Once you decide what you want to do, the only thing left to figure out is how to support yourself while pursuing it. (Once people discover their calling, many would be willing to work for free, but you don’t have to). Put another way, we want to earn money doing something we love even if we don’t make money right away. If the desire to do something is great enough, we will go for it against all odds because we simply can’t let go. There are ways to support yourself while you are working on a dream, and we will explore those later in this guide, but for now, deciding what we want our work to be is more important than how to make it work.

So let’s go back to what we want in the way of a career and a life Just like creative people are diverse, so are many dreams and desires (as well as tolerances for what one is willing to do to get those dreams), so it is impossible for me to know what you want. But i’ll bet it involves earning enough money to pursue your passion, and that is possible. It may not be done the conventional way, but it can be done. This guide is filled with stories of unconventional ways people have been paid to pursue their passions.  Lighten your load and open your mind, because we are going to go on a journey to your future, where anything is possible and dreams do come true. Once we get to your deepest desires as well as your strenghts, we will be able to find something that you want to do and can do for money that will make you happy, confident and competent – all of which lead to success and fulfillment.

ACTION TIME

For the next few minutes, eliminate any limiting thoughs or beliefs and write, draw, doodle,  talk into your iphone, discuss with a friend the following question: ‘If I didn’t have to worry about money, what would I want?’

ACTION TIME

They say the movies should be more like life. I think life should be more like the movies. What movie would you like your life to be like? What would the plot be? This is an important question, because you trade your life for the money to pay for the things you want. The good life, so to speak. You end up having to work, which means you can’t spend that time (ever again) on something you want to do because you have already traded it for a paycheck. I just want to make sure that what you want is worth the price you have to pay.

1.  Describe how you would live your life if you had all the money you wanted
2.  Looking back to your life, when where you happiest? Create a drawing or an essay based on your answers to that question.
3. Make two lists. The first list is everything you like about your life now and why. Then make a list of everything you don’t like about your life and why.
4. Answer this. Do you want more money or more life? How much of your timme are you willing to sacrifice for the pursuit of money (and things)? What are you NOT willing to do to make more money?
5. Who has what you want? What is it about their life that you admire? What did they have to do to get what they have? Are  you willing to work that hard or pay that price?

ACTION TIME

Draw a circle and divide it into a pie chart with each piece of the pie sectioned off to represent how you would like to spend your time if money weren’t an issue.