The Joe Dickinson Team
by Zac Czikowsky
In today’s world, passion is often sidelined in favor of efficiency, which is why many of us never take a leap of faith and follow our passions. It’s safer to remain at that office job with good benefits, even if you don’t get much fulfillment out of it. It’s the illusion of safety that keeps us complacent, but the truth is we can never truly be “safe” all the time. Might as well do what makes you happy and fulfills you!
So you want to find your passion, but where should you begin? Here are some tips and tricks to discover your passion!
The first step to discovering your passion should be asking yourself some important questions. You might need to know more about yourself in order to know which questions to ask, and here’s a post on how to become more self-aware (enter new blog here).
If you aren’t sure what you passion is, think about what captures your attention. For me, I can read about ancient greek history for hours on end. It totally captures my attention and my imagination, and this period is one of my main passions for learning. What captures you in the same way? What topic can you read a dozen books about and not be bored? Which topic can you listen to hours of documentaries about non-stop? If you have an answer in mind, you’ve taken the first step to finding your passion!
I tend to tease the 9-5 office job, but the truth is many people can separate their work and still have room for their passions. Here’s a secret that some self-help sites tend to avoid: you don’t have to quit your day job to follow your passion! Simply take an hour out of each day and work on your passion a bit. If you love to paint, wake up an hour earlier to start on a canvas! If you love ancient greek history like I do, find a good book about it and read for an hour before bed each night! You’ll find that allocating some time each day towards something you love to do, rather than something you have to do, will make a world of difference in your life!
Having fear of what people may think of you is the surest way to paralyze yourself into complacency. That is, you can’t please everyone, so why bother trying? The trick to finding your passion is to forget about everyone else and focus on what makes you happy. As the old saying goes, haters gonna hate, and it’s your job to drown out the negative noise and continue doing whatever it is you’re passionate about.
I’ve found that so many people are waiting for something before they follow their passions. They say “oh, I’ll find out what I love to do once I make enough money” or “I have to wait until I know I’m an expert at this.” The truth is you’ll never be younger than you are right now, so go for it!
While it may sound counter-productive, taking time out of your day to do nothing may lead to something! Take a few minutes out of the day and let your mind wander. Sit down, relax, and do some breathing exercises. You’ll find that your brain will go where it wants to go, and you may find that it leads you to something you’ve always wanted to do!
Some people are lucky: they know what their passion is and they have the motivation to go and follow it. For the rest of us, we need to take some time out of each day, let our mind wander, and decide what makes us happiest. By using the tricks above, you’ll be able to find what makes you happy and hopefully you’ll take some time out of each day to flex that passion!
