How to find your passion
How to find your passion
9 Tips on How To Find Your Passion in Life
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If you could do one thing to transform your life, I would highly recommend it be to find something you’re passionate about and do it for a living. Learning how to find your passion may not be as easy as it sounds, but it’s well worth the effort.
If you dread going to your job, find yourself constantly lacking motivation, or find what you’re doing dull and repetitive, you need to start looking for a new job.
Staying in your current job will not only continue to leave you feeling stuck and make you unhappy, but you are not realizing your full potential in life.
Imagine this instead:
You get up early, jump out of bed, excited to go to work. You might put in more hours than the average person, but it doesn’t seem difficult to you, because your work hours just zoom right by.
You are often in that state of mind, often referred to as “flow,” where you can lose track of the world and time, losing yourself in the task at hand. Work is not work as many people refer to it, but something that is fun and interesting and exciting. It’s not a “job” but a passion that leads to a fulfilling life.
If you’ve got a job you dislike or even hate, this will sound like a pipe dream to you. And if you never put in the effort to find what you’re passionate about, such a thing will never be possible.
However, if you dare to ask “how do I find my passion,” imagine the possibilities, and actually search for what you love, it is not only a possibility but a probability.
How to Find Passion in Life
How do you go about learning how to find your passion in life? Here are some suggestions:
1. Is There Something You Already Love Doing?
What is your passion in life? Do you have a hobby or something you loved doing as a child, but never considered it as a possibility for a job?
Whether it’s reading comic books, collecting something, or creating or building, there is probably a way you could do it for a living. Open a comic book shop, or create a comic book site online.
If there’s already something you love doing, you’re ahead of the game. Now you just need to research the possibilities of making money from it.
2. Find out What You Spend Hours Reading About
For myself, when I get passionate about something, I’ll read about it for hours on end. I’ll buy books and magazines. I’ll spend days on the Internet finding out more.
There may be a few possibilities here for you, and all of them are possible career paths. Don’t close your mind to these topics. Look into them until you feel your heart is content, and this will help you get started as you learn how to find your passion.
3. Brainstorm
Look around your house, on your computer, or on your bookshelf for inspiration, and write down whatever comes to mind. There are no bad ideas at this stage.
4. Ask Around
There are likely people you admire in life, and there are things about them that you would like to replicate in yourself. Go to them if possible, and pick their brain. See how they landed where they currently are and whether they feel they’ve discovered their passion.
The more possibilities you find, the more likely your chances of learning how to find your passion in the long run. This may mean that you spend time talking to friends and family, coworkers, or even acquaintances in your free time.
5. Don’t Quit Your Job Just Yet
If you find your calling, your passion, don’t just turn in your resignation tomorrow. It’s best to stay in your job while you’re researching the possibilities.
If you can do your passion as a side job and build up the income for a few months or a year, that’s even better. It gives you a chance to build up some savings (and if you’re going into business for yourself, you’ll need that cash reserve), while practicing the skills you need.
6. Give It a Try First
It’s best to actually test your new idea before jumping into it as a career as you’re wondering how to find your passion. Do it as a hobby or side job at first, so that you can see if it’s really your true calling.
You may be passionate about it for a few days, but where the rubber meets the road is whether you’re passionate about it for at least a few months.
If you pass this test, you have probably found it.
7. Do as Much Research as Possible
Know as much about your passion as possible. If this has been a passion for a while, you may have already been doing this. At any rate, do even more research. Read every website possible on the topic, and buy the best books available to live a more fulfilling life.
Find other people, either in your area or on the Internet, who do what you want to do for a living, and quiz them about the profession.
How much do they make, and what training and education did they need? What skills are necessary, and how did they get their start? What recommendations do they have?
Often, you’ll find that people are more than willing to give advice.
8. Practice, and Practice, and Practice Some More
If you’re getting close to learning how to know your passion, don’t go into it with an amateur skill level. If you want to make money—to be a professional—you need to have professional skills.
Get very good at your future career, and you will make money at it. Practice for hours on end and learn how to focus; if it’s something you love, the practice should be something you want to do and life fulfilling.
9. Never Quit Trying
It’s possible that you won’t be able to find your passion at first. However, if you give up after a few days, you’re sure to fail. Keep trying, for months on end if necessary, and you’ll find it eventually.
Perhaps you thought you found your passion but discovered several months on that it wasn’t for you. Start over again and find a new passion. There may be more than one passion in your lifetime, so explore all the possibilities.
Have you found your passion but haven’t been successful in making a living at it? Keep trying, and try again until you succeed. Success doesn’t come easy, so giving up early is a sure way to fail.
What Maybe Holding You Back from Living Your Passion?
In addition to the suggestions above, be aware of these things that can hold you back from living your passion:
Negative Thoughts Can Prevent You From Finding Your Passion in Life
Our thoughts are outside of our control. They come and go on their own accord. We don’t choose them but rather, they choose us.
However, what is within our control is how we respond to them. We can allow them to influence us, or we can just watch them go by. We can feed them or just ignore them. We have the gift of discernment and the freedom to choose.
So, when a negative thought comes to mind, something like—”I don’t deserve to be happy in my work so I should do something joyless just to pay the bills,”—why would we pay attention and, thereby, dis-empower ourselves?
Thoughts like “I can’t do that because…” followed by a list of reasons can hold us back as surely as chains, but they aren’t real—they are just thoughts.
“Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours”, wrote Richard Bach in his book Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. It’s all too easy to find excuses why we can’t do something or complain about what we don’t enjoy, but learning how to find your passion in life and fulfill purpose takes courage—and just a little bit of self-love.
Comfort Is the Enemy of Passion
Comfort can prevent you from finding your passion in life just as contentment breeds complacency. As Nithya Shanti wrote: “When we are interested, we do what is convenient. When we are committed, we do whatever it takes.”
A steady job, regular income, and social recognition all contribute to a temptation to ‘play it safe.’ But how many people pro-actively planned to make a living in the way that it turned out compared with those who ‘fell into’ a job, career, or profession by accident?
‘Work’ is always going to account for a huge proportion of our lives and unless we continuously make conscious choices, we are leaving our destiny to chance. Decisions we take in our twenties typically tend to map out future decades as ‘sensible’ factors like experience, finances, and job-security come into play.
Surprisingly, what may appear at the time to be a setback, such as a challenge at work or even losing your job, can sometimes be a gift—an opportunity to choose a different path.
It’s at this point in our lives that we may start to have ‘what if?’ moments. But how much better would it be to preempt this with regular reflection and to pro-actively plan our transition? This is the time to be very conscious and aware, to listen to our inner voice, watch our thoughts, and decide where to focus our attention.
Final Thoughts
These are the best tips on how to discover your passion. Don’t forget that all of this will be a lot of work, but it will be the best investment you’ve ever made. Put in the time to learn how to find your passion, and you will find that your days are more fulfilling and produce more happiness and well-being in the long term.
How to Find Your Passion
This article was co-authored by Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC and by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. Adrian Klaphaak is a career coach and founder of A Path That Fits, a mindfulness-based boutique career and life coaching company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also is an accredited Co-Active Professional Coach (CPCC). Klaphaak has used his training with the Coaches Training Institute, Hakomi Somatic Psychology and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) to help thousands of people build successful careers and live more purposeful lives.
There are 22 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 16 testimonials and 95% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status.
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If you’re reading this article, you might feel like something is missing, that you don’t have something you love and want to strive for in your life. You’ve probably been told to “follow your passion,» but that can definitely be tricky if you aren’t even sure what you’re really passionate about. We’ve all struggled with this at some point in our lives. Don’t worry! While you may have trouble knowing your passion right now, it’s totally possible to find it. Instead of wishing and waiting for something to come your way, follow these examples to find out what you truly love and pursue your passions!
How to Find Your Passion: 11 Essential Tips
Career and Entrepreneurship Expert
Knowing what you want to do for a living is one of the toughest decisions a person can make. You leave school and maybe go to university, and everything is rosy. But soon you realise earning money is a pretty important part of life, and before long you’re sending off CVs to any company that is hiring, in the vague hope of becoming a responsible adult.
Somewhere along the line many people end up in a career that doesn’t fulfil them. But why? You will spend nearly 50 years of your adult life working, so doesn’t it make sense to at least try and do something you are passionate about?
Realising what gets you out of bed in the morning can be a struggle for a lot of people, so you might need a little push in the right direction. Here are 11 ways you can discover what is important to you, and maybe figure out how to find your passion.
1. Consider what has made you happy before
Drawing from your previous experiences is a good way to figure out what you enjoy doing. For example, say you had a part-time job in school at Subway. You may have hated the hours and making the sandwiches, but perhaps you really enjoyed chatting with the customers; you might not have paid much attention to it at the time, but it could mean you have a passion for helping members of the public.
Go through your previous work experience and make a list of the aspects of each job that you enjoyed doing. This will give you a practical idea of what makes you tick in the workplace, and you can explore careers where these skills are valued.
2. Embrace your obsessions
Writing in The Telegraph, Rebecca Burn-Callander claims that you should ask yourself this question: “What subject could I read 500 books about without getting bored?” While your answer might not necessarily spell out a clear career path, the answer should ideally point you in the right direction of what you are passionate about. When you can’t get enough of a particular interest – whether talking about it or reading about it – it’s a good sign.
Lifestyle blogger Leo Babauta agrees. “When I get passionate about something, I’ll spend days on the internet finding out more”. Whatever the topic, there are more than likely related career paths – look a little deeper into them.
3. Identify your heroes
Create a list of people that are where you would like to be. Try to figure out what it is about those people that you admire, and what they have done to be where they are today. Taking inspiration from others can help you identify your own passion, and decide what kind of person you want to be.
For example, if selflessness is something that you admire and is important to you, then maybe your passion could lie in a caring profession such as nursing. Always remember that sometimes it is easier to see what we value in others rather than ourselves.
4. Ask your inner child
Despite being obvious and common advice, there is some wisdom in it. Avoid taking it literally though; just because you enjoyed playing with Lego when you were a kid doesn’t mean that you should drop everything to pursue a civil engineering degree.
The point isn’t to focus so much on the actual activities, but more the idea that as a child you were not burdened with the responsibilities and pressures that come with being an adult. When you were a child doing something you enjoyed, it came naturally and without much thought – try to approach your passion search with the same mentality, and you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.
5. Take money out of the equation
For most people, the biggest reason to avoid turning your passion into your career is money – and understandably so. After all, people have bills to pay and responsibilities to keep. But ask yourself – if money was no issue, what would you choose to do for a living?
Once you know your answer, do some research and find out what it would take to make it a reality. If your passion is pottery, don’t just focus on making pots and hoping that someone will buy them – be proactive and figure out how to sell. Learn about online marketing, develop a brand, maybe take a business class; be realistic and give your passion the best possible chance of succeeding. Just don’t convince yourself that it can’t be done.
6. Explore your media collection
You can learn a lot about someone by their tastes in movies, books and music; it can be a good idea to go and look at your own collection and see if there are any recurring themes. For example, if your DVD shelf is stacked to the brim with violent cop thrillers and not much else, the police might be your calling. But, if your Kindle is full of John Grisham thrillers maybe your passion lies in a career in law.
7. Write your own obituary
Although this may sound just a little morbid, there is actually method in the madness of this Stanford University entrance exercise. Designed to make you think about what is important to you, those who sit the test are told not to overthink what they have written, and to spend no more than 15 minutes completing the exercise.
By taking an objective view of your own aspirations and goals, you can help define what you want your purpose in life to be – give it a try and see where your mind takes you.
8. Pay attention to what makes you jealous
Regardless of if it was a television character, someone we’ve met in passing, or even a friend or family member, we’ve all said the following phrase about someone at some point – “I wish I had their job”. Well, why can’t you?
Whether you’re jealous of the salary they make, the perks they get, or the excitement they seem to have, job envy can tell you a lot about what your own passion might be. If possible, ask questions about what they do and how they got there, and explore the idea that you could really do it too.
9. Notice when you lose track of time
When you are doing something you are passionate about, you completely lose the concept of time – you are so engrossed that hours go by without you barely noticing. People often don’t realise that this is a clear sign that their passion is staring them in the face.
Blogger Mark Manson recently shared the story of a friend who was unsure what to do with his life. In the meantime he would make ends meet by utilising his clear talent for graphic design – designs he was “losing himself” in well into the early hours of the morning. “He didn’t need to find his passion,” says Manson. “His passion already found him”.
10. Have a happy accident
Most of the techniques in this article are based around the idea of discovering your passion, and then trying to turn it into employment. Alternatively, you could always do the opposite. Many people take a job and then find that it develops into a passion.
For example, a friend of mine took a job as a barista in a well-known coffee chain several years ago with the intention of supporting her law degree. She enjoyed it so much that – against her parent’s advice – after graduating she stayed on and moved into an assistant manager role. Despite studying for a totally different career, she discovered that she was passionate about working in a customer facing retail environment (she also really liked coffee) – she is now a regional store manager at 28.
Don’t be afraid to change course if doing something else makes you happy, even if it makes others unhappy. Always remember, it’s your career – nobody else’s.
11. Stop looking
Some people – like Manson – believe that if you have to search for it, then it’s not a passion at all. “A child does not walk onto a playground and say ‘how do I find fun?” he claims. “She just goes and has fun”.
This is grounded in the idea that a person’s passion often presents itself sub-consciously. “You’re doing something for 16 hours a day, obviously. There’s some topic or activity that dominates a significant amount of your time, your conversations or your web browsing.”
If you’re struggling to put your finger on your passion, you should take this into account. Sometimes the answer is right there in front of you all along; ask yourself – what do you spend most of your time talking or thinking about? “You already enjoy something,” concludes Manson. “You’re just choosing to ignore it”.
It is important for our mental health to do something we enjoy, and we should always take action to ensure this is the case. But remember, there is no such thing as a perfect job, and that there are aspects of every role that are frustrating or boring. The key is to find something where the positives far outweigh the negatives, and you are always motivated to go to work every day – for many people, this is passion.
Are you struggling to figure out what your passion is? Let us know in the comments below…
How to Find Your Passion (And Live Your Best Life)
The world is a magnificent place. There are billions of people you can learn so much from. And so many incredible sights that take your breath away. And with each day being the adventure that it is, it’s so important to find that one thing that makes you jump out of bed and exclaim “Let’s do it again!” Finding your passion allows you to live a meaningful life. But your passion doesn’t just magically appear, you need to put yourself out there to find it. So, let’s explore how to find your passion.
How to Find Your Passion
1. Try Everything
No matter how self-aware you think you are, you’d be surprised at how much you could learn about yourself just by trying something new. The try everything method works well for any area of your life. You’ll learn so much about what kind of activities excite you, motivate you, or even anger you. And eventually, you’ll find your passion. The more you push yourself into new areas, the better you become at understanding who you really are.
2. Reflect On Your Happiest Moments
3. Take a Test
Tests are scary. They can tell you the truth about who you are. And while self-awareness can be a great thing, self-discovery can also disappoint you. Maybe you’ll find out your best-suited for something you actively fight against. Take me, for instance. The first time I took my Myers Briggs I found out I was an ENTJ (an extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging personality type). The first job recommendation was CEO. I was studying bioethics in school and thought something in ethics was noble. So when I saw that listed on the sheet as my perfect career, I ripped up the paper and stormed out of the room.
My whole life I had been taught “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” so it seemed like my Myers Briggs was telling me I wasn’t as noble as I thought I was because CEOs are usually the one percent. It destroyed me. And while it did take some time, I eventually did dabble into entrepreneurship. I realized that being a business owner is neither a good or bad thing. It’s how you go about it that makes the difference. And funny enough, that test ended up helping me find my passion. Even if it was ripped up in pieces.
Whether you take a Myers-Briggs or Ennegram test, you can learn a lot about what type of role you’re best suited for. Maybe you discover that you’re best suited for creative roles. And that inspires you to take up painting as a hobby which ultimately leads to you to find your passion. You might think the ideas for your type are boring, conflicting, or just disappointing. But sometimes that resistance prevents you from being who you really are instead of who you pretend you are. And the real you deserves to shine through. You don’t need to completely change career paths if you’re happy. But maybe you’ll discover a new hobby you enjoy through the process.
4. Be In the Moment
One of the hardest things to do is to live mindfully and presently. Our minds often dwell on the past or fear the future. We miss out on so much of our life by hiding out in our minds. To find your passion, ask yourself what helps you live presently. Maybe you notice that you live in the moment while running by the lake, cool breeze blowing your hair in the wind. Or maybe you find that talking in front of an audience with a spotlight on you helps you feel alive.
It’s those little things we do that completely absorb our focus that often turn out to spark your inner fire. If it consumes your attention in a world that constantly demands your attention, you might realize you’ve found your passion. Do the things that help you live in the now. The best moment to live in is the present one. And when you’re doing what you love, it’s much easier to live in the now.
5. Take A Look at Your Stuff
We live in a consumer culture. We buy, buy, buy. And while we never consciously do it, you can learn a lot about yourself by looking at all your stuff. Which genre of books do you keep finding on your overstocked bookcase? Which style movies or tv shows do you keep rewatching? What type of equipment do you keep buying? Which apps do you check everyday? Which social media accounts do you follow? Do certain topics make you tag friends more frequently? All those little things that you keep doing each day help define who you are and what you’re interested in.
Compile a list of all the things you have an interest in. Try to find the patterns to help you determine if it’s your passion. Maybe you can find a way to blend your passion with your career or your studies to help you combine the best of two worlds. If you’re always reading books about astronomy and love writing, you can start an astronomy blog. Or maybe you love selling things so you build an astronomy t-shirt store. Or you love public speaking so you create a YouTube channel about space to build your personal brand so you can eventually line up speaking gigs. There’s always a way to combine your skillset with your passion to create a career out of it or pursue it for fun. You have more than one talent or interest so feel free to mix and match traits so you can live your best life.
6. What You Loved as A Child
When I was four years old, I scribbled out song lyrics all day long. Of course, I didn’t want to be a boring old songwriter. I was always singing my songs in front of a mirror with a hairbrush in hand. I vividly remember my dad sitting my young self down for a talk. “Nicole, for a four-year-old, your songs are profound. But my God, your voice is dreadful. Please stop singing songs out loud. It’s hurting my ears.” I cried… hard. But I still kept writing songs about puppies, friends, and food condiments. Hey, I was four, cut me some slack. But nearly 30 years later, here I am… still writing (and singing out loud when no one’s around to hear it).
Your childhood self was you in your purest form. You probably did find your passion at a young age and somehow lost sight of it along the way. Life has a way of taking the fun out of you as you grow up a little bit. But that spark you had back then can come back. All you need to do is really examine what it was you loved back then. Maybe you spent hours drawing pictures, playing video games, or making up dance routines with friends. While it may seem kinda crazy, you can pursue all of those things and make money. Drawing? Check out freelance websites or upload your designs on Creative Market. Video games? Become a Twitch streamer. Dance routines? Create dance workout videos on YouTube.
7. Who Do You Wanna Be?
Our daydreams often play out the life we want, instead of the one we have. We imagine ourselves with happy families, successful careers, money in the bank, muscular bodies, or in the arms of a secret crush. The more you keep replaying the same daydream, the more you want something. But daydreams aren’t where the magic happens. Only action can do that. Instead of playing out who you want to be in your mind, you need to step outside of it long enough to pursue your passion in the real world. And you can be damn sure that it’s gonna be a lot of work. Anyone can dream but it takes effort to turn those dreams into a reality.
You can spend your whole life in your head only to get to the end of your life and realize you’ve missed out on everything. Daydreams can be real. You have the power to do that. So if you find yourself dreaming about being a successful entrepreneur, you’re going to have to start a business. And if you’ve been daydreaming about that for months, then it only makes sense for you to take action today.
8. It Comes Easy
People say nothing comes easy. That’s not true. Some of the best things in life come easy. Your relationship with your best friend? Easy. Taking in a deep breath of air? Easy. Doing work you love? Easy. While finding your passion might take a bit of sorting out, living your passion will come easy. Really think about what you’ve done that just came naturally to you. Are you really skilled at something that people are envious of? That might just be it. Think about what kind of classes you always excelled at in school. Maybe you took a cooking class and your dish was better than your teacher’s. Or you picked up a guitar and instantly knew how to make beautiful music. Maybe you were always teaching your friends how to get the answer to complicated math problems.
Some people will tell you that you need to work hard at your weaknesses. That’s terrible advice. Optimize for your strengths. If you’re really good at something, do more of it. Go from good to great to best to master. If you’re better suited to something and it comes easy to you, you can scale your skillset at a faster rate. You might decide to start a side hustle to earn additional income doing something you’re great at. You’ll find your passion by sticking with things you’re good at. Seeing the rewards will keep you motivated. Whether you get joy from completing your first triathlon or getting paid to do a bride’s makeup, the easier it is to do something, the more often you’ll want to do it. And the better you’ll get at it.
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Final Thoughts
As you learn how to find your passion, you’ll inch closer to being the person you’re meant to be. You’ll find your passion by trying new things, observing what you gravitate to, recognizing what you’re naturally good at, or remembering what kind of activities you did when you were young. The whole purpose of finding your passion is to help you pursue your destiny, experience happiness, and share your talents with the world. You’re a one of a kind. All those little talents and quirks make up a totally original you. And you’re exactly what the world needs. So be brave enough to uncover who you really are and be that person fully. You never know who’s looking to meet someone just like you.
What’s your passion? Let us know in the comments!
The secret to finding your passion isn’t looking, it’s doing
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How many times have you been told to find your passion? How often have you been asked what you are passionate about?
We are often told to pursue our passions in our professional and personal lives. We’ve all heard the saying «Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.» But that’s easier said than done.
Passion doesn’t really work that way. Before you can pursue your passions, you need to discover what your passions are. You’ll likely have to work many days, in many ways, to discover the work that taps into your passion.
Here is some guidance on how to discover and develop your passion so you can live a more fulfilling life.
What are passions?
According to Merriam Webster, “passion” refers to a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement either for something or about doing something. Passions are often something you would love to do constantly. Traveling is a good example of a passion.
Sometimes our passion is something we would love to do for work. Sometimes we only think that’s what we want. Having passion for our work is more specific than being excited or enthusiastic about something.
The Deloitte research describes «worker passion» as something that motivates us to dig into the tough problems and sustains us through challenges and setbacks. This type of passion brings out our desire to figure something out, to learn faster, to make an impact.
It’s important to understand the distinction between passions and core values. Everyone has their own set of core values that guide them and shape how they feel about their work or work environment. Strong core values might include discipline, perseverance, playfulness, learning, excellence, and resilience.
The degree to which your work and life align with these values will likely contribute in a big way to success in your career and personal life.
But finding and following your passion will be the spark that ignites the flame.
Researchers and occupational experts now know that there’s a golden thread that runs through finding and living your passions and the measure of success you’re likely to experience — both on a professional and personal level.
The interesting thing about pursuing your passions is that doing something you care about on an emotional and intellectual level will result in you wanting to do more of it. This means there’s a direct link between discovering and developing your passions and achieving growth in your career and personal development.
It isn’t always as clear as finding a way to get paid for doing the thing you love to do in your spare time, though. You often have to practice imagination to find the threads of passion that connect a hobby or interest to a career or profession.
There are 10 steps you can follow to find your passion:
Let’s break down each of these steps.
How to find your passion
Finding your passion is often interlinked with happiness and fulfillment on a more personal level.
For this reason, you must find your passion if you’re eager to lead a fulfilling life.
But you might be asking yourself, “How do I find my passion?”
Take a look at these step-by-step tips on how to start to find your passion. It takes time — don’t wait for it.
Discovering and uncovering your passions requires engaging in different types of work and other pursuits. It is rare to have a passion for something we know nothing about. You have to develop some understanding, get to know the problems and challenges of a pursuit, to fall in love with it. Or, to want to work on it every day.
Keep in mind that finding your passions isn’t a one-time process that happens in a single day. Your passions may change throughout your whole life. That’s okay.
1. Create a personal vision statement
A personal vision statement includes what you want to accomplish in your life, both personally and professionally.
In many ways, it is like a compass that indicates direction. It guides you whenever important decisions have to be made. Once written, your personal vision statement can guide you on how to find your true passions.
2. Uncover your values
Your personal values are the things you regard as important for underlining the way you work and live. Your values determine your personal goals and priorities. And they often act as an indicator of whether or not your life and career path are turning out the way you want them to.
3. Find your true north
Closely connected to getting more clear on your core values, the concept of finding your true north is about discovering what motivates you. What type of impact or goal compels you? What makes you feel complete and present, as if you are doing what you were made to do?
Finding your true north is what some people might describe as discovering who you really are — your authentic or whole self. Your true north is where your values, beliefs, and sense of purpose meet.
Once you become aware of your true north, you’ll be that much closer to living a fulfilled life driven by your passions.
4. Make a list of things you love to do
As Socrates said, “Man know thyself.” He is referring to the importance of people knowing themselves before claiming (or attempting) to know anything else.
Make a list of things you love to do to achieve this self-knowledge. Self-awareness is an important step on your journey to discovering your passions.
5. Assess the things you don’t love
It’s important to realize the things you love and love to do. But it’s just as important to assess the things you don’t love.
Realizing what you don’t love will give you a better understanding of the things that make you who you are.
6. Acknowledge your strengths and achievements
To discover your authentic self, it is important to acknowledge your strengths and achievements.
Often, people find that their biggest personal strengths are the things that come naturally for them. Once you realize this, you’ll find even more reasons to achieve and accomplish bigger things.
7. Practice journaling
To the untrained ear, the ritual of journaling may sound like a topic far removed from finding and living our passions. But the truth is, journaling helps us track our progress and personal growth.
Writing in a journal gives us a platform to uncover what we really love. We can pinpoint what we are passionate about without any judgment or limiting beliefs from others.
8. Embrace a mindfulness practice
Mindfulness means embracing life in the moment. But it also means embracing wellness and being aware of everything you feel and experience — all without judgment, overthinking, or interpretation.
Mindfulness teaches us that we all already know our passions. It’s only that we need a “vehicle” to make conscious contact with that knowledge.
Embracing a mindfulness practice helps us tune in more closely to our inner guide. This is often the best way to allow our true feelings and desires to rise into our conscious minds.
9. Seek guidance from a coach
When looking to find your passion, a coach can be a valuable aid.
For example, a career coach has been trained in helping people find their passions in life and work. Career coaches can help us shed the burden of external pressure working from the outside in.
10. Surround yourself with people with similar passions
There’s just one secret to successfully surrounding yourself with people with similar passions. Know what makes you feel inspired, confident, and secure. Finding those qualities in another person will mean you’ve discovered someone with similar passions to your own.
Passions versus hobbies — What’s the difference?
A hobby is something you enjoy doing for fun and in your free time. A passion is something that’s inside of you and with you all the time. Something you feel compelled to keep engaging with, even without external rewards such as compensation or recognition. For some people their passion is a profession, like medicine. For some, it is an academic area, like political history. For others, it is a certain type of activity or process, like sculpting or coding.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that a new hobby or skill set can become a passion.
Let’s look at some examples of passions versus hobbies:
None of this means you shouldn’t have and enjoy hobbies. Hobbies provide a valuable outlet for creativity and a place where our minds can play while our emotional and physical well-being is refreshed.
The power of Inner Work®
Inner Work® is the spiritual and psychological practice of delving deep into your inner self. All while seeking self-understanding, spiritual growth, and even emotional healing.
In essence, Inner Work® lets human beings become familiar with our internal worlds. It involves finding our personal compass for looking to the future. Inner Work® means looking inward rather than being influenced by the outside world. This way, we can identify new opportunities for amazing things we are passionate about.
Inner Work® can be anything from journaling (as mentioned above), reading or contemplating. Ultimately, it’s about putting in the work to explore and understand your inner experiences with a goal of reaching greater clarity, purpose, and passion.
I’ve found my passion – now what?
But what about when you’ve learned how to find your passion? Now that you know what your passions are, where to from here? What happens next?
Finding your passion should always be followed by some form of action. This will allow you to remain aware of what your passions are. And to apply this knowledge so that you can lead a happy and fulfilling life.
From a professional point of view, consider the following:
Find the core aspects of your passion, such as problem-solving or unraveling mysteries, that carry into a work opportunity. Or, look for new passions within the work you do.
And for personal passions, keep in mind the following:
Use time management techniques like time blocking to keep track of time for your passions.
Find your passions for a fulfilling life
The bottom line is that knowing how to find your passion and living a fulfilling life comes down to knowing and doing what you really love.
There’s much to be said for putting in the time and effort to discover what your passions are — and then stepping out of your comfort zone to put your newfound knowledge into action.
At BetterUp, we’re passionate about people finding and living their passions. Get in touch if you want to make the move toward improving your well-being and living a more fulfilling life.