I gave up a well paid, reliable and respectable job working for a values-matched employer to set up my coaching business. I went against conventional wisdom – which recommends you get clients set up on the side of your day job first – and jumped in with two feet.
I knew I needed the sense of jeopardy to motivate me. I didn’t know it would stoke the fire of passion.
I’m not passionate ABOUT coaching. I have a strong conviction in the power of coaching. I believe that it is a strength and a calling for me to be a coach. I know this is how I can have the most significant impact on people’s lives. But that’s not passion.
I love coaching. There is love here. I love doing the work. But that’s not passion.
The passion has been growing.
I didn’t feel passion the day I started this business. Yes, I felt scited (scared and excited). But passion has only developed as I’ve taken more risks, like when I present my honest and authentic self in my daily Instagram videos. The heat has built up in the unpredictability of client acquisition: when they don’t come from where I think they will but surface in other places where I wasn’t even looking.
The possibility of great success or financial ruin keeps me on my toes. Creating content that questions the conventional discourse around career satisfaction and ambition puts my reputation on the line. All of this makes me feel vibrant, energised, full of life.
You don’t find or follow your passion, you create it.
How? You need to take a risk.
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn. Tell us how you’ve found passion in your career in the comments.