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Mark Twain once said, Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Cathy Heller, creator and host of the Dont Keep Your Day Job podcast, couldnt agree more. In her early twenties Heller moved to Los Angeles with a love of songwriting and a dream of landing a record deal. But just six months after she signed with Interscope Records, the label dropped her, leaving her to forge her own path in music. She did just that. After a decade spent writing music for television ad spots and shows like One Tree Hill, she started coaching fellow artists and inspiring nearly 9 million people through her motivational podcast about creative entrepreneurs.

Now, shes put pen to paper. In her new book, Dont Keep Your Day Job: How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career, out on November 12, Heller draws from her experience to show readers how they can identify their purpose and build a career around it. In this interview (which has been edited and condensed), she shares what inspired her to write the book, how to turn a passion into a career and what message she hopes readers will take away.

Stephanie Day

Samantha Todd: What inspired you to write this book?

Cathy Heller: I was shocked when the podcast started and we had such a big audience. People are so desperate for someone to pull over to the side of the road and say, I see you and the thing that you want to put out in the world does have a place. I felt like this had to be a book. This is a movement.

Everyone has a great idea. The thing that were missing is momentum. The reason we have no momentum is because we dont put it out in the world. We have to give ourselves permission to put it out in the world, to be messy about it. And then it will start to get better and better.

Todd: What inspired the title?

Heller: When someone wants to be a dancer or someone wants to play guitar, people usually say, Dont quit your day job. And so I sort of turned it around: No, dont keep your day job. The number one thing that human beings seek all the time is the feeling of I matter, I have a purpose. The day job is sort of synonymous with Im doing something I dont really like just to pay the bills, whereas the dream job feels like This is who I am, this is really me making my mark on this world and I feel seen and expressed. Thats the difference. I dont want people to feel like they have a job. I want people to feel like theyre doing their lifes work.

Todd: You start your book by writing, The opposite of depression is not happiness. The opposite of depression is purpose. Why did you decide to start your book in this way?

Heller: When I was growing up, my parents were really unhappy. My mom struggled with depression and was suicidal when I was a kid, and my dad left. My mom always dreamed of being an actress and she decided to have kids instead, so when my dad left, I think she spiraled because she had given up so much of herself.

My moms gifts were dying inside of her, and she didnt feel like anyone saw her. I think a lot of people feel invisible, and I dont think any amount of money is going to take that away. People want to feel that they contribute something to the world and that someone sees them.

That is my quest, to help people feel seen. I know what its like for people not to feel that anyone sees them, and I dont want anyone to struggle with that. I just want people to feel purpose in their day.

Cathy Heller

Todd: How can people turn their passion into their career?

Heller: Two thirds of the world dont really know what they want to do. Theres a reason we dont know: We dont give ourselves time to be messy. When you walk into a preschool classroom, every kid wants to paint. Everyone in the class has paint in their hair, paint up their nose, and they dont even notice. Theyre just happy to be creative. At some point growing up, we get rejected and decide, Im not going to try or do anything unless I know ahead of time that someone will think that its perfect. Im going to protect myself from failure. We stop experimenting, and we stop being curious.

We have to allow ourselves to get our hands messy and try things. Most people build an idea in their head. They sit and think about what they should do. They get it perfect, put it out into the world and try to convince people that they want it, but it doesnt work that way. In order to be successful in business, the first step is to get curious, to get messy. Let's open ourselves up to what were interested in. Lets find something that we love and figure out who we could make it for. If you have a talent, you should care how that talent can serve someone else.

Todd: What message do you want people to take away from your book?

Heller: I want them to take away the message that they have something they need to share with the world and that it is absolutely possible that this thing theyve always wanted to do can be a reality. One thing that I do in the book is outline four different types of creative work, because I think that as human beings we will reach for the highest branch we see. One of the reasons people dont start their own business or build their own dream job is because they dont see it as a potential path. Well, you could be a maker. You could make the bread, you could be a teacher, you could teach people how to bake bread. You could be a curator, you could create a shop for all different types of bread. Or you could be an investigator, you could have a podcast all about bread, or a book or a blog. There are so many ways to actually make those things happen and come alive. One of the other central messages in the book is: Be messy. When you do something messy with the purpose of putting this beautiful stuff in the world for someone elses pleasure and fulfillment, you will be led to the ways that you can make an amazing living serving the world in the way only you can.

Todd: Theres a belief that to be happy, you have to go to college and get a well-paying job with good benefits. What do you think about this mindset?

Heller: I actually think that system is broken. If you listen to Sir Ken Robinson, who has the number one most watched Ted Talk, about how education kills creativity, he talks about how most people at the age of 40 or 45, theyre walking from their car to the office and they just feel like theyre going to have a midlife crisis. Its because theyve been sold this lie that get good grades, get into a good school, get a good job, and youll check off all the boxes and be happy. Theyre not happy because theyre building other peoples dreams. They dont know what their dreams are. Theyre not feeling that theyre being seen. People want more fulfillment. Every person comes into the world to offer something unique.

Original post:
Dont Keep Your Day Job: Motivational Podcast Host And Author On Creating Purposeful Work - Forbes