Do you wish you could get expert advice on how to find your passion? I often wished I had someone to give me tips and tricks and tell me what worked for them. If you would like to skip the article and go straight to the expert advice, click here!
For so long, I wanted to find my passion. “I’m destined for more!” was a thought that popped into my head every so often. The problem was I didn’t know what that was or even what it meant for my future. The best way I can explain it is that I felt like I had never lived up to my full potential. Every year that went by, with me doing nothing, I felt worse! That said, I had also been lazy. I spent many hours wasting my life away by watching mind-numbing television shows. Just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with watching television, but when that’s what you spend most of your free time doing when you’re not at work, maybe it’s something to reflect on that. I say this so that you can see where I came from; it’s not as if I started with an insane drive or work ethic. Nope, not me. I would look at people with a crazy amount of motivation and think, I could never do that, or that’s not me. Once I found my passion, I found more drive and work ethic!
I don’t know about you, but I never thought my passion could be my job or my career. I felt a job is a job, and you do what you’re passionate about on the side. Except, I wasn’t pursuing my passions outside of work either. Have you ever felt like that?
I finally got tired of the life I was living and wanted a change. My change started with soul searching and learning as much as I could on the topic of this elusive thing called passion. For many years, I did soul searching, trying to find out what my passion was, and how one could find something they loved doing? I took quizzes, read books, watched videos, oh, and I also watched Super Soul Sunday (anther tv show, of course).
While I have not “arrived” at my final destination, and I know there is a lot of work ahead of me, I finally feel at peace; I feel as though I’m on the right track, and I’ve found my passion. It took years of me searching to get to this place. I searched, and I felt clueless and frustrated because I never felt like I was any further along or any closer to any answers, until I was. One day, I had the idea for Ordinary to Badass, and something clicked. It felt right. Now, I feel like the answer is in the search for your passion. Just keep doing the next thing you are passionate about, and somehow, like a puzzle, it will all fit together!
My goal is to give you many options and ideas on how to find your passion. To tell you what I found through my research, but I have also asked several Entrepreneurs and influencers how they found their passion. I want to provide you with as much information as possible, so you can continue to find and pursue your passion!
In the article “The Passion Recipe: Four steps to Total Fulfillment,” Steven Kotler says to:
1) Make a list-meaning make a list of the things that sound interesting to you. Even if you don’t know how you’d pursue them or if you’d be awkward at them, put them on the list if they come to mind. Don’t leave anything out!
2) Hunt for intersections- Look at all of your interests and see where they overlap (see picture below).
How can you combine three interests and make them work together? These can be a result of past experiences or things you want to learn about now.
3) Play- Steven says, “Devote 10-20 minutes a day to listening to lectures, watching videos, reading articles, books, whatever on the topic.” You may as well throw in podcasts and Audiobooks in that mix too!
4) Turn your passion into purpose. How can you apply something you love doing, to a more significant issue in the world? For example, if you have a business and also have a passion for helping Domestic Violence victims, maybe you put 10% of your proceeds towards Domestic Violence. Having a bigger purpose than yourself may help!
I did this process of writing all of my passions down years ago. Want proof?
I feel obligated to tell you, I read that process (or one similar) in a book approximately 5 years ago, and didn’t think the process worked for me. Maybe it was because I wrote ideas and didn’t take any action on them. I couldn’t figure out what three passions would fit together. It frustrated me. Maybe I skipped Kotler’s step #2 and didn’t do enough research. If I had invested more time in those passions, it could have given me more answers.
Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work, says you need to cultivate your passion, meaning put in the time, energy, effort and do work. Maybe you had a job in the past, where you considered it, just that, a job. Then you put effort into learning the position and became knowledgeable. Maybe other people even regarded you as an expert. That may help you to feel more passionate about your job. Whatever work you’re doing, try diving in and learning everything you can about it. The more competent you are in an area, the more passionate you may feel.
I can relate to Cal’s theory because I found a passion in an unlikely place with public speaking. I was terrified of public speaking and didn’t like it. You know how Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound, right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Oh yeah, that was me! I would have chosen the casket any day. How ridiculous is that? I found the more comfortable I got with speaking in public, the more I got on stage. I started thinking to myself, oh, okay, this isn’t so bad. Now I genuinely love it! My love for giving speeches only came from regular practice. To me, this is proof that you can find passion in the most unlikely places.
Mark Manson, the author of “The subtle art of not giving a F*ck,” says to screw, finding your passion because that’s baloney (he may have used another word like bs). He says, you know what that your love is, and you’ve just been ignoring it all along. Consider setting aside time to reflect on things you love or have loved doing. What did you want to do as a kid, but may not have been able to? What lights you up inside? What are you scared to admit that you love doing? Mark Manson says your passion maybe that thing you can’t stop thinking about. What Mark says may be true, but I would caution you not to ignore the stuff you love doing, but don’t think about every day. There is a possibility that you love something, but you have purposely blocked it out and stopped thinking about it. Maybe that dream seemed just too big, so you stuffed it away. I believe it may not be a thought you have every day or all the time, but it could be a reoccurring thought or dream that you have over the years.
In The Portfolio Life Podcast, Jeff Goins interviewed Matt Kepnes about traveling. Matt first was bitten by the travel bug and wanted to do more of it. He then found a love of writing and married the two passions together. Matt is an author and blogger and talks all about travel. Matt said “you don’t follow your passion; you stumble into it.”
Where do you land with this whole passion thing? What has worked for you in the past? I genuinely hope you have found your passion and found a way to implement ideas that you love into your life. I believe you can have many hobbies, interests, and desires, and there may not be one calling for your life. Just pursue the next thing that interests you and the next thing, and the next. If you keep doing things you love, you will fall into the right thing. Pretend you are a scientist and are doing a passion experiment. You may or may not have a hypothesis on what will or won’t work. Take that hypothesis and just keep testing until you figure out the things that bring you joy and light you up.
You may find yourself feeling just as lost as when you started this article. While I hope that’s not the case, I’m not mad at you, because I was once there. Don’t worry, that’s why I brought in reinforcements asked some experts to tell you about how they found their passions! Take a look at what they had to say!
I asked this question:
When it comes to finding your passion did you find it by:
- Addressing what you already knew from within yourself.
- Increasing your knowledge on a topic and therefore growing your confidence.
- Pursuing things, you were interested in until you stumbled upon your passion.
- All the Above.
- None of the above.
Sarah Robinson
Author, Blogger and Speaker
A) Days and months and years of little steps, tiny risks, and plenty of therapy have added up until I get to do what I love for a living.
Mike Bechtle
Bestselling Author and Speaker
Author of “People Can’t Drive You Crazy If You Don’t Give Them The Keys.”
There are a gazillion tests and courses to help you figure out your strengths, interests, gifts, passions, etc. I’ve taken a bunch of them over the years. The problem was that I tended to pigeonhole myself into those categories (the test results), and assume that’s where I should be focusing.
Becky Bayne
Graphic Designer
Without realizing it I became a pioneer in the home-based business industry and built a business in graphic design that I continue to operate today, still from my home.
Annie Beth Donahue
Project Manager
After taking several corporate jobs that involved creating marketing content (along with a few other duties) I realized that while I did love writing, the real joy from writing came from creating my own fictional stories.
Tiffany Babb
poet, comic creator, and essayist.
If something captures my interest, I grab onto it. Sometimes this means re-watching a movie a dozen times and sometimes it means spending hours researching a specific type of Ferris wheel.
Tyler Williams
Country Music Artist, Speaker
https://www.tylerwilliamslive.com/
Looking into my childhood is where I found the earliest traces of what makes me light up inside. From singing at the top of my lungs and making random noises I thought were fun as a small child, to zipping around on the motorcycle Santa stuffed down the chimney on Christmas, to pretending to be a Navy SEAL in the woods with friends in middle school. I wasn’t thinking about finding my passion in those moments. I was living out of my most natural state, living what was already inside – giving life to desire.
Carolina Sizemore
Blogger, Speaker
Unfortunately, the true answer is A. And the reason I say unfortunately is because you might think it was easy to identify the passion that was already burning within me. But it is easier in our culture today to be swayed by others expectations and/or popular trends until they blur our vision blinding us to our true passion.
Aubrey Lesicki
Lymphatic therapist and Wellness Coach
As to my niche specialty of breast wellness and breast massage, this was a synchronistic journey between curiosity and righteous indignation.
Danielle Bernock
Author and Speaker
https://www.daniellebernock.com/
When I was first married and had kids, my family was my passion. When empty next came I felt lost because I tried to hold onto that same passion, the same way. But things were different and I needed to redirect my passion.
Caroline DePalatis
Creative Instigator and Hope Sower
Ever since I was a young child, I’ve been obsessed with everything international: people, places/maps, cultures, languages, travel, politics, values, literature, art, music – you name it. This has played out through extensive overseas travel and my role in leading an outreach to international students, scholars, wives, couples and families for 25 years.
If you want to unlock the rest of their answers, click the link and sign up! I was amazed at their beautiful answers and stories. I know you can learn so much from these thought leaders, which is why I asked them to write about how they found their passion for you.
I would love to know which expert’s story resonated with you? Do you feel any closer to finding your passion or at least have an idea of what you can do to pursue it? Reply and let me know!
Marie
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Love this!!!
Thank you! I’m glad you were a part of it!!!