{"id":332,"date":"2010-11-25T19:00:08","date_gmt":"2010-11-26T01:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/?p=332"},"modified":"2010-11-27T01:08:19","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T07:08:19","slug":"transforming-your-part-time-passion-into-a-full-time-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/creative-inspiration\/2010\/11\/transforming-your-part-time-passion-into-a-full-time-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Your Part-Time Passion into a Full-Time Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.<\/strong>\u201d ~ <\/strong><\/em>Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


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Reaching for the Stars<\/h3>\n

Are you an aspiring or \u201cstarving\u201d artist?\u00a0 A wannabe-writer?\u00a0 A someday-star?<\/p>\n

Are you filled with a passion to somehow change the world for the better?
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Perhaps you\u2019re a student attending college or university, aspiring to be an actor someday, but in the mean time all your time is devoted to your classes, homework, and working at a part-time job to foot your tuition and cost of living.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, maybe you\u2019ve actually completed your studies, but are having difficulty finding work that fits in with your degree and dream-job, and thus you opt to work as a waiter while looking for other work.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve always wanted to be a writer, but your creativity seems squashed by your day-to-day boring job that you really only do so that you can pay for rent and food and, hopefully, buying yourself some time to write.\u00a0 But you don’t seem to be getting anywhere with that because your job as a waiter really drains your creative energy.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve got great musical talent and ability and have always wanted to sing your heart out on stage while playing the piano or guitar, seducing your audience with your whimsical words of wisdom and tantalizing tunes, but for some reason just can\u2019t seem to get started, even in your spare time.
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If this sounds like you, you\u2019re not alone. Many of us have dreams and aspirations to be more than what we currently seem.\u00a0 Striving to be more than what we are is part of being human.
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Overcoming Inertia<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Getting started on transforming your dreams into reality can be one of the hardest things to do, even if it is getting started on following your heart and your passions, living the life you\u2019re always imagined.<\/p>\n

But why does it seem so hard?\u00a0 If you\u2019re pursuing your passion, wouldn\u2019t doing so be easy?\u00a0 Your passion is supposed to fuel you with energy allowing nothing to get in your way\u2026 isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Your apparent lack of ability to get started is probably an indicator that you aren\u2019t even truly passionate about what you thought you were passionate about\u2026 and you should probably just re-label your \u201cpassion\u201d as a mere \u201cinterest\u201d, and instead pursue it passively as a hobby or pass-time\u2026 Right?<\/p>\n

Should a trip to the moon or Mars remain a fantasy simply because it\u2019s really frakkin hard to overcome the pull of gravity that\u2019s keeping you stuck where you are?<\/p>\n

In my opinion, it\u2019s very possible \u2014 and perhaps even common \u2014 to be passionate about an idea of a goal or a dream yet still experience a lot of difficulty and resistance in pursuing that dream.\u00a0 We all have to overcome inertia in order to get moving in the direction of our dreams.\u00a0 Depending on your individual life experiences and circumstances, it\u2019s possible you may have a lot more resistance to overcome than others.\u00a0 Everyone is unique. But that\u2019s completely okay. Recognize and appreciate where you\u2019re currently at<\/a> and move on.\u00a0 Decide what you want.\u00a0 Make a plan.\u00a0 Take action.<\/p>\n

It will take courage, persistence, and perhaps some experimentation to overcome inertia before you change your Passion Litmus Test result from part-time hobby to full-time career.
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Blue = Part-Time Passion\/Hobby, Red = Full-Time Passion\/Career.
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\n\u2026Wait, are those colors of litmus paper test results, or colors of the pills offered to Neo by Morpheus in the Matrix?\u00a0 Hmm\u2026\u00a0 Perhaps they are analogous.\u00a0 \";)\"
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Courage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Why does following the white rabbit of your dreams take courage?\u00a0 If you want to achieve something really badly, something you crave and desire with every fiber of your being, something that you love and care about with a deep passion, this obviously means that the stakes are high and that you care a whole damn lot about it.<\/p>\n

If, perchance, you fail, your faith in your own ability, self worth and esteem might plummet drastically.\u00a0 Maybe the white rabbit will lead you astray\u2026 how do you know if you should trust it?\u00a0 What if it leads you down a dead-end rabbit hole and you fall on your ass?\u00a0 You might experience embarrassment, ridicule, and possibly even depression.\u00a0 Is it really worth it?<\/p>\n

It takes courage to follow your dreams because there is risk of failure and disappointment.\u00a0 Failure, however, shouldn\u2019t be something to fear.\u00a0 A great attitude towards failure is to wear any past failures as if it were a badge of honor. You don\u2019t have to be embarrassed by your failures.\u00a0 Failing at something means that you\u2019ve been through a lot, gained new experiences and perspectives, learned and grown, and most importantly, you\u2019ve survived.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said that the pathway to success is paved with failure, and as such, even though failure may seem to take you even further from your dream, often the opposite itself is true.<\/p>\n

So, back to the question, \u201cIs it really worth it\u201d?\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 Imagine yourself pursuing your dream-job, living the life of your dreams, and the impact that has on the world and those around you.\u00a0 What does it look like?\u00a0 More importantly, how does it make you feel<\/em>?<\/p>\n

If you feel excited, happy and joyful and can\u2019t think of anything else you\u2019d rather be doing with your life, then you know:\u00a0 This is the path for you, and this is the path you must follow.\u00a0 Become the white rabbit and forge a path \u2014 a journey<\/a> \u2014 of your own creation.\u00a0 Perhaps others will follow you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Taking the red pill isn\u2019t always easy.\u00a0 But no matter the resistance you may face, you must exercise courage and tread your path with a confident strength.
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Persistence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cNothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.\u00a0 Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.\u201d ~<\/em> Calvin Coolidge<\/strong>
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The above quote is one of my favorites.\u00a0 It has a wonderful message we should always keep in mind while on our creative journey reaching for the stars. Persistence is going to act as your main fuel to make your dreams and passions a full-time reality.\u00a0 Think of passion as fueling your ideas, thoughts and emotions, vs. persistence fueling your actions to make those thoughts and ideas a reality.\u00a0 If you apply passion without any persistence, you’re not going to get anywhere.\u00a0 The more you persist, the closer you will be to the stars.<\/p>\n

Through persistence, your level of proficiency at manifesting your passion and creating something tangible that you can share with your audience and the world will increase.\u00a0 Of course it stands to reason that in the beginning while taking your first steps along your creative journey you won\u2019t be very proficient in your field, and so it will take time to get where you want to be.\u00a0 But that’s okay!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect to become a sought-after expert as soon as you start.\u00a0 That\u2019s like expecting to be able to pass your twelfth grade exams and graduate high school shortly after beginning kindergarten.\u00a0 Unless you happen to be some sort of brilliant genius, chances are pretty high that that\u2019s not going to happen.\u00a0 It’s also akin to wanting to complete your journey after you’ve barely started.\u00a0 Maybe you could do that… if you invent transporters.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

If you have an innate talent and ability in your field of passion, it might<\/em> take you less time to build proficiency than someone who is starting from zero, but even if you\u2019re someone starting from zero, don\u2019t let that fact hold you back from pursuing your dreams if you know it\u2019s what you really want to do.\u00a0 Besides, even the above quote recognizes that persistence outweighs talent.\u00a0 Accept where you currently are on the map and then journey onwards, persisting one step and a time.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t beat yourself up if you don\u2019t instantly become an over-night success.\u00a0 If you\u2019re capable, committing to longer travel days during your creative journey will likely get you where you\u2019re going a lot faster than someone meandering along at a slower pace.\u00a0 But ultimately, you alone will know what your (current) limits are and will need to pace yourself accordingly.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, in order to grow, you’ll want to push yourself outside your comfort zone by striving to persist for longer periods of time than what you’re normally comfortable with.\u00a0 Before you know it, you’ll be able to travel along your creative journey for longer periods of time, enabling you to get where you’re going at a much faster rate!<\/p>\n

When you first commit to the decision of transforming your passion into a full time career, things may seem to be going really slowly as you\u2019re starting to overcome the resistance of your current surroundings.\u00a0 If you\u2019re reaching for the stars, you\u2019ll need to overcome the pull of gravity that\u2019s keeping you where you are.\u00a0 But again:\u00a0 persist, persist, persist!<\/p>\n

As you push through any resistance that’s acting against you, you’ll grow stronger and stronger.\u00a0 With each passing day, you’ll gain strength, and with each passing day, you’ll be moving away further and further from your initial destination.<\/p>\n

If you’re aiming for the stars, you’ll have to push through gravity that’s holding you back.\u00a0 But as you get stronger you will be able to overcome that opposing force.\u00a0 Soon you’ll realize that the further you get from your initial destination, the resisting force opposing your actions will become weaker and weaker.\u00a0 Through persistence you’ll be able to eventually escape gravity’s pull on you, and from there, it’s all smooth sailing!
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Experimentation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It will take some experimentation, trial and error to figure out the best way for you to persist through the opposing forces that seem to keep you where you are before you can be among the stars, living your dream and passion as a full-time career.<\/p>\n

For example, I’ve been working as an independent theatre artist since 2003.\u00a0 And even though where I am today is a completely new territory compared to where I first started over seven years ago, I’d say I still have quite a ways to go to reach my full potential.\u00a0 I’m reaching for the stars, but gravity is most definitely still working against me.\u00a0 I’d have to say that I haven’t quite built up enough strength yet to escape the pull of gravity that’s keeping me here on earth.<\/p>\n

I believe one of the main reasons as to why I’m still “stuck on Earth” is because, up until present, I’ve been pursuing my passions on a part-time basis by default, as I haven’t been throwing myself into my passion on a full-time basis.<\/p>\n

If you take a look at my blog as it is today, it’s pretty unlikely you’d say I’ve been making it my priority.\u00a0 I haven’t got too much content up as of yet, and I’ve been posting new entries on a pretty sporadic basis.<\/p>\n

If you take a look at my theatre-career, I’ve been self-producing an average of one solo play a year.\u00a0 If I were committed full-time to my career as an independent theatre artist, I’d be creating or producing theatre on a regularly consistent basis, not just in the summer time, and not just for Fringe Theatre Festivals either.<\/p>\n

Clearly, I have some more experimenting to do in order to discover a more productive way of pursuing my passions.\u00a0 There are tons of areas I could explore and expand.\u00a0 I’d like to be recognized as someone who follows their dreams on a full-time basis, not just as a part-time passion.
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30-day Experimental Trial<\/h3>\n

I’m currently undergoing an experiment to figure out how and where I should focus my attention in order to give myself the needed boost to thrust my part-time passion into a full-time career.\u00a0 On the Monday of this week, I decided to launch off a new 30-day trial.<\/p>\n

The initial challenge of this trial was to commit to a minimum of 4-hours a day working on some activity related to my creative passions.\u00a0 By “some activity related to my creative passions”, I’m included scheduling, planning, day-dreaming (i.e. visualizing), reading, blog-writing, other forms of writing, rehearsing for auditions, working on my website, etc.<\/p>\n

However, at present, I have a lot of bad habits that currently serve to undermine my creative efforts in a very significant way.\u00a0 Like the gravity that keeps us where we are, bad habits will have the effect of increasing the pull that’s keeping us stuck where we are, making it much more difficult to escape and go forth in the direction of our dreams.\u00a0 Despite committing to 4-hours of work daily, I haven’t really gotten all that much done in these past four days.<\/p>\n

It’s still possible<\/em> to get where you’re going without first adopting new habits, but obviously a lot more energy will be spent working against the opposing forces that our bad habits have on us, and it’s going to take a lot longer, too.\u00a0 It only makes sense to first decrease the resistance that I have to push through, because at present my unproductive habits eat up tons of my time that could otherwise be spent creating something wonderful to share with the world.<\/p>\n

Therefore, I’ve also decided to include in my “work time” any activity that will aim to increase my productivity and focus in general.\u00a0 So now, instead of focusing this trial completely on the side of my career and passions, I’m going to be extending the focus to include the development of habits that will serve to increase my productivity, which will in turn act as fuel to increase my ability to actively persist in pursing my passions and transforming my dreams into reality.
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Passion Recognition<\/h3>\n

I know that I have to do this this trial and break my bad habits, because I know if I don’t my bad habits will break me.<\/p>\n

When I first decided to commit to this 30-day challenge, I literally started to cry.\u00a0 I didn’t cry because I thought it would be hard.\u00a0 I started to cry because I knew that if I were able to succeed at this challenge, it would mean I’d finally be so much closer to making my deepest desires come true. It would mean I’d have finally achieved escape velocity.\u00a0 I would finally be on a resistless path to the realization of my dreams.\u00a0 I cried because the thought of realizing my full potential is the reason why I am here.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the reason why all of us are here.<\/p>\n

Recently I’ve been wondering, do we choose our passions, or do our passions choose us?\u00a0 I used to think the former, but now I’m leaning towards believing the latter.<\/p>\n

Our passion acts like a compass, pointing the way to the path of growth that will in turn lead us to a life of fulfillment.\u00a0 When you overcome any resistance standing in the way of reaching your dreams and press on to realize the dream itself, no doubt you will feel a sense of accomplishment, peace, happiness, fulfillment, and joy. Basking in these feelings even before you get to where you want to be will help you get to where you’re going even faster.
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\nIf you’re also wanting to turn your part-time passion into a full time career, I invite you to share your journey with me!\u00a0 Perhaps we can help each other by sharing our experiences.\u00a0 So far I’ve learned that a really helpful step you can take is learning what forces currently seem to be acting against you — bad habits, environment, people, etc. — and then doing what you can to eliminate the drag these forces have upon you.<\/p>\n

Making the transition to creating your part time passion into your full-time career can be difficult.\u00a0 Making your dreams come true isn’t always going to be easy, but I can guarantee you that it will always be worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.\u201d ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Reaching for the Stars Are you an aspiring or \u201cstarving\u201d artist?\u00a0 A wannabe-writer?\u00a0 A someday-star? Are you filled with a passion to somehow change the world for the better? Perhaps you\u2019re a student attending college or university, aspiring to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,3,9,63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rachellefordyce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}