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Many of us naturally confuse and jumble the meanings of passion, goals, and the tools we use to accomplish them. In order to clarify your dreams and priorities in life, you must understand what your passions, goals, and tools are, and how to make them work together. 

Many of us constantly feel conflicted over what opportunities to go for, and the long and short term decisions we can make for our careers. Do you take the entry level job at the prestigious company, even though it will offer you no freedom, and is not really what you dream of doing although it's in your field? Do you spend all your energy improving your craft, and submit to being a starving artist? Or do you try to find a happy medium that allows you only a little time to focus on your passion perhaps as a hobby, but not really enough time to turn that passion into the career of your dreams? 

We have trouble making such decisions, because we want it all. We want a prestigious, impressive job that makes tons of money, as well as the time and energy to focus on our passion, and turn it into an extremely profitable dream business or accomplishment. Despite what those of older generations might say, you can have it all. But how?! What's the trick to achieving your dreams?

A clearer understanding of what you want will help you decide what kind of job to take, or what move to make next. To really clarify your dreams, and the best way you can work toward them, you must define your passions, goals, and tools as separate entities that help each other. To do so, we have devised a little step-by-step process to follow:

STEP 1: 

If it were a perfect world, and you could do anything you wanted and get paid plenty for it… what would you want to do? We will refer to this as your 'tool'. For example, I love theatre. The activity I love doing most is being a theatre educator and director. So I consider theatre to be my tool, because it's fun, it’s inspiring, and most of all, I find it rewarding. 

STEP 2: 

Now think about what you are trying to use this tool to accomplish. For me it is helping people in my community develop intellectually to the best of my ability. I enjoy using my theatrical tool of story building to achieve this. So this somewhat vague accomplishment you're seeking - that is your 'passion', and you can fulfill it many different ways. This passion is what drives all your efforts, and inspires you to use your tool.

STEP 3: 

What is the real world endeavor that you would like to use your passion and your tool to accomplish? Sometimes it's something concrete, like a brick-and-mortar establishment, a company, or it could be a certain revered position, like being an anchor woman, musical virtuoso, or preeminent expert on a topic. Or this endeavor could be more nebulous, like leading a tremendous social change. This real world undertaking is your 'goal'. You can have long term goals, and short term goals. For example, my current long term goal is to open an improv theatre here in Old Town, Alexandria. My short term goal is to gain as much experience teaching and directing as possible, and to network and make connections with local people in my field. 

 So, to summarize here are how we define the following words: 

Tool: The craft you use to fulfill your passion.

Passion: The general accomplishment you seek that keeps you motivated, and inspired.

Goal: A short or long term desire of a literal accomplishment that incorporates your passion.

Dream: The result of making your tool, passion, and goal work together. 

Although your goals may be specific, your dream should not be. Don't get stuck on a concrete goal as a measure of your success. Instead, measure your progress based on how often you feel you are fulfilling your general passion. Keep in mind that you do not have to create an over-structured path for yourself. You do not need to have a business plan for how the next 25 years of your life are going to unfold. Since I understand my tools, passions, and goals, I am confident that my dreams will be fulfilled even if I never open an Improv Theatre in Alexandria, because I am still fulfilling my passion daily. Since I understand these three steps, I have a better understanding of what I want, thus making decisions about my next job or step is easier and clearer. 

A trick that helps me remember to stick to my passion is to recall something that my college counselor in high school, Jack Lewis, told me. He said, "When you're deciding on a major, do not decide based on what job you think you want to do when you graduate. Make the decisions based on what classes you think you'll enjoy most. You may not enjoy every one of the classes, but you'll be inspired to take most of them."

For further reading on re-evaluating your dreams, check out Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. Although it is geared more for people who lost their jobs, the same tactics apply whenever you are figuring out how best to pursue your dream.

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It makes sense!
written by akahn22, August 22, 2008

I like the way you broke it down into easy to understand steps - I found it very applicable to a multitude of people and situations.

You have inspired me to find the real world endeavor which will allow me to use my passion (teaching kids with special needs)!

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written by mac5, August 22, 2008

I love your analytic approach but remember:

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
---------------------------John Lennon

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written by ksmither, August 24, 2008

I like how you touched on the importance of having a vague dream. Too often people give up on their dream because it was too specific too achieve.

I learned a lot from reading Who Moved My Cheese. I also think it is an excellent book for anyone (lost job or not).

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