In an economy where professions with only salaries are promoted, it is difficult to find ways to make money doing what you love. It becomes more challenging when once you are comfortable doing a job and are actually needed to make a change. The more time you spend on the job that you do not like, the deeper you sink. You might have spent the whole year convincing yourself that you do like the job you are doing but 2018 should be the year to get over this.

Following are the strategies that will help you get out of the slump and get engaged in something you love to do.

Be honest with yourself:

It might not be easy to accept that whatever efforts you have been making for years, do not actually take you where you want to reach. There is no purpose of all the hard work if it does not make you happy. So be true to yourself and choose the option that maybe difficult to begin with but makes you feel satisfied in the long-run.

Giving yourself a reality check is very important

Be grateful:

In order to boost your energy and spirits towards career growth, you need to look at your life from a bigger perspective. No matter what you are going through in life, remember what greater things you have achieved in your career.

Know what you love to do:

You need to know what you love to do. If you are not doing something you like to do then the challenge is to figure out how to re-align your professional career towards what you are passionate about. There is a lot of beauty in the exploration and journey towards in searching what is the thing that makes you happy.

Do everything in your power:

You might have certain responsibilities that make it seem harder to find out what you love to do and pursue it. You may begin with two hours per day, late at night or early in the morning but there should be no excuses on finding and following your passion.

Get the courage to start new:

When you have experience in a field, it feels scary to start something new. But you do not realize, that you experience in one field can help you more in something you are interested in. No matter how many times you fail and have to start all over again, get the courage, and start learning to pick yourself up.

Be thoughtful:

Just spending time on learning something new is not going to help you a lot. You will have to put really hard work towards achieving the goal. Create an effective strategy to work towards achieving what you are most interested in doing.

The article originally appeared on Entrepreneur