This month, we’re all about focusing on passion—one of our favorite things to talk about. When you’ve been in the industry for a while, though, passion can sometimes seem like that old friend who you remember but haven’t seen in a long time. That’s not to say long-time planners aren’t passionate about what we do—it’s just to say that, after years or even decades in the industry, our passion flame can start to dwindle a bit from a full-on fire to a flickering light. We’ll always be passionate, creative and determined people—but sometimes we need a little extra kindling to get that fire going. Today, then, we’re breaking down some tips to help long-time planners reignite their passion.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Education
Chances are, when you first started out in the industry you likely embarked on tons of continued education courses, classes and workshops. As our careers grow and we become long-time pros, though, we may begin to forget about the value education offers. A great way to reignite your passion as a long-time planner can simply be to take some courses you normally would overlook. Head to that wedding-planning workshop you haven’t been to in years. Reignite your creative flame by taking a calligraphy class or brushing up on your table-scaping skills. Give continued education a chance—in whatever form suits you most—even if you feel you’ve learned all you could ever need to know about wedding planning.
Be Open to Learning from Others
As long-time planners, we’re often the mentors in any given mentor-mentee situation, but it can be fun to flip that narrative on its head and, for the first time in years, be the mentee instead of the mentor. While there’s plenty brand-new planners have to learn, they can often teach us things we didn’t learn along the way. Take a new planner for coffee and pick his or her brain about new industry trends and practices. Join a young crew on a styled shoot and watch the way they work and interact—offer up advice as you see fit, but focus more so on observing and absorbing. Flip the role of always being the one with all of the answers on its head and be open to learning from those who are younger and less experienced than you are. At best, you’ll pick up some helpful tips and tricks and, if nothing else, being surrounded by their fresh energy and outlook will help you remember why it is you’re in the industry in the first place.
Start a “Treat Yourself” Tradition
When all else fails, practice a little self-love to reignite that event-planning passion. Pick something that will brighten your day or your week, and start to implement that as a regular practice in your planning business. This may mean treating yourself and your studio/workspace to weekly fresh flowers. Or, maybe it means taking your team for afternoon coffee and cookies each week for a change of scenery at those tiring weekly staff meetings. It might even look like doing one thing each week to liven up your studio or work space (paint the office walls one week, replace the photos in the frames on your desk the next, finally buy that bookcase you’ve been eyeing for so long the next, etc.). Look at your studio/office space and your weekly work habits and pick an area where you’d like to implement a regular “treat yourself” tradition. The key is to find a space in your professional life that needs some reviving or a change of scenery. If nothing else, it will give you something fresh to look forward to each week.
Overall, reigniting your passion as a long-time planner often comes from three main things: continued education, networking with others who haven’t been in the business as long, and revamping/refreshing a specific area of your professional routine. Be open, be creative and, remember, no matter how long we’ve been in the industry, we all find ourselves in a passion-funk from time to time. Focus on breathing fresh life into your everyday practices and the passion will follow!
Hero photo courtesy Jen Wojcik Photography
About the Author
