With our global emphasis on green and sustainable living, many people are actively doing their part to engage in “green acts”. Whether its recycling, toting reusable grocery bags, there are a number of ways to engage yourself in balanced living

Seeing Differently

Step one to realigning your lifestyle using eco-principles is to begin seeing differently. See your entire existence as emerged within eco-living, rather than you as an individual acting out green acts.

Stuart Haygarth would have taken this advice literally, inventing a sustainable eye glass chandelier that uses 620 pairs of discarded lenses to form a globe-like chandelier. For the designer, perhaps his living art is not only an example of using creativity to craft lifestyle choices, but also symbolic of what visionary work we can accomplish if we begin to see a little differently.

Turning a Domestic Green Leaf

Turning over a green leaf begins with ourselves, in how we think and then in how we carry out those thoughts. Once we have internal balance, our focus can shift smoothly to an external balance. And while you may not be able to go save the rain forest, you can begin by changing how you view your home.

View your home as an eco-habitat in itself, and once you perceive your home this way, youll treat it with more green care. The simplest way to begin thinking this way is to look at what toxic elements could be in your home – perhaps in your vacuum cleaner, carpet, paint, whether you have energy-efficient appliances, or even checking to see if the plastics you use to cook and eat with are made with toxic chemicals.

The greatest change happens because of people that are deeply passionate, and have a great love for the work they do. If you want to make a difference in the world, the single most important thing you can do is consciously and deliberately choose to do work that you are passionate about.

No other choice can have a greater impact on the planet, or your life.

If youre doing work thats boring, you probably wont make much of an impact. You might provide people with some amount of value. Enough to pay your rent, enough to get by. But you wont be inciting change. And you certainly wont be inspiring others.

If youre doing boring work, chances are you do just enough to not get fired.

But if you do work that excites you, keeps you up at night, and fulfills you… youll do more. Youll give yourself to it completely. Youll put in extra time, more energy, more passion. Because its worth it. Its satisfying.

At the end of the day youll think: “My time was well spent today.”

So the real question isnt whether or not to do boring or passionate work. The question is how to get started.

Seven things you can do to move toward getting paid to do what you love:

1. Find your passion. This is all about your great love, and what makes you come alive. To get started here, ask: “What am I insanely interested in?” “What could I talk about for hours?” and “What would I do for free?”

2. Find your strengths. What were looking for are things youre naturally good at, and the unique strengths youve had since birth. This is about contributing your gifts to the world. To get started, interview your friends, family, or peers and ask them what three things youre naturally talented at.

3. Find your value. Finding the intersection between what youre good at and what people are willing to pay you for is what it all boils down to. If you cant find a way to get paid to do what you love, the other stuff doesnt really matter. So its worth spending some time figuring this out. To get started, think about the benefits youll give others by contributing your value. Think about whether or not there is a desperate pain or a deep passion involved in what youre offering.

4. Make the commitment. I think, more than any other reason, people fail to succeed is because they fail to commit. Thinking “I dont know” or “maybe someday” will not get you to the point of doing what youre passionate about for a living. It takes an uncompromising commitment to make this change for yourself. Instead of thinking “I dont know,” think “Ill figure it out.” Remember, paths are made by walking.

5. Be willing to let go. As much as you might want to make this change for yourself, it can be hard to let go of the old patterns of thinking and behaving. A lot of us have ideas that “work shouldnt be fun” or “you should just suck it up.” Breaking down those beliefs can be difficult, but moving toward a new direction is most definitely worth it.

6. What will you give up? You might not think that you have time to take on a new endeavor, and youre right. You wont have time until you make the time. There are a lot of things we place in our schedules that we think we must do. But in reality, our world wouldnt collapse if we chose something else. Make a list of all the activities and time sinks that youll give up in order to make time for your new journey.

7. Will you say yes to yourself? You may want to become a writer, dentist, life coach, painter, or public speaker. If you know that this is what youre meant to do, then give yourself permission to call yourself that… even if youre not established yet. And even if you dont make a full time income from it. Own your passion, completely and unreservedly.

While there is more to your journey than just these seven things, this is a huge start. Clarity and commitment are the biggest steps, the rest is easy. One foot in front of the other.

You will get there. No one can stop you if you want it enough.

And remember, the world needs you to do what you love. Nothing else can create more change, or have a greater impact.

Give yourself permission. We need your gifts.

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor, Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. Also see his free ebook The Zero Hour Workweek.