We constantly hear motivational speakers telling us to find and follow our passions. They say, having a purpose in life and in our careers is essential, ok so if I find my passion I will feel more fulfilled and enjoy life, but how do I find my passion?
Finding a “purpose” in life may sound like a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be. In order to find your passion, you have to be open-minded and willing to explore. First, you have to be willing to explore yourself, those deep areas of your heart and mind that we often avoid. Ask yourself the tough questions. once you have done this go out and try new things. This doesn’t mean you have to become a Buddhist Monk and travel the world. You can explore the world just by saying yes to activities you would normally avoid. This article will provide you with practical steps you can begin to implement right away.
How To Find Your Passion
The key to finding your passion in life is to first dive inward and ask yourself,
1. What Makes Your Eyes Light Up? What Fills Your Heart?
I’m sure you’ve heard someone say “She started talking about____ and her eyes lit right up”. What is that thing for you? Ask your close friends to help you out with this one. Is there something that whenever you do it you feel fulfilled inside, you feel complete, it gives you a true sense of purpose?
2. What Do You Love Doing That Makes You Lose Track Of Time? Is There Something That Gets You Out Of Your Own Head For Long Periods Of Time?
Most of us have something we love to do. Something that we get so involved in, hours can fly by without us even knowing it. Often this is some activity or hobby. Once you’ve answered this, brainstorm ideas of all the different ways you can pursue this activity from various angles.
Sometimes this may not be something we absolutely love but something that just takes us away from reality. If this is the case analyze all the different aspects of this task and how it could become a career, hobby, or daily activity.
Is there something that quiets your inner doubt, anxiety, and overthinking?
3. Look at your movie selection, favorite TV shows, favorite books, and analyze what commonalities are they all have?
We can gather a ton of information by just looking around our homes and seeing what type of leisure activities we gravitate towards. What movies we always watch, what books we have to buy when we see them.
3. Is There A Job, Vocation, Career You Have Always Wanted To Pursue?
Something you could spend years involved in and not get bored? Something You’ve wanted to do since a young age? What was your dream job as a kid?
4. Think Of Times When You’ve Helped Others, How Did You Feel? What Was The Activity or Task?
What were you doing to help other people? Can you get involved again? Is this something you can pursue as a career or volunteer? Was it helping people, kids, animals, nature, Etc?
5. List Your Past Jobs. Which Ones Did You Enjoy The Most? Which Ones Did You Dread Going To Every Day?
Why did you like them the most? What commonalities did your favorite 3 jobs have? What jobs did you hate and why did you hate them?
6. What Are You Naturally Good At? Do You Have A Talent? What Do You Wish You Were Good At?
Is there something you have always been good at? What is something you wish you could spend all day getting better at?
7. What Do You Dread? What Type of Careers Or Activities Do You Want To Avoid At All Costs?
It’s just as important to talk about and write down what we dread as it is to talk about what we love. This can help save time on careers or activities we already know we want nothing to do with.
8. What Struggles or Adversity Have You Faced In Life?
Using our past experiences with pain and struggle is often a natural passion deep inside us that we need to bring out. This is the reason many people in recovery from addiction become addiction counselors. Is there a struggle you faced? Do you feel attracted to help others face this?
** When it comes to using our past struggles for strength to help others we must first face them ourselves. If you have not faced your own struggle or past trauma it’s typically best to wait until you have concurred your demons to help others with the same issue.
Time For Action
Some people might have an exact idea of their passion after writing out their answers, while others may still not know. At this point, we need to get out and “explore”.
- Research all the careers and opportunities in the field you love
- Get your foot in the door of that field
- Sign up for free seminars and online classes around your interests
- Take college courses or paid courses to gain knowledge on your passion
- Say yes to activities and events you’ve always wanted to do but we’re too scared to try
- Network with people in the field you want to get it
- Open up to your family and friends about your passion (often others around us share similar interests that we didn’t know)
- Use every experience as a networking opportunity (you may try a spinning class and hate it, but meet someone there who is involved in what you love)
Whenever you try something new or different reflect on how you felt, what you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy about it.
Take Your Time
Don’t quit your job and jump into a new field or business without doing extensive research and thought. This is particularly true if you have loved ones that depend on your income. I truly believe we need to put 100% into anything we do especially our passion, but take your time to list the pros and cons and try it out first. If you’re someone who is in this position and can’t leave your current job for your passion this is a great opportunity to start your passion as a side gig. Commit 3 hours a night to your passion and spend the next 6 months building it up. Then we can analyze if going full-time is the best decision.
Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone
In order to find your passion and purpose in life, you have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone. This involves trying new activities, talking to new and different people, and digging deep within ourselves, and answering some tough questions. Trying new activities is a great place to start. Follow your heart. What is that thing that brings pure joy to your heart? Find activities associated with this thing that brings you pure joy, find people or groups involved with this thing. Don’t assume you won’t like something if you’ve never tried it.
A big part of finding our passion in life is not “judging a book by its cover”. We don’t know what’s going to come out of a situation if we don’t try it. You may try yoga and not like yoga, but during the class, you run into an old friend who needs help at a charity you’ve always wanted to be a part of.
This is where attitude comes into play. When I first was exploring new activities when I tried something I hated I would be in a miserable mood. This destroyed any chance of positive networking at these events because I was so worried about being done and trying the next thing.
Family and Friends Can Provide Insight
For me it was dogs! My mom would convince me to go with her to some animal event, or just a walk on the pier with the dogs. Just getting an hour’s break from the chaos of my addiction and being with my dogs brought a smile to my face and gave me hope for the future.
My mom knew that dogs were my favorite thing in the world. Even though I knew this as well, I wasn’t in the mindset to harness this love myself. My mom stepped in and helped me rekindle this passion I had.
It’s good to talk with friends and family about passion and get feedback from them but don’t let them sway you in any certain direction that you don’t feel attracted to. Often our family will encourage us to takes the “Safe Route”. This makes sense, they’re concerned and want us to do well in life, but this can also be detrimental to pursuing our passion.
What Breaks You Away?
My dogs could always break me away from the turmoil in my life. On numerous occasions, I was suicidal and right in the center of my addiction tornado. I would be sitting on my bed thinking about ending the misery and hurting myself, then one of the dogs would come and lay next to me. Just seeing their faces and petting them would instantly kick those negative thoughts out of my head. What is that thing for you? Is there something that quiets your mind and brings you peace? Can you pursue it as a career? As a hobby? How can you get your foot in the door of that industry?
Every time I saw my dogs or any dogs my eyes would light up and I couldn’t help but smile. I knew from a young age I had a certain passion for animals. Something about the love dogs and cats give us just makes my heart feel full. Animals gave me a sense of love, calm, and joy ever since I was a little kid. I would always think of how I could make a career out of working with dogs, or at least volunteer with animal services.
Build A Rock Solid Foundation
We can’t work on finding our passion and purpose in life if we aren’t living a healthy life. It’s important to do things that boost dopamine and create natural endorphins in our brains to help build a solid foundation for our overall life and health. Following healthy habits will allow us to explore new and exciting activities with a better attitude and hopefully, find our passion or calling in life. Here are some natural ways to increase dopamine and endorphins (source):
- Exercise
- Get Enough Sleep
- Meditate
- Pray
- Having sex (healthy sex)
- Healthy Diet
- Positive Bonding With Loved Ones
- Walking/Hiking through Nature
The better we feel on the inside the better everything on the outside will be. Jim Rohn the famous motivational speaker and entrepreneur always spoke about how all changes start on the inside.
“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight”
-Jim Rohn
Different Paths
We all have different likes and dislikes. Some people are introverts and some extroverts, and many are a combination of both. Finding your passion is something you and only you will be able to fully answer. Getting feedback from family and friends is great and necessary but take it with a grain of salt. Understand that many people will lean towards the “safe” answer. It’s up to you to take the leap of faith and pursue your passion with a ferocious intensity.