How to Pursue your Passion While Working a 9-5

By: Carolina Abreu

Let’s be real, a lot of people that work a 9-5 job also have a passion they’d love to pursue that just doesn’t make them enough money to survive in NYC, or anywhere else. To make dreams a reality, we all have to endure the “right of passage” of maintaining a full-time job while figuring out how to take that side hustle from passion to profit. Just because it’s hard work doesn’t mean it’s impossible — here are our top tips for making it work.

1. PLAN OUT YOUR DAYS

Just like your calendar at work shows you what your day will look like, you should keep a personal calendar where you can organize exactly how you are going to use your free hours after work. Now, we understand how hard it can be to skip that midweek happy hour with your co-workers and head to your favorite coffee shop alone instead, but the key here is balance! Can you compromise to go to happy hour for only one hour, then head back and work on your craft for another hour? If so, please do so! If you know yourself well and know that you won’t be productive after a couple of drinks, it might be best to leave that to the weekends.

2. FIND YOUR INSPIRATION

Finding ways to get inspired is just as important as the art of creating itself. Sometimes we can get caught in the routine of everyday life: we take the same trains, talk to the same people at the office and stop at the same coffee shop before sprinting to our train. Routine can cause the creative heart to feel like it is missing something and feeling like they are only able to create after an intense moment of magical inspiration, but we recommend acknowledging the beauty in the little things, too. If your inspiration comes from people watching, sit at a crowded market during your lunch break and do just that. If it comes from sitting in the quiet, make some time in the morning when you wake up or right before bed to enjoy the quiet and recharge your brain.

3. PRIORITIZE YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH 

This one cannot be stressed enough. It already can be hard to find the time to work out, meditate, relax and eat right when you are working a full-time job and it becomes so much harder when on top of that you are trying to find the time to work on your passion. We may think that the clear solution to this is to push our physical and mental health aside and focus intensely on our side hustle, but this might be the biggest mistake we make. Not taking care of your physical and mental health can leave you in a state of exhaustion that can cause your body to get sick and your brain to become overwhelmed.

4. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

This is the most important piece of advice we will ever give you! There will be times when you feel as if everything you are doing is pointless, as if no one is seeing you and as if you are not getting the results that you desire. Even when it seems like the struggle is just too much, it’s crucial you remain your biggest fan! We recommend making a vision board or list of your accomplishments to remind yourself where you want to go and how far you’ve come if you’re feeling down. Believe in yourself through the hard times and magic happens.

 

This post originally appeared on MakingManhattan.com.

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The founder of Making Manhattan, Caroline Vazzana, is a fashion writer, editor, and stylist living and working in her hometown of New York. She’s worked for Anna Sui, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, and InStyle. She has collaborated with designers including Betsey Johnson and Diane Von Furstenberg, and has styled celebrities for various red carpets like the MTV Video Music Awards and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Caroline is currently the Founder & Creative Director of MakingManhattan.com where she hopes to shed light on the industry to the future fashion generation. Make sure to follow her everywhere @cvazzana for an inside look into her day to day in NYC. 

Picture Credit: Making it in Manhattan: The Beginners Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the World of Fashion