Finding Your Passion
'Finding your passion'. The self-help experts trot this phrase out regularly. It's as if finding your passion will make all your problems go away. Discover your passion, do what you love and you will never work another day. What does it mean, really? Is it true for you and me in the work situations we find ourselves, or is all this talk of passion just hype? What Is Passion? Dictionary.com lists 12 meanings of the word 'passion'. Let's zoom in on the ones that best fit our discussion of career change:
For some reason, it's easier for most of us to connect passion with something that we do after hours or outside of work. When we read and hear about someone who is truly passionate about their work, it seems to come almost as a surprise, as an exception to the norm. How could someone love what they do for a living? Well, you might too, if what you did to earn an income happens to be what you love doing anyway. Example: Yen is a lawyer with a passion for art. She spends her vacations traveling and painting her favorite destinations. To share this love with like-minded others, she set up a website and blog where she publishes and discusses her unique art work. As you read Yen's blog, you get the sense that here is someone who has translated a natural passion for art into something others can enjoy...and that provides her with additional income. Internet marketers call this win-win combination 'turn your passion into profit'. To paraphrase Oprah, you know you have found your passion when you do something just because it's what you love to do, even if you don't get paid anything. Is Passion Enough? Passion by itself is powerful, but it is most potent when combined with certain success traits, notably perseverance, determination, a positive attitude and a good work ethic. If your goal is to turn your passion into profit, you need to add money making, money management and business skills training to all the above to create a viable and sustainable business model. Finding your passion and adding to it your own unique mix of strengths, skills and knowledge, is a proven success strategy for enduring success. Check out this Passion Article: Turn What You Love Into A Home-Based Business. If you are keen to learn from those who love their work and work at what they love, you will be inspired by these success stories.
As a coach, one of the most common dilemmas I hear is: "But I'm not passionate about anything!" "I don't know what my passion is." Relax. You can discover your passion. It's there, buried deep within you. It may take time, but there are ways to reconnect with your deepest passions and dreams and get back in touch with your authentic inner self. How To Find Your Passion Finding your passion is about getting reacquainted with that part of yourself that you have lost touch with. It's about daring to dream. Time, growing up, culture and the stresses of adult life have their way of cutting us off from that part of us that is most natural and comfortable. We put on masks to cope with daily situations because we feel we must. We dare not risk transparency; it makes us look weak. Someone might mock us or take advantage of us. So we constantly self-modulate and censor our thoughts and words. We try to fit in and to portray ourselves in a way that we think our bosses, colleagues and loved ones expect. When we dare to share our authentic selves with others, then living and working from our passion becomes the most natural thing to do.
How To Live With Passion Observe a child and you will see an impressive example of what it means to live with passion. Natural curiosity. An unbridled zest for life. The courage to laugh, dance, sing, and be silly. Not being constrained by what others think (at least, not till they start school and learn "the rules"). We find children charming and are instinctively drawn to them because they are so real. Finding your passion is not hard. Each of us has something or things that we connect with deeply and powerfully. Have you ever read a news article about someone significant who has passed away? The journalist interviews their family and friends, and inevitably, someone who knew the individual might share something personal. "John was always passionate about the environment. Even as a boy, he would recycle everything and he would never use a plastic bag, in case it ended up in the river and strangled a platypus." When you have gone from this life, it is the things you are passionate about, the things you stand for, the things you did and said, that your loved ones will remember fondly and proudly. What is your burning passion? Finding Your Passion In Your Past Look back to your childhood: to the games you loved playing, the activities, people or surroundings you were most often drawn to. That made you feel strong, alive and you. If this reflection turns up nothing, don't give up. Try looking in your old diaries and journals. Talk to close friends and family members. People who have known you for a long time can often offer insights that you have overlooked or never thought about because you are too close to the subject (you). Finding Your Passion In The Zone When I am doing what I love, I am most alive and enthusiastic. It's called being in a state of 'flow' or being 'in the zone'. Time passes and I take no notice. When I'm in the zone, I could write all day and never feel hungry or tired. When I ask a client The Perfect Question and see a spark of sudden self-revelation in her eyes, I know I am only acting out of my natural passion, doing what I was born to do. In finding my passion and using it to serve others, I am being myself and being more of myself. That kind of awareness brings with it a deep satisfaction of a kind that cannot be measured by KPIs and performance reviews. It makes me a Happy Worker. Is there something you love doing that so compels and captivates you that you forget where you are and what is going on elsewhere? You could discover your passion is something you've always known. Or you might find it buried deep beneath layers of denial and lack of awareness, waiting to be uncovered at the right time. You have just one life. Dare To Dream!
Resources For Finding Your Passion If you are ready to find your passion and put it to work, here are some resources worth investigating.
Passion Quotes I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine, September 2002 Return from Finding Your Passion to Career Change Confidence Home |
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