Originally Published October 13,
2003 -- Your Wellness Guide
Go
Forward and Do What You Love
——————————————————————
|
Being
able to do what we love so that we feel like our lives and our
talents have purpose is important in our quest for a balanced life.
However, sometimes the task seems elusive or impossible. “Seems” is
the key word because it takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and
hard work to truly realize your dreams. Even people who are handed
a “break” in life have to work hard to make that break succeed for
them.
What
are you doing today to “do what you love?” |
Eight years
ago, Tim Rhodes was working for a bank in Charlotte, North Carolina,
helping entrepreneurs build their businesses. Although he enjoyed helping
others, he also wanted his own business.
He was able
to combine his passion for running with his small business interests by
opening up a Run For Your Life running specialty store (the largest in the
Southeast) and a race management company called Rhodes Event Marketing
Services.
|
Photo Courtesy: Run For Your Life
To do what he loves, Tim Rhodes
created an event management service that now scores or times races
in a dozen states for more than a half-a-million participants. |
|
“I think it’s possible for anyone to follow their
passion for something that they enjoy,” the runner
turned businessman told me. “But, it takes a special
personality to run your own business. You can’t just
say I’ll throw something up there and see if it flies.
You have to take calculated risks and figure out
consequences.”
The entrepreneurial art of turning a passion into a
business isn’t a requirement to achieve your life
mission.
“Doing what you love is completely realistic as long as
you don’t expect to make a job out of it,” says the
creator of MyCoolCareer.com, Jill Sanborne. |
|
|
Jill gave me
the example of someone who likes poetry and wants to do it full time. A
lot of poets really want solitude, but to actually be a professional poet
and get paid for it means you have little time to yourself.
“Professional poets teach at universities. They are always traveling and
hired to speak. It’s not the lifestyle they thought,” says Jill.
So, if
you’re contemplating working more on your passions, interests, and
talents, you might want to consider the amount of time you will dedicate
to them, if you can safely withstand a potential income drop in the
process, and if the lifestyle is what your dreams supposed.
To help you
in this discovery process, Jill offers these three steps life-work
balance:
1. Acquire
Self-Knowledge:
Hook up with a career counselor, advisement center, or personal coach who
will give you a number of tests to find out more about yourself. (
www.mycoolcareer.com/selfknow.html
offers a link to many free and low-cost self-assessments.) The more you
know about what interests you and your strengths, the easier it will be to
make realistic decisions about the future.
2. Gain
Knowledge of the World:
Interview and research people who do what you love. Find out how they
spend their day, how they have reached their dreams, and what they
recommend.
3. Go
Forward:
There’s nothing like actually fulfilling your interests and dreams. Even
if it’s part-time, find the way to thoughtfully work toward your goals.
Perhaps you need more education. Perhaps you need a good plan. Perhaps
you just need to do it.
As you go
through the process of honing in your passions and interests, “It doesn’t
mean you’ve been thwarted if you find out your passion won’t work,” says
Personal Coach Laura Berman Fortgang.
Best-selling
author of
Living Your Best Life, Laura told me that “Often when we
choose something, we find out the reality isn’t practical or isn’t what we
thought.”
However, she
says that there is likely a portion of that original thought that is still
valid, and we can move forward by asking ‘What is it about the interest
that I’m attracted to? Who do I want to help and why?’
In her
opinion, Laura says that every life has a blueprint and sometimes we just
have to brush the dust off the blueprint in order to see clearly what we
need to do. This usually takes effort and hard work.
But, here’s
one thought to remember: “Life brings you opportunities when you’re on the
right track,” says Laura.
It’s what
I believe as well.
Terra
Wellington
is a
national authority on creating a wellness lifestyle.
www.terrawellington.com
© Copyright Terra
Wellington