies, or the potential of possible disasters to take place.

But you are reading this series for a reason. And it's my guess there's a much bigger fear residing in your heart right now. You know by now what you wish you could do. And why aren't you already doing it again?

Fear can TOTALLY keep you from proceeding with your passion filled dream. And the best way to fight the fear is to dig a little deeper to see where the root issue is coming from.


What is causing your fear? Here are some possible points to consider:


#1: Pursuing your passion may be deemed silly by others.

One thing I know of for sure is, everyone has an opinion. But just also know, opinions are just that. What makes something wrong for one may be completely right for another. Only YOU know what you love, desire to have and to be. Now those naysayers, what are they doing for a living again?!? Do they love what they do or did they take the 'more reasonable route?' Jealousy often comes across in lots of ways, and the naysayers rate pretty high up there. Don't let the back seat drivers blindside you. Do what is right for YOU.

When I started my current company, I don't remember anyone thinking I was crazy. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. I knew what I wanted and I went after it. And stunned a few on the way up.


2. Your dream may not bring you a decent income.

Rome wasn't built in a day. There's also no guarantee that your dream pursuit will bring you the kind of income you  desire. But we all know, those that are following their passions totally have a different mindset in life. And from that positive mindset, how can good things not become of it? Generally those that follow their passion are quite good at what they do. It's the passion that keeps them striving to be better at where they're at. It's trial and error. It's problem solving. They go go go because honestly, they can't stop. With all that 'practice,' it's pretty difficult to NOT be great at your chosen profession.

Why not start small on the side of your other income? Gradually progress with your passion while maintaining your current life's work and slowly morph things in the right direction. That is one of the safest ways to change your direction. I did this 15 years ago with my current career and I'm here to tell you it worked.

Here's my own experience again. I had a life partner at the time that provided a financial cushion. I soon didn't require the cushion and in fact, exceeded even my own expectations, including anyone around me. I didn't concentrate on the almighty dollar. I went after the dream and it provided me a very nice income. Build it and they will come. My current plan is to keep doing what I'm doing while building on my new passion. I have nothing to lose and any gain will be a bonus.


3. You may fail.

What if you aren't good enough? What if others don't like what you do? How on earth do you get past this one?!?

At some point, you just have to go for it.  Do what you desire for free for a friend and 'try it out.' Learn all you can so you have some education behind you. Work alongside someone doing what you wish to do to gain experience. Become confident in your abilities, and there's nothing that will get in your way. Become a positive influence to yourself. Try it in such a way where you're bonusing by trying, rather than losing. (ie: work your current job while trying the new one on the side)

Me again. When I started my current career working elsewhere doing the same thing, I had little training. I soon found I required more formalized training and improved rapidly from it because of my hunger to learn. Failure didn't enter my mind. Improving and doing did.


4. You aren't trained.

From my own observations, those that go full force towards their passions are hungry to learn learn learn. Education is power here. The library, online resources, and schooling can all get you where you need to go. Working alongside others doing the same thing can speed up your learning curve considerably.

I needed to learn how to work with tools so I started at the bottom, working with a company that offered me that type of hands on experience, alongside my regular career. I now have a garage full of tools that many  borrow on occasion. I have NO idea what I ever did without my 'toys' these days. Without those tools is like having arms with no hands. You totally need the right tools to do what you desire to do. So, get trained.

I'll use myself as another example. When I started my current company, I had no formal training whatsoever. So I jumped into school by day AND self taught myself in the evenings. (I was on employment benefits at the time so rather than sit at home and mope, I made the most out of my downtime) I went to the library and had at least 3 different books out on the same subject I was studing. I learned by day and practiced at night via those library books. I eventually bought product and equipment and started working nights and it just grew from there. I self taught myself nearly everything. It wasn't easy, but I refused to take "I can't" for an answer.


"A dream job should not be something left to chance, destined to live in the shadows of fear and fantasy. If you truly feel that your passion is leading you toward a more meaningful work life, then investigate the potential and lose the fear."

Quote from THIS ARTICLE.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

Another wonderful inspiring quick read is from Copy Blogger. Read their latest installment called, Kill Your Good Ideas.


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This week's deep thought ~ please put in this week's comments:

Think about what you wish to do. What fears are stopping you? How can you defeat them?

Your comments help me determine if there's continued interest in the series. Please let me know via comments if this installment helped you or if you're simply a continued supporter of this topic. Thanks!