This guide won’t be
comprehensive, and it won’t find your passion for you. But it will help you in
your journey to find it.
Here’s how.
1. What are you good at? Unless you’re just
starting out in life, you have some skills or talent, shown some kind of
aptitude. Even if you are just starting out, you might have shown some talent
when you were young, even as young as elementary school. Have you always been a
good writer, speaker, drawer, organizer, builder, teacher, friend? Have you
been good at ideas, connecting people, gardening, selling? Give this some
thought. Take at least 30 minutes, going over this question — often we forget
about things we’ve done well. Think back, as far as you can, to jobs, projects,
hobbies. This could be your passion. Or you may have several things. Start a
list of potential candidates.
2. What excites you? It may be something at work — a little part of
your job that gets you excited. It could be something you do outside of work —
a hobby, a side job, something you do as a volunteer or a parent or a spouse or
a friend. It could be something you haven’t done in awhile. Again, think about
this for 30 minutes, or 15 at the least. If you don’t, you’re probably
shortchanging yourself. Add any answers to your list.
3. What do you read about? What have you spent
hours reading about online? What magazines do you look forward to reading? What
blogs do you follow? What section of the bookstore do you usually peruse? There
may be many topics here — add them to the list.
4. What have you secretly
dreamed of? You
might have some ridiculous dream job you’ve always wanted to do — to be a
novelist, an artist, a designer, an architect, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a
programmer. But some fear, some self-doubt, has held you back, has led you to
dismiss this idea. Maybe there are several. Add them to the list — no matter
how unrealistic.
5. Learn, ask, take notes. OK, you have a list. Pick
one thing from the list that excites you most. This is your first candidate.
Now read up on it, talk to people who’ve been successful in the field (through
their blogs, if they have them, or email). Make a list of notes of things you
need to learn, need to improve on, skills you want to master, people to talk
to. Study up on it, but don’t make yourself wait too long before diving into
the next step.
6. Experiment, try. Here’s where the learning
really takes place. If you haven’t been already, start to do the thing you’ve
chosen. Maybe you already are, in which case you might be able to skip to the
next step or choose a second candidate to try out. But if you haven’t been,
start now — just do it. It can be in the privacy of your own home, but as
quickly as possible, make it public however you can. This motivates you to
improve, it gets you feedback, and your reputation will improve as you do. Pay
attention to how you feel doing it — is it something you look forward to, that
gets you excited, that you love to share?
7. Narrow things down. I recommend that you pick
3-5 things from your list, if it’s longer than that, and do steps 5 & 6
with them. This could take month, or perhaps you’ve already learned about and
tried them all out. So now here’s what you need to ask yourself: which gets you
the most excited? Which of these can produce something that people will pay for
or get excited about? Which can you see yourself doing for years (even if it’s
not a traditional career path)? Pick one, or two at the most, and focus on
that. You’re going to do the next three steps with it: banish your fears, find
the time, and make it into a career if possible. If it doesn’t work out, you
can try the next thing on your list — there’s no shame in giving something a
shot and failing, because it’ll teach you valuable lessons that will help you
to be successful in the next attempt.
8. Banish your fears. This is the biggest
obstacle for most people – self-doubt and fear of failure. You’re going to face
it and banish it. First, acknowledge it rather than ignoring or denying it.
Second, write it down, to externalize it. Third, feel it, and be OK with having
it. Fourth, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Usually it’s not
catastrophic. Fifth, prepare yourself for doing it anyway, and then do it. Take
small steps, as tiny as possible, and forget about what might happen — focus on
what actually is happening, right now. And then celebrate your success, no
matter how small.
9. Find the time. Don’t have the time to
pursue this passion? Make the time, dammit! If this is a priority, you’ll make
the time — rearrange your life until you have the time. This might mean waking
earlier, or doing it after work or during lunch, or on weekends. It will
probably mean canceling some commitments, simplifying your work routing or
doing a lot of work in advance (like you’re going on a vacation). Do what it
takes.
10. How to make a living
doing it.
This doesn’t happen overnight. You need to do something, get good at it, be
passionate about it. This could take months or years, but if you’re having fun,
that’s what’s most important. When you get to the point where someone would pay
you for it, then you’re golden — there are many ways to make a living at that
point, including doing freelance or consulting work, making information
products such as ebooks, writing a blog and selling advertising. In fact, I
recommend you do a blog if you’re not already — it’ll help solidify your
thinking, build a reputation, find people who are interested in what you do, demonstrate
your knowledge and passion.
I told you this wouldn’t be
easy. It’ll require a lot of reflection and soul-searching, at first, then a
lot of courage and learning and experimentation, and finally a lot of
commitment.
But it’s all worth it — every
second, every ounce of courage and effort. Because in the end, you’ll have
something that will transform your life in so many ways, will give you that
reason to jump out of bed, will make you happy no matter how much you make.
I hope you follow this guide
and find success, because I wish on you nothing less than finding your true
passion.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have
to work a day in your life.” - Confucius
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