How to Find Your Passion and Turn It Into a Successful Career

Your job is one of the main factors that affect your mental health and overall happiness: over the course of your life, you’ll spend over 92,000 hours at work. Whether you’re still a student and trying to figure out your future, or you’re stuck in a dead-end job and looking for a way out, now is the right time to find your passion. It’s never too late or too early to start searching for it. To help you along your journey, here’s a guide to finding your passion and turning it into a successful career.

Build the right mindset

Being patient and open-minded is the key to finding your passion. It might take some trial and error to find your dream career, and that’s okay. Say yes to opportunities that will help you learn and grow, even if they don’t exactly match up with what you think your passion is. Don’t let your fear of change keep you from trying new things. You might feel like you’re stuck pursuing a certain career path because you have a degree that prepared you for a specific field. Or, maybe you already have a stable job and don’t want to take the short term risks necessary for long term success. It is not too late to get educated in your field of choice and explore your options further. There’s no need to rush. Talk to people who work in a field you’re curious about, and ask around for volunteer or work opportunities.

Do some self-exploration

Before you find your passion, you’re going to have to do a little self-exploration. Journaling can be a useful tool for you to reflect on what you want in your career life and what makes you happy. Here are a few self-reflection questions to help you find your passion: 

-What did you love doing as a child?

-What are the 3 things you value the most in your life?

-What is your greatest strength?

-How could you use your strengths to help others?

Remember that you know yourself better than anyone else. Explore your individual interests, and be aware of outside influences that are pushing you in a certain direction. Are there people or circumstances in your life that are influencing you to go down a path that you know will not be fulfilling? If so, take some extra time to figure out what you truly want, rather than choosing the most convenient career path.

Invest in yourself

Having the right mindset and exploring your passions will set you up for success, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to invest in yourself. Be prepared to spend time and money on your personal growth. You can do this by planning to save a certain amount each month that you’ll use exclusively for your business. Consider setting a budget for things you’ll need to purchase that will help you explore your passion further and reach your goal. That could range from business coaching, to hosting a website, to a course that will help you start or grow your career. If you don’t have much spending money at the moment, you can still invest your time and energy into researching and learning more in the meantime.

Start a side hustle, but keep your day job

Starting a new project is exciting, and when you’re passionate about something, you might be tempted to drop everything and focus on pursuing that one thing. However, you still want to have a steady income while you build your brand. In the beginning stages, as the saying goes, don’t put all your eggs into one basket. In other words, don’t give up your day job just yet. Start your new business on the side, make a plan, and wait until you have moderate success to quit. At some point, you might have to make major changes and take risks for your business to thrive. But until then, it’s to your benefit to maintain your income so that you can invest in yourself.

Brainstorm ways to make your passion profitable

Know the difference between a hobby that you enjoy versus a passion that you are willing to dedicate your life to. Make sure your new career path is realistic, and that your idea is easy to monetize. That being said, in the digital age, you can turn basically anything into a profitable business if you put in the work. You just need to have the right tools to do so. First, determine how you’re going to turn your passion into a product or service. Next, learn how to use social media and online marketing to your advantage. Who is your target audience, and what problem is your product or service going to help them solve? Why is your business valuable to them? If your goal is to set up a local business, what are some ways you can network and get the attention of people in your neighborhood?

Most importantly, don’t give up on your dream. You might not have an overnight success story, but the truth is, most people who are the best in their field don’t have one either. Continue working toward your end goal, and educate yourself on how to reach it. No matter what stage in your career you’re at, finding a work/school/life balance is essential for personal fulfillment. If you’re ready to start goal setting and making positive changes in your career and other areas of your life, start now by grabbing your FREE copy of The Self-Development Planner below. Subscribe to get more resources for self-development and mental health straight to your inbox!