“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Arthur Ashe

People love the grand, sweeping gesture. We love the idea of walking into a meeting of the higher-ups and telling them exactly what we think of them: overbearing, incompetent, buffoons making unrealistic demands, making us stay late, not caring about our personal lives, the job being absolute drudgery. We want to be Ed Norton in Fight Club or Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. We want to tell everyone where to shove it, throw stuff in the garbage, sweep things off of desks and storm out to pursue our dreams, not someone else’s.

A very satisfying idea. However, most of us can’t do that. We need a job, we need the paycheck. Yes, we have our dreams and we want to pursue them. But quitting one’s job with no plan just doesn’t make sense.

People seem to have the notion that they either need to quit their job and go after their passion or just stay stuck in the job. This is a mindset that traps people and makes them depressed because they think nothing is ever going to change for them, that they either have to do it all at once or not at all. They think, “Well, I can’t just up and quit my job; what will I live on? How will I pay my bills, my mortgage, the kids’ tuition etc. So forget it. I’d like to follow my dream but I just can’t.” But that isn’t true.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Change does not come all at once; it takes time and planning. It comes in increments. It would be foolish for most people to just up and quit a job with no plan. If you have a passion that you want to follow, maybe open your own business or write a novel or pursue acting or whatever, that is wonderful. It is so great to have a passion in life other than watching TV. However, unless you have a wealthy family, following that passion also requires some practical planning and hard work.

The quote from Arthur Ashe breaks it down very well.

“Start where you are.”You’re in a job that you are not wild about. Okay, don’t complain about it. Do your job to the best or your ability and leave time for your passion. If that involves owning a business, start saving what money you can set aside. Do research. Make some plans. Write them down. That doesn’t cost anything.

“Use what you have.” Use your spare time; we all have it. Use your computer for research. Talk to people, see what they have done. Speak to someone at your local bank and see what the deal is with getting a business loan. Talk to your spouse or other family members.

“Do what you can.” We can all do something. Not only that, when you are actually doing something towards your goal you will feel better. You won’t feel so trapped.

Some years ago a friend’s wife said to me, “I really want to write a screenplay.”

I didn’t understand that statement because she could write a screenplay. All she had to do was sit down and write it. But that would take time. I think she was more envisioning being able to quit her job and be wealthy and famous.

It obviously doesn’t work like that.

Many people don’t want to do the small things, but the big things don’t get done without the small things, the unglamorous things, the writing of business plans and filling out loan applications and all that. These things take time and energy, time after work and on the weekends when you would probably rather be doing something else.

And it may take a long time. Five years. Ten years. I think that is what people struggle with the most. We are impatient, we want to quit now.

However, the value of realizing one’s dream is you are forced to see if you really want it, or if you just want to quit your job. If that is all you want well, join the club. There is a difference between not wanting to work and pursuing a passion.