7 tips for following your passion

We all have passions. Or, at least one passion. Something we’re so drawn to and feel like we were placed on earth to pursue.  I recently gave an interview to Career 2.0 which profiles people who have left stable careers to plunge headfirst into the unstable world of pursuing their dreams. The interview gives you a quick synopsis of my educational and work background in a nutshell, but at the end, I shared seven (7) tips for following your passions.

So I wanted to bring those tips here and further highlight those defining moments in my life when I fully applied them (through the related links).

1) Life really is about committing 100% to moving to the next stage.

You can’t move on in life if you are constantly looking back. I learned this when I finally moved to Sweden and made the decision to fully let go of my past life.

2) There is a thin line between following your passions and being selfish.

If you have other important responsibilities you’ve accumulated over the years, find ways of balancing them while trying to follow your dreams. Get rid of unnecessary responsibilities.

3) Learn to say no.

You’ve got to pause, reassess your life, relationships, and projects, and then take proactive steps towards decluttering your life so you can actually start focusing on what you really need to be doing.

4) Sometimes leaping out in absolute faith regardless of the outcome is the answer.

Trust that every risk taken is a natural selection process; unveiling true friends and those who are willing to go that extra mile on your behalf.

5) Hard work will only get you so far and we truly can’t reach where we want to go in life without others.

We need their support and love to carry us through those last few steps. We need to let go and be truly vulnerable.

6) Follow your heart.

While you may not be able to successfully communicate the importance of your passion to others sometimes, that doesn’t make it any less real or important to you. Don’t expect everyone to be excited about your passion as you are.

7) Do not fear rejection.

You will meet it several times along the way when following your passion. How you handle rejection will only build character and make you more tenacious and resilient in the pursuit of what you are meant to be doing.