How To Put Your Dream Job To Action

One of my favorite quotes that my dad taught me when I was younger is “if you love what you do, you don’t have to work a day in your life.” Now I know that my dad didn’t create that quote and he probably found it online and read it to me, but this quote has been a goal I want to achieve. I think everybody wants that. The idea of waking up every day and being excited to go to your work instead of dreading it. And the best way to love going to work is by doing something that you are passionate about.

I figured a few people that read this blog may be feeling this way or lost and unsure what to do with their lives, and so I did some research about how to love what you do every single day. The article I found comes from mashable.com, and the title is “7 work habits that will overcome your lack of passion.” You can access the article here. You can read it for yourself and decipher the message you want from it, but the following is my interpretation of what Aaron ORENDORFF is trying to say.

At first, when I started reading this article I felt bummed because Aaron Orendorff quotes Cal Newport who says “following your passion’ is dangerous advice.” I took that as the idea that a lot of people try following their passions and fail. He then goes on to say that it’s not just Newport that is saying this but a “host of leaders. academics, and entrepreneurs have all come to the same conclusion: nearly everything you’ve been told about following your passion is wrong.” I then realized that it’s not people trying to follow their passions and failing that is the concern, but its how you pursue your passion that matters! So let’s begin the journey of what habits we need to have in order to create the job we want for ourselves!

 

Habit 1: Purpose

The idea of this paragraph is that when you focus on your passion, you are focusing on yourself. When you have a purpose, you are focusing on something more than just yourself. Aaron says “it reorients our focus onto the people and causes we’re trying to reach, serve, help, and love” and it’s not our passion that does this but the purpose behind our passion that does. So if you want to make your passion your career, you need to ensure that what you love to do serves a purpose to other people. If your passion doesn’t serve a purpose, then you won’t have any customers or audience.

 

Habit 2: Picking

I love this habit because I think it speaks a lot of truth and it’s something that we can all work towards. Shaa Wasmund in the article says “No’ is a far more powerful word than ‘yes.’ ‘Yes’ said out of obligation or fear takes time away from the things and people we love.” Take a second to reflect on all the times you have said yes because you felt obligated to say yes. Now think about how much time you spent doing something you didn’t want to do because of that yes. It’s essentially wasted time that you can never get back. We all have limited time in the day and time is our most valuable asset.

‘No’ gives you the power to PICK the things that are important when it comes to making an important decision. When you are starting a new venture for a new career, you need time in order to set yourself up for success. So saying no is going to be crucial to making time for yourself.

My favorite quote of the subject is “that’s what picking is all about: slow down, pause, evaluate, weigh, and only then make a clear-headed choice.” Too often we get so excited about our passion we just try to find every source of information and try to learn everything all at once, and we miss vital steps and time on things that didn’t matter. Picking correctly is how to create a job for yourself that you love.

 

Habit 3: Practice

You know what you love to do and if you followed the other two habits than what you love to do has a purpose, and you have picked the correct opportunities to say no to create time for yourself to pursue your dream job. Let’s talk about habit 3, practice.

You obviously love the job you are trying to create for yourself, but that doesn’t mean you are an expert or professional in the field. Now it’s time to devote all the time you created for yourself to master your passion. “You must zero in on your weaknesses, and you must do so over and over again, for hours a day, week after month after year.” It’s going to take a long time to develop skills in the field you are passionate about. The more you allow yourself to practice the better you become, and you begin to hone your skills. When you become great at the skill, people will see that, and you will obtain followers, customers, fans, and start to create an image for yourself. Saying no leads to time for you to practice which is key.

 

Habit 4: Planning

I would recommend reading this part of the article on the blog because they describe this subject entirely. A lot of people have an idea of what they want for themselves, but they never create a plan. They never create realistic expectations for themselves or even goals. My favorite quote from this is “planning is a golden thread woven through the lives of artists, leaders, and entrepreneurs alike. The trick here is that plans need NOT be grandiose. Rather, they shouldn’t be.”

I love this quote in the article because it’s saying that if you create a plan for yourself with real data and real world options that you are already going to be ahead of competitors. You need a plan for your dream. I love The Minimalists, and I listen to their podcast frequently, and they talk about how when they started out if only 2 people came to a show for them it was a success. It was part of their plan to help people. They didn’t care about themselves or their personal successes, they just wanted to help people, and anybody that showed up was a win. Critics may say that it was a failure, but to them, it’s a huge win! Realistic goals and expectations critical when pursuing your dreams. Hint: It’s probably going to be a slow start.

 

Habit 5: Positioning

The article quotes Jason Stone,

“Passion can only take you so far. After that, if you don’t have the skills, the tools, the resources, the knowledge, and the track-record to move forward, take risks, and expand. Otherwise, you won’t be able to position yourself as an authority. Positioning is key to make sure you are ready when opportunity strikes!”

A common thing I heard about success in college is that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And I find a lot of truth in that statement. Which is why being active in the community you are passionate about is important. I love that Jason says to “take risks, and expand.” You need to put yourself out there and try to get noticed in the community.

I also think this quote from the article is important.

Al Ries and Jack Trout in Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, “is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what’s already up there in the mind, to retie the connections that already exist.”

I think what they are trying to say is that instead of trying to change the idea of who you are in other people’s minds, just manipulate those ideas and embrace who you want to become or who you really are. It’s going to save you time, and people will adjust to you.

 

Habit 6: Peripheral

The main point about being peripheral when pursuing a dream career for yourself is that “passion makes us myopic.”We become so focused on who we want to become or what we want to do that we don’t focus on what what truly is.

“Adopting a peripheral perspective forces us to examine the margins. It widens our view. Rather than rush headlong into disaster, we’re able to spot not just the pitfalls but the opportunities we would have otherwise missed.”

If you are pursuing a passion, it’s important to look at what other people are doing or what is trending and to not get tunnel vision on specific ideas you want.

 

Habit 7: Perseverance

It can be difficult to persevere through all the negative comments and critics talking about you in negative ways. You are going to have people who tell you it’s impossible or that you can’t do it or that you are not smart enough to do it. But if everyone who successfully followed their dreams listened to the people who told them how to live their lives, they wouldn’t be successful. If you really want this for yourself, you need to persevere.

However, it is important to understand that perseverance is also about learning from your mistakes and learning new things. Starting a new venture about your passion means you are going to be making newbie mistakes and you can learn from them which is what Aaron is trying to say in this part of the article.

“Although it might sound odd, perseverance is as much about putting in effort as it is battling ego. Drunk on passion, masters are doomed to repeat failures in the name of “pushing through.” In contrast, students do more than hone their craft; they learn from their mistakes. ”

Don’t be the master, be the student. Be willing to learn and mold so you can become successful. If you find that you are too passionate about what you are trying to do and you don’t want to change or update processes, then your passion is probably better suited as a hobby and not a career. Which is fine! Doing what you love is an important aspect of life.

These last two paragraphs are just too important not to put in.

“But sometimes you won’t come back to win it. At least, not in the moment. Jobs will be lost. Pitches turned down. Relationships ended. And reviews harsh.

Failure, however, isn’t just an inevitable stepping stone toward success. Rejection is part of success itself. As Louis CK put it to a budding comedian, “The only road to good shows is bad ones. Just go start having a bad time and, if you don’t give up, you will get better.”

 

Summary of Dream Following

Something that opened my eyes in this article is that a lot of people are passionate. They want to make their passions a career and make money from it because they probably see other people making money doing what they love. But the execution to make their passion a career is making those people fall short.

If you want your passion to be your career, then you need to have a plan of execution for yourself. A plan for your future job to serve a purpose to people. You need to create time for yourself to learn more about that passion and become a professional or at least known in a community that your passion is based around so you can start to get noticed. One of the most difficult things is not to have tunnel vision about what you want their dream job to be, and if you fail you need to not give up!

 

Failure: The Negative Connotation

Failing does not mean you are a failure! All failing means is that you simply tried something new and it didn’t work! There is such a negative connotation when it comes to failing. The term I use for failing is learning! You didn’t fail you just learned that the processes you used didn’t work! Go back to your plan of action and see what could have caused it to fail and then re-try! You may have to try 100 times over until you find something that works but if you do then you’re going to love your life after! You are doing what you love, so it probably won’t seem like work anyways!

It may come with a lot of pain, and the negative comments are going to hurt, but don’t let them be the final decision maker to quit doing what you love. Because those people are probably miserable and are jealous that you are trying to become something that you want to become and doing what you love. Update your processes, learn from others, and get involved in the community. At the very, very least, you have developed new skills and learned a lot about your passion. If you try for 10 years and fail, then you at least learned skills along the way that will help you in your career, and you were happy in the process.

Don’t give up! Now chase your passions with these habits and find yourself becoming successful!

Do you think that this information will help you achieve your dream job?

Let us know in the comments!

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