Well done if you are fortunate enough to have your passion intertwined with your career.
However, for most of us, our passion either isn’t monetizable, economically feasible, or we haven’t found a way to monetize it. This problem leaves us having to work a job to support ourselves financially.
However, money isn’t enough to sustain us, is it?
By working on your passion before or after work hours, you can sustain your soul by feeding it the food it really needs. But how do you do it when it seems like every day at your regular job is a rat race, and you’re so physically depleted?
The rest of this article will explore how to balance your career and passion in further detail, so you can nourish your soul while achieving financial freedom.
Table of Contents
How to Balance Your Career and Passion: 11 Tips
1. Designate Specific Times for Both Your Career and Passion
It’s tempting to use your working hours to work on your passion project. However, this will hurt your productivity and your reputation at your job, as it doesn’t look good for your work ethic.
You’ll also increase your stress levels as you’ll be so uber-focused on the passion project and shove all your normal work down your to-do list.
Additionally, working from home might increase your temptation to forgo the job and focus on your passion.
However, don’t forget that your job supports you financially, and you also need to do your best there. Therefore, separate the two, and work on them at different times.
For example, you can spend one hour before work on your passion and dedicate another two hours after the workday.
2. Start and End Your Day With Your Passion
You should choose the best times for your passion project based on your lifestyle.
However, I recommend starting and ending your day with your passion. The reason for this is because your passion excites you.
Therefore, working on it before you do anything else will invigorate and motivate you. And this feeling will spur you on even when you’re working your day job.
On the other hand, if you start your day off with work and leave your passion for later, you might feel like you’re neglecting your passion and feel worse.
It’s also good to end the day on a passionate note because you’ll go to bed feeling fulfilled, and you’ll sleep easier knowing you were productive in what you love.
3. Stay Organized
The key to maintaining a balance between work and passion is staying organized. Because if you aren’t organized and don’t manage your time well, you’ll find that you won’t have time for your passion.
And obviously, your passion is something you want to do. Your job is something you’re technically “obligated” to do.
But it’s easier to keep up with your job because your managers and KPIs keep you accountable. On the other hand, there is nobody to check up on you when you slack with your passion. Your passion project takes the blame for your poor organization and time management skills.
You procrastinate working on your passion project because you become overwhelmed and don’t know what needs to get done.
Therefore, you need to stay organized by creating to-do lists for the day and a master plan on Excel, Notion, or any other productivity tool of your choice.
When you’re organized, you’ll know exactly what needs to get done and when, and you’ll spend less time thinking about what you need to do and just do it.
4. Batch Content
Batching content was a tip I picked up from thelagirl.com. I had to share it as it’s been helping me a lot.
So, I’ve recently started a training program and a new freelance editing gig. Therefore, I’ve been unable to keep up with my blog writing.
But the one thing that has helped me is to batch produce content. For example, I’ll do keyword research on five posts at a time. I’ll outline all five at once and then write them after. So, instead of producing one post from start to finish, I batch a series of similar tasks to get multiple posts done faster.
This exercise helps because the brain completes similar tasks faster and more efficiently. It has to work harder when switching between different tasks.
Therefore, if your passion also involves creating content like mine, try batching all your tasks. This will help you manage your time more effectively.
5. Don’t Procrastinate Working on Your Passion
You can be passionate about something yet still want to crash after your day job.
Working a regular job is draining, and sometimes you have nothing left to spare for your passion.
However, discipline is vital to succeeding at your day job and passion project. If you don’t push yourself, you risk becoming lazy and forever saying goodbye to your passion project.
It’s not easy, I know. I remember wanting to cry every time I came home from my job and had no energy for my blog. I still cry, but then I remind myself that my blog is what makes me happy. If I don’t write, I have nothing. I’ll just be a vessel whose purpose is to earn money. And that’s not a life worth living.
6. Try To Monetize Your Passion
There’s nothing you can’t monetize today. Passions like gardening, reading, brewing beer at home, headphones, etc., can all be monetized in various ways.
And there are thousands of people around the globe who have managed not just to create a side income from their passions but a full-time income.
A simple way to monetize your passion is to create a blog. You can start a niche site in whatever your passion is, create consistent content, and monetize it.
When you monetize your passion, you’ll become more motivated to work on it after hours. And you’ll enjoy your day job more because you won’t be financially dependent on it anymore.
Here are some great ways to monetize your passion:
- Start a Print On Demand business.
- Create an online course.
- Start a niche website.
- Write an ebook.
- Freelance.
7. Create a Healthy Routine
The secret to a successful job and passion lies in your daily routine.
You need to create a healthy routine that encompasses both these significant areas of your life. For example, make it a habit to work on your passion after work hours every day.
Don’t try to wing your days or just randomly fit in your passion when you can because you won’t be able to sustain a consistent long-term habit.
And once you make your passion a habit, incorporate it into your daily routine. It will eventually become an unconscious habit that you have to do every day.
8. Give Yourself a Timeout From Both
I don’t think it’s humanly possible to sustain energy and motivation for an extended period of time, even for things you love to do.
So, don’t feel bad if you’re tired of your passion.
Working a normal job is tough. And you’re probably burnt out from overworking and trying to balance something else on the side.
However, to sustain motivation in the long-term and always feel recharged when it’s time to work, you need to take breaks regularly from both your work and passion. Watch a movie, read a book, or go out with your friends.
This is your life, and you must be awake to enjoy it. And the only way to do that is to be present, well-rested and recharged.
Also, remind yourself that what you are attempting is unconventional. Most people don’t focus on their passions because they’re too busy letting tiredness from their job take over their day. They don’t have the strength, drive, and discipline that you do.
9. Live Each Day Intentionally and Appreciate Where You Are Now
Most of the time, when we have a passion project, we set goals. We think of the future and what we’d like to accomplish. And we forget to live in the present moment.
But the secret to a happy and fulfilled life is to appreciate every single day.
You aren’t going to successfully balance working and your passion if one foot is in the future. Yes, goals are essential. But it’s even more important to enjoy where you are today.
So, take some time and think about what you have achieved, what you’ve accomplished today, and how happy you are.
You won’t get your days back.
10. Let Go of Perfectionism
Most of the posts you’ll read on this blog are sub-par in quality. They aren’t the best writing. I know this. And I wish I had more time to work on being a better writer. However, I don’t have the time because I’m managing other things too.
And I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter if the content I put out isn’t great. What matters is that I try to stay consistent. And by being consistent with my writing, I will inevitably improve my craft with time.
So, as much as you want to be perfect in both your job and your passion, it will not happen immediately. Aiming for perfectionism in either of these areas will waste your time, and you’ll never be able to manage them both.
Therefore, let go of your need to be perfect and just flow. Do what you need to do and let it go. Don’t stew on it. Later, you can always revise your work and get them to a high standard. But the main thing is to keep going. You’ll only improve as a result.
11. Use Your Profession and Passion To Complement Each Other
You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.
Your career and passion are not cousins who secretly hate each other. They can be best friends who give each other space, and when they come together, they light you up.
Use both your profession and passion to inspire you and fuel the other.
When you use them to complement you, you’ll no longer need to try to balance them. They’ll become a part of you.
Final Thoughts
If you’re in a position where you want to balance your career and passion, congratulate yourself.
I don’t think you realize how lucky you are to have something to balance with your work.
Most people are still trying to figure out what else they like to do.
Remember, you can easily balance both if you designate specific times for each and use them to complement each other.