If you’re unsure of where you want to end up career-wise, try sitting down with a pen and paper to brainstorm. Write down all of the things that make you happy and all of the things that you’re passionate about. Think about what inspires you and write down what your hobbies and interests are. If writing doesn’t work for you, take out some magazines and cut out images or words that make you feel good or grab your attention. Doing this will help you to see what you like and what you’re naturally attracted to. By knowing what you like, it will make it easy for you to determine what you don’t like. Seems pretty straight forward, but you would be surprised by the amount of people that don’t take the time to figure out what interests them!

If you’re someone like this, you may end up going into a work placement knowing you don’t like it and you’ll end up switching jobs a week or a month down the road. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because trying one job and not liking it may actually lead you to the one you really want to be doing. However, you want to avoid bouncing around from job to job because it doesn’t help you build up your credentials and ultimately takes time away from you growing at what you’d actually love to be doing.

There can be negativity surrounding the idea of pursuing what you love. Have you ever heard the expression, “love doesn’t pay the bills?” Some people don’t feel it’s possible to actually do what they love, or that if they did the money wouldn’t be worthwhile. In reality it can be quite the opposite. A mentor once told me, “If you love what you’re doing, the money will come. But you need to really love what you’re doing and you need to really believe in it.”

If you don’t believe you can make a living doing what you love, then you won’t. Attitude is important when it comes to pursuing a passion. Having the right attitude and the right support group can make doing what you love a lot easier. There are many people that earn an income from their passions, but understand that none of them got to where they were just by thinking about it or by staying at a job they hated. They put in a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears. They put themselves out there, learned what they needed, practiced their craft and took risks. Photographers, writers, graphic artists, designers – the list goes on! Find these people that are doing what they love and surround yourself with them. It will help to inspire you to do what YOU love.

Choosing a career based around things that you enjoy will not only motivate you to continue with it, but will also give you a reason to wake up in the morning. You’ll have something to be excited about and to look forward to. There is nothing worse than waking up dreading your work day and being unhappy and resentful because you aren’t enjoying what you’re doing. In order to love what you do, you need to know what you love first. So write it down, cut out magazine images, try different things and talk to the people who are doing what you want to be doing. The best part about finding a career that makes you love what you do is the fact that you’ll feel like you’ve never worked a day in your life.