Why following your passions is the secret ingredient to success and happiness

by vanessa | Jan 30, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

Why Following Your Passions is the secret ingredient to success and happiness

Following your passions is one of the secret ingredients to happiness and success.

Here’s what a lot of people don’t get the benefits to following your passion outweighs the negatives. There this notion going around that to be successful you

have to follow the career path that moves you in that direction. It is ridiculous because as you know times are different. The days of starving artists living in

one bedroom flats eating ramen noodles is no longer the case. The secret ingredient to success and happiness is following your passions.

I am not discrediting education, there are a lot of people who graduated and got great jobs. It is unfortunate that this isn’t the case for many people.

Nowadays, people who are making money aren’t college graduates. Wait for it! There are authors, bloggers, YouTubers, and Podcasters who chose to choose

the other route.

CNBC wrote an article stating that people who follow their passions are less successful than those who choose a career path that works. It stated that

Stanford researchers decided to do a study where they followed a group of people who followed their passions and they wanted to see if success was

correlated.

From my experience, I have seen a lot of people who have followed their passions and it led them to places they never thought of. However, the difference

between them and those who don’t succeed is a plan. A concrete plan that gets them from A to B and to the top.

Those are simply opinions, success is all about passion and execution. Without it well you end up being that starving artist who tries to find themselves but

can’t.

Jeff Goins wrote an awesome book about it and you should check it out. And here is a post I wrote about why people don’t pursue their passions.

Why do I call passions the secret sauce if it gets a bad rep?

Following your passions motivates you

When you are motivated you work harder and because there’s more than one incentive for your hard work you push past your obstacles. I hated running more than anything and I sucked at it. It took me hours to get to the finish line, but there was this one year when I was so motivated.

I wanted to win a trophy so I worked hard at it, ran every day, even beat my sister a couple of times. After a while, I became great at it. Most of you might scoff at it, I was a kid, but I think about that day I realize what motivated me was my passion.

If I wasn’t passionate about winning, well then I wouldn’t have been motivated. That is the difference. Dead-end jobs can motivate you for so long until you question why you are even doing it anymore. When you follow your passions, it will motivate you to keep going even on days when you don’t feel like doing it.

Money isn’t all that

I get it money can buy all the things you want, but when you work for money there are strings attached to it. There’s a saying in entrepreneurship and it says that money can either work for you or you can work for your money.

There are twenty-four hours a day, most people spend that time working for money, doing their best to get enough so they can travel. I don’t believe in that lifestyle because there are so many restrictions. I get it, life happens and sometimes it feels that’s the best choice.

Your happiness is more important. Life is a journey, a beautiful wonderful journey, but most of us never experience this. Our parents paved the way for our education and yet most of them have dead-end jobs or haven’t made much from working.

Not everyone’s story is the same and what I have come to understand is that in a year we don’t have enough time to enjoy life.Monday to Fridays, we go to work, spend more than 40 hours a week working and what do we get from it. Our happiness is more important. I am not selling you an illusion. If they weren’t people out there who travel the world and still make $100,000 dollars from a blog I wouldn’t be preaching this.

What makes them different from you or me? It isn’t that they were born into wealth or they have an incredible talent. They were like you and me. Average Nancy’s, Joes and Mary’s who chose a different route. Money comes and goes, when you follow your passions, it makes the journey a lot more rewarding. So, even if you are broke or rich it doesn’t strip you of your happiness.

When you figure out what your passion is you can easily make a business around and make money from it. The process of going through it, makes it so much worthwhile.

Also Read: Make Money Blogging in 2019

Freedom is a given

Passion gives you the freedom to explore the world and create an impact. Unless you work at Facebook or Google, it is hard to do that. To live a life of purpose and experience all that life has to offer.

At seventeen I lost a friend, I still talk about it because it was as if life shifted. Her death was profound because I started asking the hard questions and I promised myself I would be a better person, live a purposeful life and leave an impact. Before she died, there were a lot of kids I knew who didn’t make it to their eighteenth birthday. So, her death was a final blow. So, I have spent years after her death living purposefully.

Passion helps you leave an impact and do all the things that you want to. Hell, it gives you a platform to do just that. I can tell you life is short, but we all know that. It has been jammed into our minds for so long that we understand it. So, I am not going to do that, instead, I want to ask you a question. What is your story? What do you want to be known for? And don’t people deserve to hear your incredible journey?

Following your passions will give the freedom you so desire. You will wake up on your own timing, be free do as you please and that freedom will give you so much peace.

The Choice is Yours

In 2016, I met Adrian Hayes and my perception changed in a moment. Adrian Hayes had spent the past couple of years climbing the highest peaks, he had been featured in the Guinness World Records thrice. He traveled the world speaking to people about his journey.

We have this perception about success and even entrepreneurship. The problem with this is that we don’t think it’s accessible and because of that we never try. We never step out of our comfort zone and that there is the issue.

Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur, just like not everyone is an artist, but I do believe there are things that we all want to do, but we don’t. You never know where something will take you unless you go on that journey and explore that path.

A lot of people will call you crazy and stupid, but my wish for you is to live a life of happiness and success. To explore the unknown and truly be happy by living a life of purpose. It is there that you understand what it truly means to be happy and free.

What was your one takeaway from this post and if you had the opportunity to follow your passion, what would you do?

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

5 Reasons Why People Don’t Follow their Passions

by vanessa | Oct 17, 2018 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

5 Reasons Why People Don’t Follow Their Passions

People are often terrified to follow their passions because of fear of failure and they believe they won’t make it.

We are taught from the time we are in elementary that getting a good job is what counts. For the most part it does and that is the reason why most people don’t follow their passions. Not because they can’t but due to feeling as if they are meant to go down the same road as everyone else. This is the reason why a lot of people don’t end up doing what they love.

There’s this belief that we will struggle to actually make it while our peers are doing jobs that pay the bills. We seem to not realize that life as we know it is not the same as it was. Everything is different and following your passions won’t lead down the wrong route. There are five main reasons why people don’t follow their passions so here we go;

They Don’t Know What Their Passions Are

People spend so much time living other people’s dreams and watching other people go after their passions that they don’t have time to figure it out. We all go through a routine from the time we learn to walk. We are told what’s next in the line and people go with that. Sometimes we forget that they are five reasons why we don’t follow our passions and it is the same for everyone.

We believe that what our parents tell us because we have been conditioned to follow that route. We are told what we are good at and so we believe that’s what we should be doing with our time. Many people have absolute no idea because they have never actually thought about it.

They were handed catalogs from schools, told that getting into a good program would change their lives and they found themselves doing something they never wanted to do in the first place. When something is your passion, you never lose interest in doing it.

The best way to identify finding your passion is to be curious enough to find out. There could be something that you have untapped that you are good at. Whatever it may be, keeping digging within. It could be something that you used to do as a kid or maybe it’s something you do for your friends or family. Your passion could be interior design.

Write down a list of talents you have and go through the list and determine what you might enjoy. You could enjoy singing, but you don’t want to be a singer. Another talent you have might have is landscaping, but it’s not what you want to do with your life. What is the thing that you wouldn’t mind doing for the rest of your life?

Passion Doesn’t Put Food On The Table

One of the main reasons why people don’t follow their passions is because of the adage saying that passion doesn’t put food on the table. Many people see following your passion as a fruitless pursuit.

Images of struggling artists come to their mind. There are so many stories you hear of people who went nowhere and are living with their relatives. You may feel hesitant after all if Bill, Henry, and your neighbor couldn’t do it then you might not want to test your luck. Many people forget that Bill or your neighbor might have just not followed the right steps and instead got stuck.

Following your passion doesn’t have to be like playing the Russian Roulette, it’s all about understanding money will soon follow when you put yourself out there. Action is far more important than any monetary value you can attach to it. When you put in the time and the effort then what you create from your passion will bring the money.

I Don’t Have Time

Time always seems to be at the top of the list when people give excuses. Successful and unsuccessful people have the same amount of seconds, minutes and hours. Many people make the excuse that they don’t follow their passions because of limited time. We all have twenty-four hours a day, some people wish there was more time and others wish time would just slow down.

What if the problem is you are too busy? And just can’t do anything else. If everyday when you have breaks you work on your dream, whether it is just an hour or thirty minutes. You would be amazed at the results. What if all you want to do is relax and don’t feel up for it? If you truly want to change your life then you must set aside time to change your life. If you want to live life on your terms then you do whatever you can to achieve it. Sleep less, read more and focus your energy on your passion.

Fear Of Failure

Fear are false events appearing real. When I heard that everything became crystal clear, you can protect yourself by never attempting to go after your dream, but you will regret it. You will look at your life and wonder why. Failure and mistakes are part of the natural order, every successful person fails. Take Hollywood A-listers for example, some of their movies are so great there are Oscar movies. Then a movie comes along and it flops, but that doesn’t stop them from doing another movie that could be risky.

Best Selling authors sometimes don’t produce best selling books and they have to go back to brass tactics. Chefs mess up recipes, but they keep experimenting and finding innovative ways to do something better. Some business ventures do not work. The important thing is to understand failure is not permanent, it’s only temporary. Failing doesn’t define you, but not doing anything does. Fear is like a high school bully and the best way to deal with it is head-on. I explain how you can do that right here.

Here are four fears that are stopping you from chasing after your dreams, if you want to stop being afraid to live your best life, learn what these four fears are.

Not Sure How To Start

Sometimes the easiest response to not following your passion is because you don’t know how to start. We all at one point in time grapple with not knowing where to start. The difference with those who are successful is they do it anyway without having the whole plan in place. Ideas float at the top of heads and are like candy canes, we see it, but refuse to pluck it.

So what happens is we never do anything because we think some magical being will come and give us a manuscript or how to guide. Everything will make sense, people will break out in dance and there will be a catchy song to represent the moment.

Hate to burst your bubble, but that only happens in movies, and not your normal kind of movies. The ones where no one has a clue what it is about. Even if you have no clue what to do next, go with what your gut says even if people think you are crazy. When you look deep inside yourself – you will know what the next possible move will be. Don’t go researching ideas until you have a clue what to do next. It will only confuse you and that will stop you from pursuing your passions.

What reasons have you told yourself to stop going for your dreams?

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

Blogging is easier than you think: A Newbie guide

by vanessa | Oct 10, 2018 | Blog, Entrepreneurs, Side-Hustles

blogging is easier than you think: a newbie guide

Many people believe that blogging is complicated, but you just have to change your perception

Many of us see blogging as a beast that needs to be slain and we often don’t utilize it as a tool for success. But blogging is an effective way to make money online, sure there will be moments when you are not sure you are doing the right thing, but this is what we get wrong. Blogging doesn’t have to be complicated, we make it so with our rules.

Sure, you should follow the advice of people who are experts at blogging, but here’s the thing, don’t listen to too many voices. Follow the guidelines of a few and run with it. The most important thing when it comes to blogging is to know that it is like running a marathon.

In order to win that race you have to keep going forward, keeping the end in sight rather than being too terrified to commit to anything. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are blogging.

Baby steps

I know I hate hearing that statement as well, but you must understand Rome wasn’t build in a day and nor will you become a blogging expert in a month. Sure, you might make a lot of money from blogging, but even experts who have been blogging for years are still learning.

So, with that take a deep breath and know it takes time

What you have to keep in mind is it is better to start than to keep waiting around for the answers to float towards you on a cloud of dust. So, keep remembering that. Baby steps and you have completed half the battle.

Writing takes practice

I love writing, maybe because I have been doing it since I was thirteen. It doesn’t matter what kind of writing it is, usually it takes trial and error for me to get it right, but I eventually do.

Most people regard writing as an art form, sure it is if you are writing a fiction book, but if you are blogging it’s all about practice. The more you write the better you get and this will help motivate you.

The first time you write a blog post it will be the most painful process you will go through. That’s a bit of an exaggeration. With time you’ll get better at writing, but it does take patience.

Also Related: Tips & Tools to Write A Good Blog Post

Trial and error

Not everything that you try will work out, there will be missed opportunities, posts that fail to get traction. It is important for this not to affect what you do. Trial and error is simply a part of life, it is a process that you have to commit and with time it becomes second nature.

You can’t be afraid to fail because that is inevitable. As much as trial and error is a part of the process so is failure. You have to fall flat on your face, in order for you to know what mistakes you made. All you have to do is go back to brass tactics and figure out what went wrong in the first instance.

I can’t say you won’t be terrified of failing because that is impossible. Failure is part of the package, got to accept it and move on.

Start Now

If you never start, you never will. You have to get over the fear of starting and push past procrastination lying in wait. The secret to being successful with anything in life is to start now.

Tomorrow or two months from today, but right now

You can pace yourself if you don’t want to jump straight into it, but as long as you start that’s all that matters. I get it, there will always be dozens of reasons why you can’t do something. Don’t listen to those reasons.

Fear will always be nibbling away at your self-worth until you reach the point where you’re not sure if you should even try anymore. Don’t let that be the case, bear in mind that we all had to start somewhere. And if not now then when.

Do a bit of research

When I first started blogging, I knew nothing about it so I made a ton of mistakes. I chose the free version of WordPress only to realize that if I wanted to market myself it was impossible. I knew nothing about niches or themes or even about the importance of adding value.

I didn’t even really know that I could make money from blogging or even how to. The second blog I started, I made a couple of mistakes as well that cost me not only time, but money. The third blog was a passion project that I stopped doing after I realized I wasn’t going to be traveling for a while. Yes, I know it’s strange to start a travel blog and actually not travel. I lost interest with it. Don’t choose a niche that you will get bored with.

Now after making all those mistakes I am wiser, but I wish I did a bit of research before blogging. It would have cut the learning curve in half and that’s why I suggest if you truly want to start a blog, read at least five articles on the subject. Learn from people who have made it, that way it will fast track your success.

Look at choosing the right domain name, niches, hosting and how to make money from blogging. As long as you have a bit of information that’s important. You don’t need to know everything. All you have to know is how to start the right way.

Blogging isn’t as complicated as we make it, all you need to do is research before you get into a niche. What is stopping you from starting a blog?

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

How To OverCome The Fear of Blogging

by vanessa | Oct 3, 2018 | blogging, Entrepreneurs, Side-Hustles

how to overcome the fear of blogging

Starting anything new can be terrifying, but conquering your fear or at least overcoming it is a key to success.

In order for you to overcome the fear of blogging you need to take action. Don’t let anxiety stopping you from starting a blog. Follow your passion, build an empire and conquer your fears. I will show you the exact steps on how to overcome the fear of blogging. The steps I laid out work out, but here is an another awesome article on how to overcome the fear of blogging like a pro.

Do you relate to any of these fears when starting a blog

Failing and starting from scratch
Choosing the wrong blog name and not getting any traction
Getting into the wrong niche
Embarrassment from failing
Feeling as if you are not good enough
People thinking less of you because you are a full-time blogger or starting a new business
Putting yourself out there, stepping out of your comfort zone and feeling as if you’re kidding ourselves (I know this one is usually at the top of the list)

Here are my personal fears that I struggled with

My family and friends thinking I won’t succeed
Not succeeding
My disability getting the best of me
Failing for the third time again in less than 3 years
Not making money
Feeling like a failure

I know these are a lot of fears all combined into one terrifying package. Why even try when there are a lot of reasons you can fail? So, what’s the point of all this. Real talk, fear can stop you from pushing forward if you allow it too. So, I will show you the ways to overcome failure so that you can find a why and build on your dreams.

Overcome Fear of Failing

Stop trying to eliminate fear, because you can’t

Wait what! You can’t eliminate fear, it’s a part of being human. Even successful people are afraid of something. Being fearless doesn’t mean an absence of fear, it is being courageous inspite of your fear. Keep that in your mind and let it soak in.

If you want to achieve something then you have to go after it, despite all the fears in your life.

You cannot eliminate fear, it gives you purpose and pushes you past the obstacles

Get comfortable, fear is a good thing. I know, how can something that makes you doubt yourself be a good thing. Because it becomes part of your story.

Listen…in life there will be problems in your life and you will be terrified of stepping out of your comfort zone. If you want to overcome the fear of blogging, you need to step out of your comfort zone. This is a must.

Don’t eliminate fear, because it is the one tool that you can use for success

Your Mistakes and Failures are a Frame for Life Lessons

We have a frame for life lessons. It’s the one thing that will keep you pushing you. My first and second blog bombed so badly that I thought about quitting blogging. It was excruciating, but I realized that I could do better. I went back to the mistakes I made and realized where I went wrong.

It was then that I realized my mistakes were now a frame for me to do better. And that’s what I did, I did the opposite of what I did before. We all make mistakes and it is what you do from the lessons you learn that makes you different from everyone else.

Use your life lessons to build your house on a rock instead of sand. Have a foundation for your life, because without it everything becomes harder to cope. A smart person learns from mistakes, but an intelligent person learns from other people’s mistakes. Learn how to not let your mistakes define you.

Write out what will happen as a result of failing

Writing it down will help you overcome your failure. Because you might fail, it’s possible it won’t be as successful as you hope it will be. There are no guarantees in life, that’s a simple fact. We have this notion that if we play by all the rules then life will be the way we want it to be.

I used to play by the rules and I still lost the game.

It was then that I realized I had to play a different game and write down what would happen if I failed. Fear is simply fake events appearing real. Because even though there’s a chance you can fail, there’s also a likelihood that you won’t. Understanding why you are afraid to do something will help you overcome your fear of blogging. For example, I am terrified of spiders, but when I understood my fear. It started to look silly. That is the same thing when it comes to blogging.

Here are a few fears you can write down.

Losing hope and thinking that success isn’t for you
Depression
Telling everyone that you failed and feeling like you disappointed your loved ones
Having to regroup and maybe quit following the online game
Going back to work with your head down and begging your boss for your old job back (don’t quit your job before you get traction from your blog)
Losing money that you didn’t have all so you can follow your dreams

There are a lot of fears that you can have, write them all down and realize that your fears are not a reflection of who you are. They might not even happen, but you have to believe that.

When you write down your fears they sound silly. Because the reality is that fears are meant to scare you into not breaking the rules. Be a rule breaker.

Even if the worst case scenario happens, you will be fine. I have gone through it and I had wounds from it. But I did survive, your life will have detours, but that isn’t meant to stop you, but give you more ammunition.

Quotes to help you pull yourself help

Care about people’s approval, and you will always be their prisoner

– Lao Tzu

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.
– Albert Einstein

Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn’t have the time to sit around and talk about you. What’s important to me is not others’ opinions of me, but what’s important to me is my opinion of myself.— C. JoyBell C.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs

Never dull your shine for somebody else

― Tyra Banks

These quotes will show you that letting your fears disturb you will keep you always in the back. So, don’t let that stop you from starting a blog.

Why even start a blog

Now, that we’re at the end of this post, I will give you an insight why you should even start a blog. There has to be an easier way to make money online, start a brand or create an impact right. You have to start to believe that you can overcome your fear of blogging because in the end only you can make the choice.

Umm…no

First of all, starting a blog isn’t as complicated as people make it out to be. The first step is to just start. Make mistakes, roll in the dirt and get into the trenches, but just do it. Throw out your fears, literally ignore them and do it.

Sure, you might wake up in panic mode the next day and want to hurl pillows at the walls. Less effective than breaking glasses or anything that’s breakable, but also less work. Even if you want to do that, know that taking that first step is progress.

Here are a few reasons;

Want to eventually quit 9-5
Make money online
Easy to setup
Create an impact or legacy
Want to break the rules

Blogging is a joy because I know that it’s more than a hobby, it’s an income stream that will help create an impact and help people find their purpose and why. Search within yourself and you will find the answers sooner than you can imagine.

What are some of the fears that is preventing you from starting a blog. Comment below

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA