Do what you LOVE!

Whenever I update my friends on my latest projects, I always get the same comments. "It's amazing how much passion and drive you have for your work!" or "You're so lucky to be doing what you love!"

HELLO guys! You can too! No one is putting a gun to your head and making you go to work every morning? Maybe I was a bit luckier. I got my wake-up call when I was a tender 26-year-old. After 5 years in the corporate life, I realised that I SUCK as an employee. If there was an award for "Worst Employee", I'd win it 5 years running. Late for work? Check. Watching movies when I'm supposed to be working? Check. Faking MCs? Check.

Then Pilates came along and saved my life. I fell head over heels in love with the workout and envisioned myself as a Pilates instructor. Being young and rash, I decided to give it a shot and see if I could do it. Listen, it is not all smooth sailing when you are pursuing your passion. My beginning was rough. I invested my savings in a Pilates course and when I graduated, I didn't know where to find work. I tried putting an ad at the local Cold Storage but no one called. Luckily, I met a friend who had just opened a studio and he took me in. That was not all. My first pay check was a measly $60. A HUGE contrast from my last paycheck of $6,000. But, you know what? I was so happy doing my Pilates that I didn't even mind. I loved what I did and would have done it for free!

I'm still enjoying Pilates today, after almost 8 years of it. But I have also found another passion and that is writing. What I do currently fulfills my life's purpose which is this:

To inspire people with my business motivational books and to heal with my Pilates.

Trust me on this: when you are doing what you love and your life's purpose, everything makes sense. I jump out of bed every day raring to work and sometimes, when I am in the midst of a writing project, I get insomnia because I am so excited and my mind is teeming with endless ideas. Sleep is not important at this juncture and I thrive on my passion. Unlike my working friends who live for the weekends, I actually abhore them and public holidays because no one is working and I can't work too.

I've tried to counsel some unhappy corporate friends in the beginning, but after a while, I realise that it is no use. It's all in the mindset - whether you believe that you can or cannot, you are right on both counts! I hear excuses like, "But I'm too old to start" or "I have no time". Hey, you can always start on the side first and I believe time is what you make of it. And, don't talk to me about having too much at stake to follow your dreams. In my 4th book about Internet marketing heroes, I profile a 38-year-old corporate bigwig who left a $250,000 annual pay to start at the bottom of the Internet marketing food chain...and he has a family to support too! (I'm currently working on a new writing project with 8 of Asia's top Internet marketing gurus - this is my "new baby" that is keeping me up at night and I am so excited that I break out into a little dance when no one's looking whenever I think of it - but more on this later!)

When I told my husband, who is a DJ at Zouk, that I'll be able to support him next year and he can quit his job. He told me, "Errr, but I still want to work leh." Now that is what I call true PASSION!