How to find your Passion?
10 Tips to Find Your Passion
In the last post, I discussed Purpose, and its relationship to Passion. The best leaders are the ones with defined purpose and passion they apply to every detail in their lives. Through their purpose and passion they inspire others to follow them
Passion is the rest of the self-discovery journey that results in capturing the core of who you are at YOUR absolute best where everything “flows”. The term “flow’ used in this context was first used by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist. He describes “Flow” as "the feeling of total engagement in the activity so that you don't notice anything outside of what you're doing." You are so immersed in what you do, you love what you do that almost nothing else matters anymore.
People tell me that “my eyes light up when I speak about my passion: Which is to help people reach their potential, live their dreams and most of all be happy.”
When asked to define their passion many start rumbling. It is amazing that so many people cannot articulate their passion or cannot define what passion is.
They say follow your passion you will be happy, but they fail to tell you the many steps in between, it is not a magical act, you touch your passion- happiness and prosperity are at the other end. I wished it did work that way but it doesn’t
Let us start by defining what passion is?
Passion is what you love most to do, is what makes you happy when you do it, it is that fire inside of you that gets you out of bed every morning. In simple words is what you would do for the rest of your life even if you were not getting paid for it
The definition of Passion in the Urban Dictionary is: “Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action to put as much heart, mind body and soul into something as is possible.”
The meaning of your life lies in your passion, you are reading this because you might be tired of meaningless days spent at doing something that is not making you happy or is not feeding your soul.
Knowing your passion that creates the purpose of your life is knowing the secret of why we were created on this earth, we all have a purpose either we find it or not is another story.
Knowing why you are here is the biggest challenge we will all face, having the courage, heart, and persistence to pursue it depends totally and uniquely on you. It is not luck and it is not resources; it is about how hungry you are, how far are you willing to go to not only pursue your dreams but to achieve them as well, and live the life you were always destined to live
Once you discover your passion and purpose in life you start your journey to fulfillment and satisfaction.
Passion and purpose can be as simply as being the best parent, or the best daughter/ son you can be, best teacher, best engineer, best Doctor, or best philanthropist or the one that will find the cure to cancer or the solution to eliminate famine in the world one mouth at a time.
I found through my own personal experiences and research that the biggest passion or purpose rooted in helping others or bringing joy to others, giving to others is the most satisfying to the mind, heart, and soul. It opens up gates of happiness and fulfillment that you never would have thought possible
We all have a role to play in life no matter how small or big it is part of a very intricate mechanism that keeps the world revolving and evolving. You are part of something huge, whatever you do adds to the next step, to the next person etc. It is like teams running in relay each team member relays to the next one to continue till the whole team reaches the final point or the destination
It is about you getting a hand from the person in front of you, then YOU paying it forward, giving a hand to the next person through the wheel of life.
If you start thinking about your passion and purpose that will make you part of this huge continuum you will start understanding your value in this world and will work harder on achieving it while you get your satisfaction
Some people seem to be born knowing what brings them joy and meaning. Most need help figuring it out for themselves.
How to find your passion?
Throughout the years, I heard a lot of my clients say “I have more than one” I can’t really define what it is; or it keeps changing
So how would you define your passion?
As anything else that is worth you need to work to get it – there are no short cuts- Go to the drawing board and:
Start writing 10 things that you love to do that you can spend the rest of your life (or the next 5 years) doing. Be as specific as you can be. No vague statements.
Keep refining your statements till they become clear and specific
Bring the list down to 5
Think if you were on the cover of a magazine what would that be and what would it say (We will go there later in details)
Ask your family about 5 things that are your biggest strengths that you can do effortlessly, or 5 things when you do or talk about your face lights up
Then ask your friends the same questions as your friends and family might be seeing different sides of you
Look between the three lists what are the common items or themes and that is where you need to start
Between the common points what would you do even if you were not paid for it
How would you add to the big picture of the world?
What would like to leave as a legacy?
You can live your passion everyday doing what you excel at doing, making your dreams come true while living true to yourself which brings tremendous amounts of happiness.
That doesn’t mean to sit back and bask in the sun till you get the inspiration, and watch your days go by. As I always say “in order for it to work, you need to work it”. The fact is that Passion alone doesn’t put food on the table. You need to have the resilience, hunger, curiosity, appreciation for what skill and opportunities you have and ability to control your inner monologue to make your passion work for you and not turn into frustration
So what is YOUR Passion? Please share it in the comments
This is part of my new product due to be released before the end of the year:Reinvent Yourself to Greatness- Detox your mind and Declutter your life
Next Post - Part 3- we will discuss “How to change your passion in business?”
