How You Can Find Your Passion

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”­ Steve Jobs

First off. I feel like the word “passion” is being misused. Therefore I will define it for this answer. For me, the word passion represents something that you really enjoy and makes you happy. You wake up and most days you’re eager to work on your passion.

Being able to love what you do is the ultimate key to live a happy & meaningful life. Therefore you need to find yours.

Why?

The worst thing you can do is to not love what you are doing.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking.

Easier said than done right?

Yup, unfortunately. That is so true.

You don’t just wake up one day and say, “oh… there it is!”.

No, there is no “Eureka” moment.

It takes a lot of time to become aware of what you really want to do and how you can make a difference in the world.

What irritates me, is that we ALWAYS hear how we should be doing what we love to do all the time, but there is rarely any step by step material on how to do this.

As a result of this, people are stuck in dead-end jobs where the only high-point in life are the weekends. What a SUCKY life!

THEREFORE: I have created a step by step guide that will help you in discovering your passion.

#1: MENTALITY CHANGE

To find what you really love to do in life, you need to be determined. Determined to do what it takes to find it. It doesn’t matter how long it will take. You WILL find the answer in the end!

Make the decision that from here and now that all of your actions should revolve around getting closer to finding what you love to do. Did you get that? ALL OF YOU ACTION SHOULD REVOLVE AROUND FINDING WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO!

By doing these you will become aware of your actions and you will develop an anti-quitting mindset.

#2: MAKE LISTS!

Taking notes of your experiences in life is crucial for finding your purpose. KEY is to WRITE THESE DOWN! I cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t think you can do it all in your head. Put your thoughts on paper!

Create this lists in your life:

• Top 50 Skills - Write down ANY skill that you have. Everything you are good at. Why? Because you need to focus on the things you are good at. Don’t be shy. E.g. programming, listening to other people, flirting, amazing selfie taker,
• Ask yourself these questions to get you started
• What are people saying you are good at?
• At which activities do you feel success and meaning?
• Top 50 Interests. - Write down ANY interest you can possibly think of. Why? Be mapping your interests you’ll get a better understanding of what you love to do. E.g. hiking, makeup, football, wine, FarmVille, Samurai sword collecting. This also includes subjects that you know a lot about as well. E.g. economy, soccer tactics, magic tricks, etc.
• Ask yourself these questions to get you started:
• What subject could you read 500 books about without getting bored?
• What activity is the first you think of after being sick in bed for a few days?
• Top 50 Dreams! - Dream big! Every time you get a new big dream, write it down. Why? Your dreams reflect destinations you really want to reach. Therefore: Write down all of your dreams, no matter how small or big they are. E.g. “I will create the new Facebook”. “I want to learn to make websites”.
• Ask yourself these questions to get you started
• Which celebrities do you look up to? What are they doing that you want to do?
• What would you spend your time doing if you had the financial freedom to do anything?
• List of what you hate doing! - List the jobs & tasks you absolutely hate to be doing. By doing these you can eliminate a lot of jobs and activities and the search for your passion becomes simpler.

To make this process easier for you, download this template for listing your skills, interest and dreams!

Can we do an experiment? For the next week, try allocating 15-20 minutes of time each day to think about the things that have interested you recently or any opportunities that you have spotted. Write your discoveries down on paper and watch you passion fold in front of you

"Your true passion is not found overnight, but is realized through a series of discoveries of small interests," - Logan Jay

#3: GAIN EXPERIENCE

You will not find your passion by only thinking and dreaming. No, you need to put it in practice. If you have an idea for something that you would love to do, try it out!

—> Try building that online store you always wanted to build.

—> Try creating those websites you always wanted to create.

—> Try becoming the next Cristiano Ronaldo.

For me, I have discovered that I love to write. How have I discovered this? By writing here, on Quora!

Don’t get disappointed if you don’t find your passion on the first try. Success is often a matter of averages, the more things you try, the more likely it is that you will achieve.

This is definitely EASIER SAID THAN DONE. To start taking action and testing out what you would love to do is pretty hard. BUT, here is a few steps that will help you to take the first step which is taking action and gaining experience.

1. Gain Self-Confidence. Perhaps the biggest reason people don’t start chasing their purpose and passion is because of fear. Fear of what other people will think and fear of the consequences of starting something new. To conquer your fear you need to build self-confidence. Why? When you are confident in yourself, you believe in your own abilities to get the job done. What other people would think, doesn’t matter as much, because you believe in yourself and can get the job done! Read more about this here.
2. Don’t Focus on The Outcome. Don’t keep you eyes solely focused on the outcome. Remember that everything is a lesson and you will gain confidence.Maybe your presentation didn’t go as well as planned? No harm done. You’ve just learned how to do it better next time.
3. Just - do - it! Don’t overthink so much. Take action and JUST DO IT. It’s often as simple as that.

Ok then. I would be really grateful if you decide to take action after reading this post. Make a plan for action and JUST DO IT.

Let me know how it goes!