Alright, this one is a bit trickier to navigate, but that's okay. Most people are in this boat, likely because they're not sure of what they want to do.
I want to ask you a question first though.
Do you know those people who spend years jumping from one job to another with no progression at all? The person likely gets very "passionate" about something, but things don't pan out, or they lose interest. Then, the next big thing comes along and they find a different "passion."
When first hearing about someone's aspirations, everyone nods their head and says, "That's great!"
After a few more times, though, this excitement dies down. People begin to roll their eyes thinking, "Here we go again." Eventually, it gets to the point where the person just stops mentioning what they're up to.
They're afraid. Afraid of failure, wasted time and most of all, embarrassing themselves.
Could this person be you?
Often, we jump headfirst into something, believing that our excitement and motivation will carry us through the troughs into success. But time and effort wears on the brain. We don't get the results that we want, so our motivation dwindles until things get too frustrating to carry on.
Then, a new project or interest brings a new "high" in the brain, with the newfound promise and motivation. It all becomes a viscous cycle.
Don't let this happen to you!
So how do we keep ourselves from becoming "that guy" or "that girl"?
Allow me to introduce the concept of risk management.
Risk management is when someone wants to pursue something new with risks involved, such as an idea or venture, but at the same time finds ways to reduce the risk.
How do we do this?
Let's go back to Sassy Susan and explore her situation a bit further.
Sassy Susan is interested in pursuing fashion consulting and wishes to target female professionals working in corporate jobs. She's really excited about helping women in her field to dress for success, as she's heard her friends' pains about clothing numerous times.
She's especially excited about bringing things to fruition after meeting up with her friend the computer entrepreneur, over coffee.
However, rather than just up and quitting her current job to dive into this area headfirst, Sassy Susan is calm and has a plan. She tells her friends to spread the word about her plans and to refer anyone who is in need of her service.
After telling everyone she knows and is advertising her services online, she gets her first client after a month. On the weekend, she meets up with her client and helps to revamp her wardrobe. The client occasionally meets up with her from time to time for more service.
Fast forward a few months. Sassy Susan is still at her job, but has a small, yet steady flow of clients by now.
So far, things have been alright, but Susan slowly realizes that while she enjoyed dressing herself and just giving advice to her friends, she doesn't actually like providing fashion consulting to strangers (the waiting around and finding a bunch of different clothes for strange people can be quite boring).
Perhaps this area isn't quite suited for her. After all, a hobby might not be translatable into a career.
And you know what? That's okay. Susan is still working at her job, and is free to try something else out in her spare time. She always enjoys sewing, and looks at the different ways she could pursue this interest
Meanwhile, let's head over to Stubborn Susan and see what she's up to.
One day, Stubborn Susan has had it. She was stuck in traffic for over an hour, and then got swamped with work. After getting yelled at by a client, she can't take it.
"I quit!" she exclaims.
Susan now has all the free time in the world (and a bit of money) to pursue her life-long dream of something fashion related. She spreads the message to everyone she knows that she wants to do fashion design.
Stubborn Susan dives in head-first. After all, if you do something, you should pursue it 110%.
Business is very slow at first, but after a few months, she too has a very small, yet steady stream of clients.
After six months, she realizes it was fun as a hobby, but she's not really interested in it as a career. Stubborn Susan's spinning her wheels trying to do something else as everyone looks on.
This example was fictional, but there have been real-life cases similar to this. In a true scenario, the "Susan" had gone from a high-paying job in advertising to living on food stamps within a year after chasing her dream of being a yoga instructor.