How many times have you thought about making a career change or starting a business only to be met with comments like, “You’ll never make any money doing that”, or “Doing what you love’s a myth”? So many people complain on a daily basis about hating their job or feeling like they are stuck in the day-to-day rat race, but they don’t know how to get unstuck.

You’ve probably heard the saying that if you follow your heart, the money will follow, but how do you do that when you’ve been stuck in old life patterns for so long? Here are a few things to get you started.

1. Do What You Love

I know you’ve heard this before, and it sounds good, but how do you do what you love when you have bills to pay? I’m not asking you to quit your job and try to make a living doing the first thing you enjoy. I’m asking you to start doing the things you love – for fun!

There’s a good chance you’ve been ignoring the things you love to do for so long that you’ve lost sight of what they are. Start by trying a few things you used to enjoy and see how you feel. As you start doing more of the activities you love, you will start feeling better about yourself overall and your meaningless job will seem a bit more bearable.

The more you do the things you love outside of work, the more you will notice certain things you want to do more than others. This will start to spark your imagination as to the possibilities around you and how you might start a business doing those things or find a job where you can have more of that in your work life.

2. Understand Your Purpose

Your purpose is what you are meant to do in life, including what you are meant to share, who you are meant to share it with, and how you are meant to share it. It’s like a personal mission statement. Once you know what your purpose is, it’s a lot easier to say no to things that aren’t in line with that mission (like your meaningless job).

To find your purpose, it helps to think about who you are and what you want to become. You can also think about it in terms of what you want people to remember about you once you’re gone. Your purpose is a way of directing your energy towards doing more of what you love. It usually has a lot ot do with your unique abilities and talents.

A life purpose can range from teaching our nation’s youth to providing entertainment for movie lovers to helping others discover their life’s purpose.

3. Clarify Your Vision

If your purpose is your personal mission statement, then your vision is your big overall goal for what you are going to accomplish by choosing to pursue your purpose. You achieve this goal by combining your passion with your purpose. The more specific you can get with your vision, the better.

You may have a personal goal to live financially free or help as many people as you can before you die but what does that look like? If you can put it in more quantifiable terms, it will be easier for you to track your success towards that goal. Maybe you want to earn a million dollars or help a million people.

4. Act From a Place of Consciousness

Acting from a place of consciousness means living in the present moment. When we are in a place of consciousness, we aren’t letting past programming affect our decisions. Past programming includes things we’ve learned from our parents, especially when we were young,  as well as things that happened to us.

Our past conditioning determines almost every thought we have and it will take some time to recondition our thinking. That’s why it’s important to make decisions from a place of consciousness. Making decisions based on what is actually happening in the present moment, rather that what has happened in the past, will allow you to be the best you can be and fulfill your destiny.

5. Tune in to Your Higher Self

Probably the most important tip for finding your true calling is to learn to tune in to your higher self. Your higher self is completely in line with your true purpose, unlike your ego self who is there to protect you. Because the ego’s job is to protect you, it let’s fear, need, and obligation get in the way of you achieving happiness.

When you can learn to recognize when ego is talking versus when your higher self is talking, you become much more in tune with what it is you are meant to do. Your higher self doesn’t allow any problem or obstacle to get in the way of your happiness or success. So, when you are faced with a big decision, take a minute to tune in and see what’s really going on because your higher self only wants you to succeed.

If you’re tired of living a mundane existence at your nine-to-five job and truly want to make a difference in your life, you need to figure out what you love to do and do more of that. Discover what you are meant to do and how you’re meant to do it, start living in the present, and learn to tune in to your higher self.

Once you’ve mastered these five things, you will be well on your way to finding your true calling. Do you already know what you are meant to do in this life? Please share in the comments below.