I originally wrote this article on another blog of mine that been very quiet and private.  I think a couple people might have stumbled upon it somehow through google.  It was written on June 20th 2009 and it existed long before then within the pages of my Moleskine.  Here I wrote it out much more detailed than in my Moleskine finally and I revisit it from time to time.  There are probably a lot of posts on blogs like this one, however I wanted to share my take. Recently there was a lot of activity and talk over on Photographer Zack Arias’ blog about taking steps towards your dreams in photography – How many of you are standing on the dock?.  I could connect with this entry by Zack because I am there right now, or been there.  I feel that I’ve jumped off the dock and I am swimming slowly, coming up for short breaths of air and trying to make it.   It’s the toughest road river I’ve been on.   I related the story to an old co-worker and her dream to own a bookstore.  You can easily substitute the bookstore for a photography business, online business, traveling, video game review business, etc.  Whatever you love doing, whatever you day dream about can be real. You can be paid to play video games, take pictures of clouds, travel the world, and own that coffee shop in town.  Anyways, I’ll let you get to the article of mine.

Passion Vs Lottery Ticket

If you WON $50 Million in the Lottery, what would you do?

This is an amazingly powerful question [and exercise] to ask yourself. Ask it and tell me what you start to think about. It’s powerful because you’ll either start to think big, or you’ll enter a childlike state and remember that anything is suddenly possible. I remember a woman I used to work with in a third part call centre years ago. She is an amazing person and I wish I was still in touch with her today. She was an older lady, Betty, and she would always mention that if she won the lottery she would open a used bookstore. She adored the idea of owning a used bookstore and how great it would be, but only if she won the lottery. Winning the Lottery would allow her the freedom to quit he job in the call centre and do something she dreamed of doing. I would love to blame TV commercials / advertisments that state “Imagine the freedom!” however, I think it goes beyond that branding. People that don’t even play the lottery make this kind of statement from time to time.

Thinking Big

When you start to think about what you would do with $50 Million Dollars does your heart start to race? I believe it surpresses the anxiety that is associated with bills, savings and emergencies. If you don’t have to think about that, you’re free to concentrate on what really matters to you – you’re passion. What is your passion? If you don’t know what you’re passionate about, hopefully this question about the lotter has helped spark an idea. Passion to me is the ONE thing you would do if you had everything else you would ever needed covered. I am confident that $50 Million would easily do for you and me. The sky opens up and your possibilities are limitless.

Enter a Child-like State

The fun thing about children is that they say amazing things about what they’ll be when they grow up. They can still imagine the greatness they can become in their life. The benefit of being an adult and thinking like a child, you can think about you interests, and brainstorm how you can earn a living from those interests. Sometimes, you’re interest will require schooling and if that’s the first step – Go for it.

I’ve always enjoyed taking photographs; however it was hard to get started within photography before the digital era. Of course it’s possible with film, but it really requires a lot more work. We’re fortunate that digtial has lowered the barrier to a lot of professions today. I just became more and more interested in photography as I was in university at Ryerson in Toronto. Seeing amazing architecture, and being around people in the photography program got me thinking about how much fun it would be to take pictures. I didn’t have the money upfront to purchase a digital camera though so I just dreamed of the freedom associated with carrying a camera around my neck. I also found myself consistently looking at photography books and literature, magazines, and websites. At my first call centre job, I was far more interested in looking at those websites or reading than doing applications or payment arrangements for a third party company.

Take Some Time to Reflect

Think of your interests. Reflect on your workday and is there something your mind is drawn to while working the daily grind? This could be your passion. It’s something that draws you in and would would do this activity for nothing. You are so passionate about it that you don’t even need to get paid – you do this on your freetime! When pursuing, or doing something your passionate about, you’ll lose track of time, forget when you last ate, maybe even feel as if you’re having an out of body experience. It’s a great feeling to have such passion for something.

Why does Betty continue to dream of the Lottery winnings to start a used bookstore? Do you really need to win the lottery to start something like this in your own life? Is it the fear of failure that holds Betty back? If the bookstore were to fail, she wouls still have the rest of her lottery winnings to do something else. But if she were to fail through her own passion, what would that mean? You start to enter the unknown and the unknown is scary.

The Unknown is Regret

‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

This quote can be taken interpreted for more than just your personal relationships. Don’t let the unknown hold you back today. Take your passion past the unknown. I believe that there is no chance for failure when you are living on purpose. I will be the first person to let you know that this is not easy and I am an example of trying to push through the unknown. I don’t want to me on my deathbed wondering what may have been if I actually applied my passion to every single day of my life. Take the Unknown by the horns and don’t let yourself regret the decision you made to wait until you won the lottery.

I would assume most of my readers would be interested in Photography, and I wonder what you’re doing right now to move towards your dreams of a life in photography. It could be as much as editing a few photos and posting them on flickr. If you’re not into photography, what are you doing right now? What are your dreams and what could you today, something small, that would be a step towards it?