“You’ve got to find what you love . . . Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. And don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
–June 12, 2005 Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address
We have all heard the phrase “follow your passion” or “follow your dreams”. Yet why do so many of us get stuck in jobs or projects that do not fulfill this desire? There are many paths we can take, many jobs, projects and careers we can embark on. Some of us take on jobs or projects in order to simply pay our monthly bills or putting food on the table. Some of us have a 9-5 job, which may be exhausting and stressful, with no passion and drive.
But what does it really mean to find a career that makes you happy? And how can you actually make the scary leap toward your passion amid vague advice like “just go for it?”
The easy answer is literately just go for it! There will never be the perfect time, the perfect circumstance or the perfect ecosystem for you to follow your dreams.
For me, I have a passion for telecom and technology. This is why my past two companies have been focused around that, Reloadly (my current startup) is a mobile airtime APP & an API platform , allowing anyone from anywhere to send mobile airtime credit back home. I can speak from experience that following your passion will give you the drive, motivation and the relentlessness to succeed. But before getting embarked on your new destiny, make sure that the business model or your career path actually can make you money, support your lifestyle and obligations.
Here are 3 things to consider before dropping your day job to follow your passion.
1. Have savings for at least 3-6 months: When you quite everything your doing to follow your passion, you most probably will not be earning income for the next couple of months. So before you quite your job or change career paths, make sure to plan to have stashed enough funds that can sustain you for a minimum of 3-6 months.
2. Have a plan: Following your passion is great, but your passion should also correlate with well defined plan, road map that can start generating some income. If you want to start a business, do your research, make some sales projections and follow your passion to have a product or service that solves a problem. Your passion will take you a long way, it will give you the scrappy attitude to get shit done!
3. Execution is key: Now that you have dropped your day job and you have a well defined plan, what’s next? How do you turn your plan into action? Well, just do it! Just go out there and followup with your execution strategy. There’s no text book way to follow your dreams, you just have to actually do it and not be scared to take this leap of faith if steps 1-2 is well planned.
Most importantly, do what you love should make you happier at work and in your lives! One of the main causes behind our epidemic of depression is the fact that the majority of people are not participating in jobs that excite them, fulfill them, or speak to their souls. They majority of people are simply not doing what they love for a living—quite the opposite actually. According to a 2014 Gallup survey, approximately sixty-nine percent of American employees are disengaged at work. So whatever path you embark on, just make sure to give it 150% of all you have, follow your passion and don’t give up.
