Everybody wants to do something they love. If you can make a living off of that, even better. But most of us have a hard time finding that one thing that goes beyond the initial excitement, and brings us joy even after years of learning, practice, and improvement.
So how do you find what you’re passionate about?
For starters, take a break from everything you’re doing. Disconnect from everything and go for a long walk in the park. Now think of what you enjoy doing when you’re not working, spending time with your family, browsing social media, or watch Netflix. If you can’t think of anything, rewind a bit, and think about what you enjoyed doing as a kid that you’re not doing anymore. Write everything that comes to your mind on a piece of paper or your phone. It has to be an activity in which you act upon something:
For starters, take a break from everything you’re doing. Disconnect from everything and go for a long walk in the park. Now think of what you enjoy doing when you’re not working, spending time with your family, browsing social media, or watch Netflix. If you can’t think of anything, rewind a bit, and think about what you enjoyed doing as a kid that you’re not doing anymore. Write everything that comes to your mind on a piece of paper or your phone. It has to be an activity in which you act upon something:
- Drawing
- Playing basketball
- Writing poems
- Build shelters in the woods
You can’t say things like sitting because it’s not something you act upon. You can’t develop a passion out of that. It’s a state you’re in, not something you’re doing. A passion requires you to go through a creative process.
Traveling is often used and doesn’t necessarily represent a passion. You travel for a purpose. You need to recharge after a long year spent working for a company or on a project. If you could travel all the time, you won’t need anymore recharging. Eventually, you will want to settle in one place. Others might travel to see different cultures, taste different dishes, attend certain events.
Reading books is another example, but certain topics attract you more than others. Why those topics and not others? If it’s storytelling and you wish to become a writer one day, start today. The best advice to becoming a great writer is to read a lot and write a lot.
Whatever actions you wrote down, the passion lies underneath it in one form or the other.
You don’t have to give up everything now and pursue this new path blindly. Initially, you can allocate one hour per week for the new interest and see how it develops from there. The more you’ll fall in love with what you’re doing, the more natural it will become to spend more time on the subject.
An interesting fact is that it won’t always be enjoyable. There will be ups and downs on this journey, but the small wins will keep you from giving up.
What’s left now is to draw the line between passion and addiction. Passion is something you’re in control of, while addiction is something that controls you. A good example of the latter is playing video games.
Everybody has a passion inside. Unmask it and pursue it.
You don’t have to give up everything now and pursue this new path blindly. Initially, you can allocate one hour per week for the new interest and see how it develops from there. The more you’ll fall in love with what you’re doing, the more natural it will become to spend more time on the subject.
An interesting fact is that it won’t always be enjoyable. There will be ups and downs on this journey, but the small wins will keep you from giving up.
What’s left now is to draw the line between passion and addiction. Passion is something you’re in control of, while addiction is something that controls you. A good example of the latter is playing video games.
Everybody has a passion inside. Unmask it and pursue it.