A continuous personal goal of mine is to follow my passions so that work isn’t work. Work became fulfilling for me when I began visualising myself doing the kind of things I enjoy — being creative. I have been visualising a ‘dream role’ as such, and set small steps to begin moulding this and making it part of my ‘business as usual’.

A quote that has stuck for me is “if you look after your reo, your reo will look after you”. I liken this to your passions. If you look after your passions, your passions will look after you.

Being creative is my passion; it’s my happy place and it’s something that I’m good at. I’ve found the more I nurture and trust it, the more it looks after me and leads me to my next challenge. The way I nurture this is by continually educating myself on new techniques, tools and the latest trends, along with the embracing the cultural influences I have. For example, designing, graphics, art, or anything creative has always been my thing, but I’ve never screamed this out loud – I’m not one to blow my own trumpet. I would rather my work speak for itself, and so far it has and has opened doors and created opportunities for me to be a part of some inspiring projects.

The main values that reflect my way of being are through my cultural influences — these are instilled in me as service, respect, understanding, caring, giving, nurturing genuine relationships, not to mention the cultures and their languages and tikanga. I am able to draw on these influences to support my passion and is my point of difference. I am fortunate to be able to bring a multicultural lens to the table – not only in a design sense, but in all the work I play a part in. Having an upbringing of European and Samoan, now walking and learning in te ao Māori and being married into the Tokelauan culture, this is what makes me unique.  All of these things inform the way I work, and the work that I do. This is MY mark. To do it with pride and being true to who I was raised to be the person I am.

Some of the work I do as part of the Pasifika and Māori teams is being able to draw upon cultural experiences and using the ways of these cultures to be able to know how to connect with different audiences. Part of this is knowing the type of protocol or tikanga which is appropriate, and if I don’t know, having strong relationships with people who do. I’m able to support colleagues, friends and family to feel comfortable and help them to understand different cultures. The multicultural lens I carry allows me to have an open mind and an open heart to embrace many cultures and assist others feel open to embrace another.

Here are some questions to nourish your passion:

What is it?

• Is it something you’ve always wanted to do? Your dream job? It may look like a few things — write them all down.
• It could be something you’re good at, something that you love or enjoy doing, and that is both challenging and fulfilling.

Assess it

• Where are you now?
• What things can you begin doing now to help you reach your goal?
• Think about personal professional development.
• Find avenues to help feed the flames (blogs, YouTube clips, study).
• Surround yourself with the right people.
• Think about people who are happy in their jobs, who are positive and who believe in you. Nurture those relationships, build strong relationships with the right people.

Plan it

• Break it down, write it down and set dates to make yourself accountable.
• 30/60/90 day plans. Plan and be specific.
• You know yourself best, so set yourself up at the beginning to achieve.
• Find a coach and/or mentor. If you’re good at making excuses make sure your coach or mentor are people who will keep you honest.
• Set small goals and as you tick them off — celebrate them! Do something that makes you feel good to acknowledge your progress and to keep your positive mindset. Often the end goal seems so far away and it’s easy to lose focus, so make it fun.
• When carrying out your work, go the extra mile. Let your work speak for itself.

Tools
Some easy-to-use tools for scheduling and monitoring I use are:

• Google Calendar — Block out times to plan and to action your plans
  Trello – Project management tool, great for visual people
• Notepad & pens – Ideas pop up everywhere, write them down for later
• Google Docs – Live document sharing & editing, great tool to share your ideas and progress with coach and/or mentor.

Below is an example of how you might track your progress:

• Visualise it
  Changing your attitude to a ‘can do’ mindset. Believing in yourself and your abilities..
• Do it!
  Follow your plan. If you take a detour, revisit your plan and make any changes you need to. Life is unpredictable and you will find opportunities will come in many different shapes and forms. Trust your path.

Reflect on yourself and where you are. Are you happy? What is your passion? Are you nurturing your passion?

Your challenge if you choose to accept it, is to trust and follow your passions and make yourself happy.

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Shannon Vulu

Shannon Vulu is a wife, mother, and an administrator at CORE Education. She has previously worked in a variety of administration, customer services, and farm hand roles.

Latest posts by Shannon Vulu (see all)

• Gaming up your te reo Māori - September 18, 2020
• Weaving passions with work - March 8, 2016
• Growing a multi-cultural family - August 13, 2015