Behind the Scenes of the Passion Problem

Behind the Scenes of the Passion Problem

Fulfillment, pursuit, and worthiness. A bird’s eye view of the passion maze.

Throughout our childhood, many of us hear the same words so often they lose all meaning, “Pursue your passion”; “Do what you love.”

Oh, sure. Easy right?

Find the ‘one thing’ that you love beyond all comprehension and chase it until there’s nothing left inside of you.

But between us, we both know it’s a little more complicated.

Yes. There are the lucky ones that find something they love doing so early on in their lives that by the time social pressure forces them to choose, its as if the universe already told them — “just do what you always did.”

Just as their journey is far from complete, we must start ours.

So, what about the rest of us? What about the people who don’t know?

First understand this: there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s normal. Even people who love every aspect of their work life have doubts, often.

It’s not only young people; many find themselves in a position that doesn’t feel right, not quite knowing how or why they got there.

So were in the same boat. Drifting between different shores, not quite sure which direction to paddle, if we’ll even get there, and if there’s a point.

Let’s break this down.

Step 1: Understand what passion is, and what it isn’t.

A passion is never just one thing. We all enjoy many different things. Some love being in the public eye; others love working solo. Some crave adventure and challenge, while others want to grind quietly. Neither approach is right or wrong, but passion is a cumulation of many forms of interest.

For example, you may be passionate about boxing professionally. But boxing is more than just the fight. You must have a love for the process, the grueling preparation, pressure, intimidation, attention.

Love the whole game, and it will love you back.

The key to understanding passion is this.

Passion is a scale.

Just as you love some people, like others and can’t stand a few; your occupation is no different. The aim is to progressively get closer to the love side as your life unfolds.

Aim to make every moment of your day as fulfilling and meaningful as possible. As we age, meaning and fulfillment become more important to us, so why not start early?

The whole point of finding a passion is that it brings value to both you and others simultaneously.

The more you care about it, this value exponentially increases.

It is always more than one thing, only some of us quit searching early on.

There’s nothing wrong with pursuing one thing but beware of the limitations of this mindset. When opportunity calls to expand your passion palette, pick up the phone.

If you love several things, they may combine. And if they seem ultimately at odds with one another, you probably haven’t thought hard or creatively enough.

Passion is a journey, by the pursuit of one thing, you may find love for another.

Don’t waste time worrying about where it may lead or if you lost time in other occupations. The important thing is today; life will take care of the rest.

Step 2: Discover what -your- passion(s) are.

Open your mind, but stop trying to answer it.

We often try to use logic to come to this decision. For example, “My mother always told me I was good at football, maybe that’s my passion.”

Relying on the expectations, hopes, and dreams of others will not help you create your own. Listen to your intuition and sit with the question, the answer will come to you on its own.

Finding your passion is more a question of emotion than logic. Trying to understand why you love something is often unnecessary. Understanding why you don’t is more useful in this scenario.

The result of sitting with this question will wield one of two outcomes. Something or nothing.

Either you found something you love already (and now you realize it), or you haven’t (and now must find it).

If you have, all you have to do is stop getting in your own way and do the above.

If you haven’t: try, try, try. And not just for a day. Expose yourself to new experiences and opportunities every day. Your passion won’t come looking for you, trust me.

And if you’re not sure, the same applies — try.

Note. You might find multiple things. No problem. Pick one. It doesn’t matter which one, any of them are better than none. If you find two that you honestly can’t separate, refer to step 1 (combine them).

The individual tasks don’t matter when the overall vision is your passion.

You might spend a day learning how to weld; this doesn’t necessarily mean welding is your new passion. What it means is you have to build that skill to pursue your passion (e.g. of restoring cars).

Unless you discover that welding is actually what you love; the smell of the sparks, and the bright lights and all you dream about is fusing metal together. Maybe unlikely but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Your passion is the vision, aim, and effect of your actions.

You have to improve the quality of your actions to actualize their effect.Be careful to stay on the path befitting your purpose.

Try to delegate or outsource tasks which aren’t directly related to your vision, don’t waste time learning the intricacies of web design if all you want to do is sell things online. But try to get an overall view of everything necessary to make your dream a reality.

The iPod would never have existed if Steve Jobs neglected his role and got side-tracked learning everything about molding the aluminum backing. Yet, without knowing it was important, he couldn’t delegate the task elsewhere or judge the outcome.

Step 3: Bring them into your life.

DO IT. Go out and ask, bribe, buy or weasel your way into a position where you can devote at least an hour a day to your passion. And then be consistent.

Here’s a typical failure point. People love doing something, but when they have to be consistent, it becomes ‘hard work.’ Being consistent with anything will be hard work. But, it’s easier if you love it.

Note that consistency is absolutely vital. The longer you neglect your passion, the worse you will get at it.

Don’t forget that the entire point of this hour is to improve.

Otherwise, you’re better off watching a movie you love, just as enjoyable with none of the benefits. So pay attention and research, find a mentor, listen, watch, share, collaborate, etc.

Don’t fret. You might find that you’re messing up almost everything. Give yourself one area to improve on every week and devote your hour to that. Reassess. Keep building.

Remember that every single person that became great at anything sucked at some point. It just may have been so early that we all missed it, but it was there.

Become skilled.

Your passion can never become your occupation unless you get good at it. Like really, really good.

Yes, its a lot of work. And yes, you’ll probably have to do it alongside whatever pays your bills. But at least you enjoy it.

Why not document the journey? There are few things more interesting to watch than the real-life journey of others improving themselves.

Do not focus on making any money or gaining any attention until you’re good at it. And even when you are, focus on the process. Because the process is what you love and its the part that makes money and gets attention.

Talent doesn’t exist. No one is born better than anyone else.

We were all exposed to different things as children and therefore had a head start in certain areas (for simplicity I’m going to gloss over savants or similar conditions).

A kid who often ran and played outside might be more ‘gifted’ at sports because he has literally practiced. A baby that constantly heard music might develop better rhythm and tone faster than others.

Admittedly, we may have slightly different genetic traits, for example being extremely short might hamper your NBA career, but the cutoffs are surprisingly low if you possess the right skills and work ethic.

In any event, if your passion is basketball, the NBA is far from the only route to success. You might find meaning in becoming a professional coach or managing a youth team. Neither is any less fulfilling or worthwhile.

The origin of your passions is probably complicated; it can stem from already possessing the skill and therefore succeeding and thus enjoying.

It can also come from inspiration from role models or dreams. It can even arrive seemingly out of the blue.

Don’t overthink why you like doing something.

As long as you feel happy and it could make others happy — do it.

Simplify. Passion is doing things you like daily. Be wary of chasing a goal that doesn’t align with the values and principles you represent. Why? Because people know.

If they know you only write to cash the cheque, they won’t read your work. If they know you only help them to take their money, they won’t come to you given a choice. If they know you don’t care, your intent will always overshadow every action you take. And, if people know you don’t care — they don’t want what you want to give them.

Make it as comfortable as possible.

There is no need to pursue passions so recklessly that you struggle to pay bills and eat. Many have families to look after or mortgages to pay. You can’t shed responsibilities just because you found what you like.

This does not mean a lack of effort. It just means a presence of mind.

It takes patience. Find a way to shift your lifestyle closer to what you love every day. This does not mean you should ignore the opportunity that allows you to shift quicker. Just don’t force it at the expense of others.

Think about it this way: how would this look if it were easy? (Shoutout to Tim Ferriss).

Step 4: Profit.

Yes. Profit. When you have built up your skill and can help others, ask for what you are owed. Happiness is a lot harder to find when you can’t look after your family or afford to take a break.

Just because you are passionate about changing something or helping people doesn’t mean you don’t deserve compensation for it. If you don’t do this, you’ll crumble under the pressure of work without the financial stability to permit a break.

It won’t end well.

Here’s another tip.

Make sure you get paid but don’t make getting paid your new passion. Remember why you started and where your energy is best spent.

The ideal life is one in which we spend every moment in one or other form of passion. Perhaps we share our time and energy between people we care for, a mission we are devoted to and a hobby we love.

It doesn’t matter how it looks, what matters is how it makes you feel. That is all that we remember at the end of life.