Show Up, Even If You Don’t Want To
Like any job, your passion is probably something you wont want to always do, and that’s okay. The key is to show up every day as though you would be docked pay if you didn’t. By instilling his mentality in yourself, your passion will become more serious in your mind and working on your craft day and night won’t seem frivolous. You will be creating a support system for yourself on the days you might feel a bit lazy or uninspired to which will ultimately help you in the long run once you have honed your skills successfully. Set a daily schedule for yourself to pursue your passion and try your best to stick to it. Some people prefer mornings, others prefer night—find what works best for you and give it everything you’ve got.
Put In The Time
No one becomes successful over night so it’s important that you put in all the necessary time to get your passion off the ground and potentially turn it into a full-time career. You might get home from your day job and find that you just can’t muster up the energy to dive into your side project—that’s exactly the moment that you should. Push aside any inhibitions or lethargy and devote even just an hour to your passion. Do that every day and those hours will add up in gained skills and purposeful creativity. Sure, it’s much easier to resign yourself to the couch after a long day, but that won’t help you cultivate the life you want to live later on down the line.
Don’t Get Sloppy
A quick motivation killer is a lack of organization as you begin your project and all throughout the process. You need to know what office setup or schedule works best for you and offers you the best situation to get those creative juices flowing. Without even a small sense of order when it comes to your paperwork or future endeavours then you will find yourself struggling to stay afloat amidst your day job and your side hustle. Keep a structured plan of where you want to be in the next few months with your passion project and, for an added layer of security, store any confidential information regarding it in a data room so that you can rest assured all your plans stay way from prying eyes.
Look Ahead
It’s important in any career or side project that you look to the future and set up the appropriate goals to get you where you want to be. Some people like to work faster than others, while some want to give their project the necessary time to simmer while they balance their day job and social life. All journeys are valid and can be changed to suit your needs at different points in your life. The key is to always have some sort of goal to help push your ambitions forward instead of keeping your passion stagnant. Give yourself some time to plan out what you want your project to look like going forward and also account for any changes that might come along throughout your journey.
Look To The Past
While it probably isn’t a good idea to always be looking to your past for guidance as that can leave you ruminating on mistakes that can’t be changed, it is a good idea to take note of those mistakes and learn from them going forward. Everyone makes mistakes, some more dire than others, but the point of them is to teach you something you wouldn’t have otherwise learned about your goals and the direction of your passion. Maybe you tried to turn your passion into a job sooner than it was ready or perhaps you forgot about it for a bit too long—whatever the mistake was, you now know what works for you and what doesn’t when it comes to making your project the best it can be for your desires.
Create An Online Presence
In this day and age, it’s almost necessary to have some sort of online platform to share your work in order for it to be considered valid or to be seen by others in similar fields. Cultivating an online following can really help elevate your passion into something much more capable of providing you an income later on down the line because of the exposure it can gain from people all over the world. The simplest platform to start with is a website about yourself and your work so that anyone interested can visit it as a hub of information. After that it would be in your best interest to invest some time in growing your social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter as an extra level of exposure. Taking your passion seriously means standing behind it and promoting it as much as possible in any way necessary.
Be Your Own Manager
More likely than not your passion project is something you’ll be working on alone and without any direct management from someone else to guide you through it. That’s why it’s important throughout this process to become your own manager and maintain accountability within your work to ensure that you are getting the most out of it. Call yourself out when you know you’ve been slacking on what you wanted to get done for the week and don’t be scared to switch up your schedule if your current one isn’t working for you. Only you can help yourself achieve the goals you want so you need to stay proactive and willing to work on your methods.
Always Rethink Your Strategy
Nothing is perfect on the first go and every project will require you to rethink your strategy at some point down the line. Don’t take this as a sign that you shouldn’t be pursuing your passion, instead take it as an opportunity to refine your work and make it more suitable to the mental space you are in at the moment. By allowing yourself to change your mind about your direction you will keep the creative flame burning and it will show in the end product you produce.