If you had one of those bumper stickers that says "I'd rather be . . ." what would your fill-in-the-blank be?

Okay. So why aren't you?

Wake up, everyone. Just because you're working doesn't mean you have to hate it. So what if you have a law degree? That doesn't mean you have to be a cog in a great big legal machine if you don't want to. It is possible to take your skills and interests and bring them into a job that actually interests you, yes, even if you didn't major in that particular field.

It may cost you some time and money to find out what you want to do, and you may have to start from the bottom, but as they say, you only live once. "I think the biggest risk is not trying things and regretting it later," says Tom Morris, president of Morris & Associates, a career coaching firm.

There are people in this world who swim with dolphins for a living, or sit in a tree in a rain forest counting the creatures that gather around particular plants. Why can't you? "When you begin to pay attention, you see needs. The skill is translating those into occupations or business opportunities," said Melissa Everett, a career counselor and author of the book "Making a Difference While Making a Living."

So what's your passion, and how can you put it to work?

Why Not You?

Do you ever wish you could follow through with that goal you had when you were younger of "making a difference"?

Well, you can. It's not impossible, even if you are mired in uninvigorating, meaningless work now.

First of all, said Everett, realize that the job categories today are more diverse than ever. "Most of the job market is the hidden job market," she said.

"Across all of the sectors, there are special-interest organizations, like ecotourism, natural foods, alternative transportation," she pointed out. Look them up on the Web, network and talk to professors who are usually knowledgeable about opportunities. "Start with the broad side of the barn and get more specialized," she advised.

If you're interested in saving the world and want to go to a nonprofit, look where jobs are about to be created. Most nonprofit programs are funded by foundations. So check the Web sites of local major foundations and look at the most recent grants and new programs, Everett suggested.

When she is helping people to believe they can have an uncommon job, she likes to put together a collage of newspaper headlines. She asks her clients to think of the people behind the headlines, the jobs they do. Someone did this, so why not you?

"The hardest thing about it is the decision to do it."

Are You Having Fun Yet?

After receiving a degree in public relations and communications at James Madison University, Jason Corfini made a decision to goof off for a little while--maybe a summer. That goofing off has turned into a full-time job, and it doesn't look like he's going to force himself into the wide world of PR any time soon.

Corfini is a sales rep at Boats US, selling boat parts. And on the weekends, he teaches sailing. He was a sailing instructor in Annapolis during his high school summers, and again during college summers. "I got about halfway through college and realized that what I was doing in the summer was much more fun than [what I was doing] in the winter," he said. "I wanted to stay in the boating industry and was young and had a lot of time to get a real career later."

This is Corfini's real career. And he loves it. "I tried a few other things, even teaching, but the sailing and boating is something I enjoy," he said. He does get tempted once in a while with the promise of bigger bucks. But that side of the work world never wins out. "The older I get, the tougher it gets because more and more of my friends and colleagues are probably making more than I am. But I know a lot of people who make $75,000 a year and hate going to their office every day." Not Corfini. He "works" in his passion seven days a week, and plans to keep on doing it.

What Have You Got to Lose?

Skipping to a new field--something for which you actually have a passion--may be risky, but as Morris said, "I'm not sure that doing the risky thing is doing the risky thing."

Morris points out that you do need to think of the obvious before running off to be a basket weaver--do you have any money saved up as a safety net? Do you have a family or spouse who depends on your income for survival? Do you have a sick parent you need to take care of?

No? Okay. Then why are you still here?

Morris has been around to help a few clients seek their passions. He once had a client who was being downsized from a local tech company. This employee was in his mid-twenties and didn't know what he wanted to do. Finally he came up with one thing: He had always wanted to check out Australia.

He knew no one there, had no contacts, and knew nothing about it. But he also didn't own a house, could easily sell his car, he had saved up some money, and had no ties to this area. "If you're asking for my permission, you have it," Morris told him.

The client left about three weeks later. In fact, the second day he was in Australia, he met someone in a pub who owned a company and offered him a job.

Another client in her thirties told Morris she was bored in her job as a lawyer with an association. She always thought she would like to live in California, so she and Morris did a job search together and she wound up with an offer on the West Coast to work with a start-up company, using her legal skills.

She started second-guessing her decision, so Morris did a risk analysis.

"What happens when you go out there? The worst thing that could happen is you go out there, take this shot, it doesn't pan out . . . and you need to find another job," said Morris. "You're marketable and you'll just go find another job."

But if she decided against taking this chance and stayed in her comfortable--but boring--job, "five to eight years from now you're older, haven't gotten anywhere, you're doing the same boring work," Morris said. "The risk is you look back on your life and say, 'I should have taken that other risk.' "

Are you shaking in your drab blue cubicle yet?

"Don't do something wild and crazy, but if it's what you want to do and you can afford it, I usually urge people to take some risk in their career," said Morris. "The kind of person who really cares about passion doesn't sit in a so-so job."

Amy Joyce writes about career-related issues every other week in Washington Business. She will be available for a Web discussion this Thursday, June 22, at 10 a.m. on washingtonpost.com. Click on "Live Online." Joyce's e-mail is joycea@washpost.com