“Purge relentlessly. Curate carefully.”
—The Minimalists
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Turning a Passion into a Profession
What it takes to make the most of your passion
By Shawn Mihalik
I wasn’t always a professional writer, although I’ve always been passionate about writing. Ten years ago, I was an aspiring writer. Seven years ago, I was a published writer, but my passion wasn’t paying the bills. Now, as I turn 30, it occurs to me that I’ve been making my living via the written word, in some capacity or another, for over five years. The most common response when people find out that I’m a writer is, “I want to be a writer, too! How did you do it?”
Reflecting on this question, I’ve identified three steps I followed, and I’m still following, to turn my passion into my profession. I didn’t have a guide when I started this journey; I had to discover the steps myself, with a great deal of trial and error. By sharing what I’ve learned, I hope that I can give you the head start I didn’t have.
1. Recognize That There Are No Points for Aspiration
If you’ve just been thinking about writing—even if you’ve been thinking for years about writing—you are not a writer. You’re someone who’s just been thinking about writing. You can certainly keep aspiring if you want to, but doing so is evidence that you don’t really want to be a writer. You’re actually losing points aspiring—as well as time. So, either start writing, or recognize that you don’t actually want to be a writer, and then put that energy instead toward something you care about enough to do more than just aspire to.
2. Know That Your Worth as a Writer Is Not Defined by How Much You Publish
If you write, you’re a writer. Seriously, that’s all you need to do: sit in the chair, put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and produce words. The words don’t even need to form coherent sentences—at least not at first. My first drafts are often close to nonsensical, even though I nearly always sit down with a topic in mind. Most of what I’ve written has gone unpublished, and yet, even when I was working on those pieces, I was still a writer. And if you write, no matter how much or how little your writing is published, you’ll be a writer, too.
Before we move on to Step 3, a clarification: You absolutely do not have to be, or want to be, a professional writer to be a passionate writer. If you just want to write clear emails, or cultivate a daily journaling habit, or start a personal blog, or send witty and engaging tweets on a regular basis, then you are still a writer. Kudos to you for making the effort to be better at an important skill and for making the time to pursue your passion.
But if you do want to be a professional writer, then here comes the hard part. Because to be a professional, you must…
3. Write as If Your Life Depends on It
This is the goal of the professional, after all, isn’t it? To get paid for your writing, ideally full time. To feed yourself with the power of your pen. To put a roof over your head with the strength of your written word. To respond, when someone asks, “What do you do?,” honestly with, “I’m a writer.” And when they say, “But what do you do for work?,” reply once again, “I’m a writer.”
I’m not advocating you quit your day job and just write if your writing isn’t yet paying the bills. That would be foolish because there aren’t any guarantees when it comes to becoming a professional writer. But if you want writing to pay the bills, you have to act as if writing is the only thing that can pay the bills. Only then can there be a chance that it might, someday, pay the bills.
A Note and a Warning
The above advice applies to just about every creative career imaginable—and probably even the supposedly “non-creative” ones. If you want to be a filmmaker, make videos. If you want to be a published filmmaker, put those videos on YouTube. If you want to be a professional filmmaker, make videos as if your life depends on it. Ditto painting, singing, playing an instrument, playing a sport, practicing law, or performing general surgery.
A word of warning, though: Step 3 doesn’t end. Ever. You must do it every day. Being a professional writer was my goal for a long time. And it’s still my goal, even though I first achieved it half a decade ago. Every day I sit in the chair, and I write as if my life depends on it. Because I’ve decided that it does.
Social Media Spring Cleaning
Why I unfollowed over 100 accounts on Instagram
By Kooper Gordon
Take a look at how many accounts on your social media platforms. Likely, several hundreds, if not thousands. How many of those accounts truly add value to your day? I guarantee at least 50% of the accounts you follow are cluttering up your feed.
Recently, I’ve caught myself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram without even digesting the content. My feed has been infiltrated by celebrities I never think about, high-end fashion brands I’ll never buy, and sports highlights of teams I don’t follow.
I was treating social media as if it was a daily chore that I had to accomplish. After taking a step back to look at things, I realized a core value that minimalism has taught me: if it’s not adding value to my life, then why allow it to waste my precious time?
Because of this lesson, spring cleaning came early this year for me. I pulled up the list of accounts I was following and thumbed through it to the very end. An hour later, I had unfollowed well over 100 accounts.
During this process, I took several things into account while deciding what made the cut:
What purpose did the account serve? Is it humorous? Am I learning anything from it? Is it aesthetically pleasing?
Why do I care about this account? Maybe it was an old friend I wanted to stay connected to or a community I identified with, such as @minimalismlife.
Does this account enhance my social media experience? Simplify by only following the type of content you enjoy most.
But what if I miss something? Well friends, FOMO is futile. If you are on the fence about unfollowing an account—do it. Chances are, you’ll forget about that page in a few days. If not, I’m sure they’d gladly take you back.
Since the purge of accounts, I have been maintaining my feed by steadily decluttering while scrolling. If I ever glance at a post that doesn’t immediately hook me, I do myself a favor and hit unfollow.
Social media should be used deliberately as a source of entertainment. It should be something we can enjoy in the limited amount of free time we have throughout our busy day. It should be something of substance, not a junk drawer we open up and sift through passively.
By decluttering our social media accounts, we are allowing space for the content that truly adds value to our lives. As a result, we’ll likely spend less time scrolling and more time enjoying life outside of the digital world.
A Little More of Less
A few other articles we think you might enjoy…
The Power of Getting Clarity by Leo Babauta
7 Benefits to Living in a Smaller Home by Sandy Kreps
Minimizing the Little Things by Nikki Cox
Are any of your friends interested in minimalism or living simply?
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On "Turning a Passion into a Profession": I found this to be extremely true. I was a passionate artist and writer for several years, but never a professional. I became a professional went I knew my life and future depended on it.
I am a professional programmer, which is a creative career. I wrote and drew daily. It was just fun and I enjoyed it. Five days after learning about programming I was a pro, not because I made money at it, but because it was an all consuming passion and I saw it as my ticket out of poverty. It took a year of 50-60 hour weeks, outside of my job, to learn enough to start making money and two more to pay the bills, but I was a pro days after learning about programming.
(Note: That kind of intensity is not sustainable long term. When I started I new my end goal, an entry level position as a programmer. Once I achieved this manageable goal I cut my work load to 30-35 hours a week and got back to a balanced life. DO NOT ATTEMPT a 90-100 hour work week long term. It is very dangerous.)