I think at one point everyone questions their career direction, if it was the right decision to work a fairly secure job or to take a risk and bet on yourself. I won’t lie, it’s really scary to think about risking security for a chance at achieving something a bit more fulfilling, especially if it is only for a brief moment. But if you had to choose between a life where you wake up every day wondering, or living a life where you at least know the answer, isn’t it worth give it a shot? Whether it is about your love life, career choices, or just goals you want to accomplish, it’s important to see that you’re worth putting the effort in and pursue those dreams. Of course I’m not saying that you need to drop everything immediately, it is worth to calculate risk and make plans accordingly. Here are the steps that I’m taking, and perhaps it may inspire you to start betting on yourself in the near future!
Identifying what I wanted in life
Do you want an exciting career, meet someone that treats you like royalty, or run a marathon? For me I want to work in a more creative career path. In my past I have worked as an editor in the graphic department of my company. While it could be argued that I could have just shifted my position over to be part of the graphic designers, due to the nature of the company there wasn’t much room for creativity, and was more of an assembly. That wouldn’t have fulfilled the creative needs that I would have wanted to enter into. Specifically I have always had a strong interest in media, which is why I personally decided to return to post secondary and expand my knowledge in that specific area. I would love to perform as a voice actress as a full time career, but I also love the production process of creating fun or educational content for people to enjoy. So regardless if I work for myself or work on someone else’s production team I am taking the opportunity to challenge myself to enter this highly competitive field.
I also want to improve or make more efforts in selling my illustrations. I’ve always been envious of amazing artists selling their work, and always hoped to one day join those ranks. And while I have made small efforts in the past, like selling at small artist alleys, I’ve never truly committed to selling my work. Regardless if I’m successful or fail spectacularly, I want to also give it a proper shot before giving up artistically.
Steps to get there
Ultimately I decided to join the Radio Arts and Entertainment program with hopes to changing my career path. In order to get there I had to make sure I had enough money to support my decision to leave my job and essentially go back to square one. It also helped that, like many millennials in Vancouver, I live with my supportive family, so I don’t need to worry too much about living costs. And while it could be said that I could have just learned to do everything on my own instead of going back to school, I know that I need someone to validate or to show me techniques to try help with my investment decision.
When it comes to my artistic ventures, my fiancé and I decided to build up our joint artistic portfolio and slowly make plans and efforts to set up our artist shop pages. We also take on as many commission requests that we can so we have the opportunity to work on our capabilities, and have been active in looking up artist events to apply to in the future. I have also taking the initiative of applying to a merchandising store that is very vocal about being anti-AI, and while it is a start up, I have hopes that by joining early I can take advantage of being one of the first artists on the platform.
The size of the steps I have taken is varied, however it is still an active effort towards my goal point.
Staying motivated
I think the hardest thing we all experience reaching our goals is wondering if all the hard work you do is even worth it. Other than avoiding living a life of regret and wondering, why should you even bother trying? Especially with all the failed attempts or watching others achieve it faster and/or better may be discouraging at times. But that is just one of the biggest hurdles that you may have to adjust and come to accept as you work on yourself. The reality of the matter is that things that are worth doing will take time and continuous effort. Once you stop it is hard to find the energy and motivation to continue. This is why it may be worth it to go back to school/classes and to have teachers to help keep you accountable as you work towards your goal. It’s also helpful to have like minded people with similar goals to work collaboratively and give each other feedback on. At the end of the day it requires a certain amount of discipline and it isn’t always easy to continue, especially on the days that you feel like you’re failing at reaching your goal. But what it comes down to it, you need to recognize that you as an individual have a lot to offer.
However at the same time, if you find that reaching for that specific goal is hurting you more than feeling rewarding you might just need to re-identify what is it exactly that you want to achieve. Don’t force yourself into a rut of unhappiness over false happiness, rather revaluate and adjust to what parts truly make you happy. Sometimes in this case it helps to be more general rather than narrowing down on what you want to achieve to exactly.
Regardless if your dream or my dream is the similar, how you reach it or achieve it will always be a different experience. In addition it is never too late to try to achieve those goals. No matter what age you may be or where you are in life you are worth giving your dreams a try, especially if it is worth doing. No one is asking for your journey of accomplishments to be perfect, and no one is expecting you to never mess up on the process. It’s ok to change or redirect what your goal is, because at the end of the day, as humans, we recognize that there may be a better strategy and/or healthier goal to aim for. I recommend working in a community as much as possible because it helps keep you in check and gives you a chance to reflect and realize how far you have grown. I believe that a lot of us tend to lose focus and forget how far we have come since first starting. In addition it is important to look at failed attempts as learning experiences. Regardless if your goal is family related, work related, or skill related, it is worth your time and effort. You just need to take the time and bet on yourself.