“We all have dreams and passions – those which can be easily believed, and those which we don’t reveal to avoid making a joke of ourselves.”
Some dreams might seem enormous – hard to achieve and beyond your reach. Somewhat close to impossible, or unbelievably difficult. You crave them and know for sure that it’s what you want to do. Still, you don’t take a step further.
Following your passion seems risky. Mostly because you think you aren’t capable and worthy of achieving it, yet.
You see no possibilities and the roads seem blurred. You understand what you want but somehow fail to figure out the road to your destination.
Spending a life working on your passion might appear unattainable. You get stuck at some stage. You become lost. The reality gets you.
You wonder why you aren’t able to get closer to what you once desired and wished for. You want to start anyhow, even if it takes time and effort.
Yet, you don’t move an inch.
You remain where you were years ago, nothing changes, life passes and you begin to think of yourself as a coward. A loser. But this doesn’t have to be this way – you can start following your passion.
Following your passion can be hard. Or easy. You won’t know unless you try. That’s how it works. However, there’s a practical way, or say a certain set of ways which are interwoven and together which decide your success.
The reason why most people don’t follow their passion
Firstly, most people don’t start.
Some are willing to, but they don’t want to step out of stability and aren’t prepared for a change.
Others just accept their failures without ever trying, and consider that there’s no use to putting effort into what they know won’t work for them. In short, they successfully convince themselves that they can never have what they want.
They don’t start. Almost never. They keep wondering at the shore but never dive in and lose their shot. No matter how sad it seems.
Yet, among all these reasons, there’s an infallible way that can lead you towards your passions and make you happy. Not kidding.
I mean, it won’t necessarily make you a millionaire or something (maybe it would), but you’ll be able to finally do your thing. You’ll be able to follow your passion.
There’s a process you need to go through. If you can go through the ups and downs, the process, you get what they want, whether it be the chance to execute your passions or fulfilling your dreams.
So how do you follow your passion or dream when you have no clue about what your next step should be?
Here are 11 realistic ways you can use to follow your passion (and succeed gradually)
1. Take the smallest step
Start.
Don’t think about circumstances, success or anything else. Just start. That would be enough in the beginning.
In fact, that’s what matters the most, because most people never start. The moment you do that, you’re a step ahead.
When you start, you let go what holds you back and that you’re prepared to ascend.
You break the chain you’re tied to. You become free and ready to quit your fears. The start might be imperfect and you’d feel unsure, uncomfortable and insecure, but it’d be great.
2. Learn from the people who do what you want to do
You’re probably not the only one in your arena.
There are several people who have grown from where you’re right now. They’ve learned their own lessons. They know where they stand, and the best thing is that they can teach you.
You can earn what you want, like them.
Learn from them and keep moving forward with those who lend you a hand and never miss an opportunity to learn. Stand on the shoulders of the giants.
Be with them, observe what they do, be curious – have that sparkle in your eyes. It can guide you and inspire you.
3. Learn about how things really work
This step assures you that your dreams can be turned into reality.
What you perceive as unattainable starts making sense at this stage, because you execute your plans, step-by-step, and come to know exactly what you should do.
Your goals only seem impossible only until you don’t get the realistic side of doing them. Once you figure out your way to them, everything gets easier. Even if it’s something like becoming an astronaut at NASA.
“Darn, it seems possible!” you might say. Your beliefs concrete. You become assured.
4. Convince yourself that you’re not an idiot
This is important.
Dreamers are vulnerable, always close to quitting and losing hope. Be prepared to doubt yourself, to fear uncertainties, to fail or to feel miserable.
You might begin to see yourself as others see you – as an idiot, in most cases.
You can survive, along with your hopes, but only as long as you stand on your own feet. The moment you lose your faith, it ends.
Dreams are delicate, like a soap-bubble, you need to save them from the external harm. Have courage and go on, even when it’s dark and it gets hard.
5. Set tiny goals and accomplish them
Find something worth achieving and achieve it.
Do it persistently. There’s barely any other secret. You wish for some things, you learn to get them, and then you get them. Done. Simple?
Though, before the chase that leads you to massive accomplishments, it’s the small things you need to deal with.
When you do small things, you deserve more. You find your way to something greater than you have.
Set some milestones. Work to achieve them. And the moment you achieve them, raise the bar. Crawl closer to your dream.
6. Forget the outcomes for a while
Work hard, learn, and hustle. While doing this, keep your expectations aside.
It takes longer than estimated. Plans fail often. Things go wrong. Bad stuff happens.
Find joy in what you do and find your solace in it. If you can do that, you’ll be happy, otherwise dissatisfied.
If you start only with the intention of gaining, you’ll hate yourself. But if you do your thing for the joy of doing it, you remain happy-go-lucky and don’t stress much.
And believe me, it could be wonderful.
7. Work hard, passionately and honestly
Be honest with your work and have fun doing it.
You choose your passion and dreams. The outcomes are dependent on, well, how fairly you deal with your work. If you’ve found what you know you want, love it.
Take joy in every moment you do your work. Be a master at it. Try to be perfect.
Take care of your work and your work will take care of the outcomes – this works in most cases.
Perfect yourself from the moment you get an opportunity to do what you wanted to do. Even if it’s at a basic level. Your job is to get better.
When you become better, you deserve more. Finally, you gain more. It makes sense.
8. Understand your strengths
Be better.
Bring out the best in yourself. Open up your potential. Attain finesse. Focus on the parts of work you know you’re honed at.
Your strengths prevent you from falling and become that ground you stand on. Derive your power from them while you work on what you aren’t great at.
Sometimes you might realize that you can’t do some things but you’re great at something else. Do what you’re great at.
If quitting what you don’t know makes you feel like a loser, do that as well, yet, what’s important is working on your strengths.
Your strengths are your superpowers. The moment you harness their potential and find a way to use them to achieve your passion, you grow.
9. Develop your skills
Greatness is hard to ignore.
Be helpful, or useful. Be someone who has a golden touch. You get what you want when you’re worthy. Be worthy.
Keep progressing, bit by bit and step by step. Fast or slow. Do what your dream requires you to do and be great at it.
The eyeballs of the world will look at you. The people you’ve been trying to influence will notice you. It’ll be good and you’ll get what you want.
Three words – always nail it.
10. Set long-term milestones and accomplish them
Endings inspire the start, milestones inspire you to act.
Look at what exists beyond the limitations and circumstances – the brighter side. Look around, aim for what you can achieve from where you are.
While doing so, keep your destination in mind. Remind yourself of the picture you had in mind that inspired to start.
You can achieve your goal if you plan and execute by keeping your destination in mind.
11. Hang on
You get enough reasons to quit.
Don’t give up.
No excuse, reason or circumstance makes giving up a right decision when talking about passion.
Let it take longer than expected, work a little harder but don’t conceal yourself. Let nothing stop you from dreaming.
If your purpose is strong enough, stronger than your wants and materialistic reasons, then you’ll go all the way.
Come what may… hold still.
Here’s a tiny secret to success (which isn’t really a secret)
Following your passion doesn’t need some sort of life-changing advice.
More than that, it’s about making your mistakes, finding your own ways, and watching your journey unfold as you go from one step to another. The old rules of hard-work, persistence, and courage still make sense.
If you’re doing something, then keep walking and gather some bits of successes on your way. Eventually, you’d reach the place you’ve been wishing for.