Okay guys and gals, do a thing with me:
First off get yourself into a positive mindset or at least a peaceful one – burn candles, meditate, dance to your favorite song, sing along to your favorite song, play a round of a game you like, look at motivational pictures – whatever it is that cheers you up do it.
Look back at some of the things you have done so far in your life. Now, answer some of these questions for yourself:
- Which activities made you feel the happiest?
- During which events did you feel fulfilled?
- Which did you put the most effort towards?
- Are you spending a good amount of time and effort doing those things? Why or why not?
I find equal amounts of blogs telling you to pursue your passion or to just work hard and follow your effort good things will come from that. I don’t think this is that black and white.
If you’ve gotten a taste of success pursuing a field you prefer to put more time and effort into, actually made money doing it, but you can’t yet get off the ground to at least fly at low altitude with it, this is frustrating as heck.
There are a lot of younger people getting to chase down the things they like spending a lot of time on (cooking, making videos, art, training animals). I have also noticed that a lot of those kids – not all of them – do not have to worry about paying bills on top of breaking into their field. I’ve even heard Concept Cookie/CG Cookie‘s Tim Von Rueden say during a stream that it’s harder to get into a field when you get older. Now, Tim has a great teaching style and runs fantastic improvement workshops. Not only is he good at it it was something unexpected he came into and you can tell he loves doing it. Back on point: although I agree it can be harder the way he phrased it (possibly unintentionally) made it sound like if you haven’t already chosen the field when you are younger it’s not as worth it when you get older.
Woah, hold up.
Let me tell you something – Harrison Ford broke into fame when he stared as Han Solo (and later Indiana Jones) when he was 35.
35, people.
Richard Armitage built bookcases and laid flooring well into his 20s between acting and theater jobs to make ends meet.
If you are balancing paying bills and putting more time and effort into a differing preferred field that has to cheer you up at least a little.
The main thing I agree with in the whole passion versus effort debate is this: time.
When you spend a lot of time on something you become good at it. When you put in that extra amount of effort to excel and step out of your comfort zone you’re pushing boundaries which builds the passion for it. Along with Kate McKeon (founder of Prepwise) I agree you should be prepared to feel out of your element for between a few months to two years. Focus on your good habits and believe you are strong enough to get through this transition period in your life.
You can do this on your own will power. I believe you can do it.
So, what’s the short answer?
You can do anything you want for a living you just have to be willing to work hard putting in the time and effort.
Amaranthine Rain 