Discover Your Passion

09/02/2020

DISCOVER YOUR PASSION TO BUILD A CAREER

Lots of people don’t know where to start when it comes to finding a career. While most of us have a vague sense of what we like and what we are good at, we struggle to translate that information into a clear vision for our careers. Even if you don’t know what you want to do, you probably have some ideas about what you want from your job. Will you love your work and your career as much as your passion for other things and people? Why not? It is completely possible to not only find the career that is a perfect match for your skills and interests, but one that also inspires you and fuels your desire to perform better, work harder.
When you’re starting out, asking yourself the right questions is critical. You need to think more concretely about your motivations, needs, skills, and what you’re willing to do—or give up—in order to find that great opportunity. The key is not wasting precious time in a career that doesn’t fit you. Until you first know how you want to express your passion, it can be hard to get clear on what your passion is in the first place. Let’s find out how to take your first steps.

What did you love to focus on, when you were between age 12 and 18? Take note of what has consistently fascinated you for months, years, or even since you were a kid. Upon first glance, these things might seem trivial or silly, but if you give them a closer look, there’s some valuable information there to help your clarify your passion. Thinking about what you enjoyed as a younger person helps you uncover interesting clues about your forgotten passions.

What do you love to do in your free time? Try to brainstorm 5-8 activities. Identify the activities that you truly enjoy. What are a couple of areas where your friends and family see you as an expert — or at least as someone who is knowledgeable about the issue? Write down as many examples as you can think of where you are an expert.

What are the skills that come to you without thought and effort? Are you a math whizz who can easily add and subtract large numbers in your head? Can you hear a foreign language and immediately be able to replicate the inflections? What are some of the things you are a “natural” at? Brainstorm 3-5 of these skills.

What can you do most easily when you are tired or exhausted? Many of us tend to dismiss our natural strengths or the ones that come easily as less important than skills acquired through years of study and hard work. But when we place greater value on our innate talents, we’re more likely to build careers around our strengths, rather than our weaknesses.

Looking back through your school years, what were the classes — or specific subjects — that you enjoyed the most — that inspired you to learn more? These do not need to be the classes in which you received the highest grades; rather, these are the classes that you actively attended because you loved the course material. Make a list of your favourite classes and subjects and look for some themes that you can relate to in the future.

What types of things energise you? Think about people, places, and activities. Examine your lifelong interests. Examine the past 5 or 10 years for activities, subjects, or causes that you have been deeply involved with at a personal level. What are some of your long-term interests? Record your list of interests — and then look for themes and connections.

What are the values you hold dear and that help guide how you live your life? Think about the core values and principles with which you live your life. Typically, these are most influenced by your upbringing — your family’s values and your religious beliefs. This question is critical because you will never be happy or satisfied in a career that does not offer the same values that you possess.

Where do you see yourself working in terms of such considerations as location, type of work, types of co-workers and physical space? How important is collaboration and teamwork to you? How well do you deal with authority? It’s time to be honest with yourself: Visualisation can be a powerful tool that helps unlock vital clues and patterns that you may struggle to express using words alone.

What are some of the big goals you want to achieve in life? Make a list of all your answers; these will probably change the most as you move through life. What types of careers might help you accomplish these goals? Write down answers for both goals and careers. Gather your assessments, preliminary research, and answers to the questions and see if you can find a couple of obvious themes running through them. Don’t rush this process…contemplate. Make a final list of potential jobs and career paths.

Remove outside influences and pressures about what others think should be your career. Try and separate true interests from ones where you have been influenced by others. Many of us fall into the trap of not even considering certain careers because we assume, rightly or wrongly, that family, physical or monetary constraints will prevent us from being successful. So imagine your work life without those limits then try to turn that into reality.

Work’s much more enjoyable when you’re doing something you’re good at. Skills can be learned, but your passion is a part of who you are. The reality is you can do whatever you want to do and set your mind to do. It may take some work to reveal what you’re truly meant to do but, if loving your career is important to you, your efforts will be a valuable investment in your future happiness.