How to Stay Passionate About Your Passion

You dream about it for years. You work your butt off to reach it. And finally, there you are ... at a point in your life where you're doing what you always knew you were meant to do -- engaging in your creative passion.

You're elated. The Rocky theme song blares in your head as you pump your fist in the air and rejoice. Life is good.

Then a few months or years later you find yourself grumbling and complaining about your workload or the state of your industry or how you've just been a little down in the dumps lately.

What happened? Most likely, you just temporarily lost touch with the passion you once had for your talent or artistic vocation.

Kathy Sierra has some great tips for recapturing the glory in her blog post "Creating a Passionate You." For instance ...

Ask yourself, "What did I used to really love about this?" Remind yourself why you wanted to do this! It doesn't mean you don't change your mind, or outgrow it, or evolve, or whatever ... but you won't know whether it's time to move on or whether you just lost your perspective unless you truly answer that question. Ask yourself, "Assuming I do NOT win the lottery, what else would I rather be doing for work right now?"

Sierra has been interested in the brain and artificial intelligence since her days as a game developer. She is also the co-creator of the bestselling Head First computer book series.

So ... how do you maintain your passion for your art or craft? Click the Comments link below and share your thoughts.