Your passion or obsession – what is it and how can you find it? Some people are born passionate or have an ‘intense’ personality where they definitely know they’re passionate about something. Others are born with a more placid personality, they’re quite happy not to stand out, and are neither vocal nor strong about anything in particular.
So, then, are you born with a passion or not?
Ways in which your passion is revealed:
Nope. Anyone can be passionate or obsessive about something or someone and passion isn’t a personality trait. So let’s look at some scenarios that can reveal your passion:
- You obsess about this all the time, you enjoy, no – love doing this – without being paid or asked to do it.
- You’re very detailed, organised and pay extra attention to this, and it energizes you.
- This thing can even start off being a frustration, irritation, or a point of pain that you simply stumbled upon.
- It’s something constantly on your mind, you think, eat, breath and dream it.
- You keep doing this thing you love that you skip meals, sleep, or delay toilet breaks just cos you don’t want to stop.
- Even when you’re tired and busy, this thing is always at the top of your list to do, you’ll find time anyhow, anywhere to do this.
- You put all your time, money and resources into this and don’t count how much it costs you.
- You find yourself thinking ‘it’s more than a hobby, it’s an obsession!’
- It started off as a need that you filled but it became an obsession.
How do I know if it’s my passion?
Found your passion yet?
No-one was born saying “hey, I’m passionate about this!”. For most people it started when they were asked to start or to do something they never thought about before. Like, they kind of stumbled on it. Did you stumble upon your passion?
Ready to discover what your passion is? Let’s look at 7 keys to finding your passion.
7 keys to finding your passion:
1. Take opportunities as they come your way
When were you last given an opportunity? Maybe you passed it up or just missed it, cos you thought ‘nah, that’s not my thing’ or ‘sorry I’m just too busy’ or you simply couldn’t be bothered.
Friends, opportunities always present themselves, just be open minded to recognize it and take it up as it comes your way! Take a risk. Risk takers take on opportunities and figure out the rest later! Say “YES”!!!
2. Don’t be afraid to try something new
So, you don’t think you have the time, ability, talent or money? Join the club! Hesitation, fear or doubt can hinder you from taking that first step. Don’t be afraid of trying something new, even though you don’t feel it’s quite your thing. What do you have to lose? At least it was a new experience to you and it opened you up to something new, wider and bigger!
3. Put your whole heart into it, get good at it
You’ll only find out if you’re going to love it or hate it by really putting your whole heart & whole effort into it. If you’re half hearted, you’ll easily give up and not find the fulfillment that comes by completing something wholeheartedly, while getting good at it. Decide to give it your best, regardless.
4. Allow for mistakes and failures along the way
We all fail, make mistakes, or fall flat on our face! It’s not the end and it’s ok. You’re not alone, we’ve all been there. Accepting this as part of the journey of growing your character and learning, is a good attitude to have. You can’t get to success without learning from failure. In other words, failure is necessary for success.
5. Push your passion beyond your limits!
Often, passion is discovered when you fully put your heart into something, regardless of how difficult, challenging or non-passionate you felt about it at the time. I discovered my passions when doing something that was needed, rather than something I enjoyed…at first.
For example, I discovered my passion for teaching and speaking because there was a need for me to step into that role, simply because I was available. I didn’t know I would like studying, writing and speaking until I kept doing more of those things. And the more I wrote and spoke, the more I got to sharpen up the “talent” and the more passionate I got about it.
6. Persevere, don’t give up
There’ll be problems, resistance, changes, and challenges along the way. But what in life doesn’t have that? These things however can hinder or dampen your courage and resolve to continue, if you allow them to.
So the key is to push – push yourself to be fully engaged, committed and wholehearted in the moment that you’re in, and keep at it! It just takes an intentional decision, and a bit of grit to continually be fully present and engaged in all you do. Not a lot of people will do this however, because of being too “feeling” oriented (‘it doesn’t feel good so I’ll quit ‘or ‘it’s too hard’).
Once you resist that feeling to drop your focus and energy level, you’ll develop a liking for what you first ‘hated’. That liking is the feeling of achievement – that you’ve overcome! Hooray! You may have found your passion! And importantly, you’ve released the potential you’ve always had.
7. Keep the vision or goal in front of you
A vision or a goal is also important while you’re ‘pushing’. Keep the dream or vision alive, or even just a goal in front of you, like if you need to meet something totally necessary like paying down a debt, or saving for a family member’s operation as examples.
You might lose focus if you don’t have a worthy vision or goal to work towards.
For me, pain, I find, is a great motivator as well. The pain of the fear of lack – of running out of savings, and of not earning enough to enjoy what I really want to do – these are a couple of pain points that motivate me to turn my passion into profit!
What’s your point of pain? You can push it and turn it into profit!
Right, let’s recap:
A quick little summary of how to find your passion:
- Take opportunities as they come your way
- Don’t be afraid to try something new
- Put your whole heart into it, get good at it
- Allow for mistakes and failures along the way
- Push your passion beyond your limits
- Persevere, don’t give up
- Keep the vision of goal in front of you
Found your passion? Great! Go for it!
What’s your passion? What’s your point of pain? What’s stopping you in finding your passion?
Thank-you for a lovely post. What you wrote really resonates. My writing initially started as a hobby, which ultimately became a passion.
Wow,that’s so good! Thanks for sharing that.
Finding your passion is not always easy, but if you want to make a living at it requires a little more effort. The main thing is don’t give up and you will be successful.
Yes, totally agree. Giving up is easy when things get hard, but don’t give up and you’ll get there.
okay so.. I’m only interested in sleep. What should I do?
Why do you only like sleeping? You are made for so much more, just don’t sleep you life away and wake up when it’s too late!