Igniting your Passion: How to Find your Passion

Are you passionate about your profession and the work that you do? Or have you been marginalized by your environment?

So what is passion anyway? According to my personal experience and research, passion is the desire and drive to use your energy and focus to achieve something.

Everyone has a passion or passions in life. It is a part of your unique DNA and identity. It emerges from many factors including your internal motivations, experiences, preferences, disposition, values, skills and talents. Some people discover it when they are young and others find it later in life. Usually there are telling signs along the journey of life that point to your passion.

Though some people never develop the self awareness or experiences to find their passion, one thing is certain: once found, passion is powerful. When it is alive and working, it is like a force of nature that enables you to overcome great obstacles and set backs. It acts as the backbone in your will to achieve.

Did you ever wonder why you are attracted to some people. It could because there is a pull from within to connect with your passion so you achieve greatness. You may have connections in your social networks that you might consider weak links. If you explore those connections and build them, you find a support network that can help you develop and harness the power and creativity that can flow from your passion. Your social networks can become the ecosystem that create great growth.

Where you work could be influencing your passion factor. In 2009, Hagel, Brown and Davison (The Power of Pull) did a survey called the Shift Index. They found that workers in small companies were 60% more likely to be passionate about their work. What was more interesting is that people who were self employed were twice as likely to passionate about their profession. Larger companies seemed to marginalize their workers and employees seemed to be frustrated with their bosses. This makes sense because often in larger companies people have jobs with narrowing scope which can be a limitation. So when you are making a career choice, it is not just about the pay and benefits. Consider your environment, the people, the companies pursuits, size, and values and see if you connect with them.

We use this question to find the threads that can point to your passion(s) and motivation for greatness in life. Take a few minutes and answer these questions and share them with a friend. Ask them to summerize the common themes and see what you learn about yourself.

Answer the following question about three time periods in your life. It could when you were a child, in high school or college, and where you are right now.

What did you enjoy doing or accomplishing? Explain why you enjoyed it.

Answer this question for those time periods, review it with a friend and get feedback to extract common themes. I call these common ideas interwoven into your behavior “threads”.