I read a wonderful post on this blog recently about we don’t FIND our passions, they come THROUGH us: Our passions are already there. (See: Forget About Finding Your Passion)
This is very, very true.
I was reminded of this over the weekend while teaching a workshop on finding your passion and creating income from it.
We were in the portion of the class in which I did some *laser consults* from the front of the auditorium. I was helping one man come to understand his true *Passion*. In fact, he was close, because he already knew that he wanted to be a Professional Speaker. However, he couldn’t choose WHICH of many topics he wanted to speak on.
I put it to him square: “What would you do with your life’s work, if you were going to die tomorrow?”
He was taken aback. He deflected. Said if he were to die tomorrow, he’d go air ballooning.
So would I!
So I tried again: “If life were compressed into 24 hours, and you could make a the impact of your life in that time, what topic would you speak about?”
“I’d help people understand that they can lose a serious amount of weight and keep it off for good, because I did this myself,” he said.
The man was incredibly slim and filled with light, so I imagined he’d be GREAT at his job.
He started to speak some more. I heard him say “But I….”
I stopped him. I refused to let him go on because I wanted him to look and see and really HONOR the statement he made. He was getting ready to dilute it. Perhaps he was going to think of some other topics that were equally exciting to him. But he didn’t choose those first, did he?
“That’s it!” I said. “You HAVE your Passion! You said it! That is IT!”
He let me sky-write his passion on the chalkboard.
We all try to muddle our instincts. We second-guess our gut, our heart, and the personal knowledge-base that we spent years accruing. Possibly we have too much information at our fingertips. We think that there’s some other ‘thing’ outside of ourselves we could be doing.
No. It isn’t that way. If we stop and listen to ourselves, and make strong statements right from the most central place where we dwell, we can trust our navigation. We can trust where it leads us.
Yes, I know you like many things.
Yes, I know you can do many things.
And yes, you will have to flesh out and develop your ‘thing’. After all, we still don’t know how you will find the work or create the work that allows you to express your “Thing’.
But you have your thing, it was born in you and has been expressing THROUGH you for a long time. Give it primacy. Give it love. Give it the honor of your total attention. All things will be born through it.
I’m giving you a metaphorical timer. You have 5 minutes. You will pass into the ethos tomorrow and all that will be left behind is your greatest gifts, changes, and shared love. What is yours to share, with whom, and using what?
Write it down.
Now go make it happen.
Photo by Fey Ilyas
What a great post! It’s amazing how we always try to second-guess our instincts. Thanks for writing this =)
Great post! You put a new perspective to finding your passion – If life was condensed in 24 hours what would you speak about? Love it my friend!
You are so right, we have been working on that passion for most of our lives – mine is to inspire and encouarge others and growing to my full potential.
It’s pretty simple, isn’t it?
In gratitude,
Nancy
I agree. I believe we were each created with a God-given purpose to change the world. Thanks for an inspiring post!
thanks for your comments. we can also really understand our passion or our touchpoint in another way, which is that IT RARELY CHANGES. In other words, what we do might change, but the core passion is usually constant.
Warmly, JIllian
Jillian,
What a fabulous post! The questions you asked that gentleman were so “on target” and you helped him know his passion almost immediately. What a gift you gave him!
Great story, I’m kind of like that man you spoke about. I actually am really close to my passion right now, but am trying to focus it. I love marketing and how to use it to further your career.
Thanks for the exercise you used to guide that man to his passion.
Hi Bryce:
If you are as close as that, sometimes it’s best to start plugging away at your business model and product offering, and the final detail will hone itself.
In other words, sometimes we find the last few steps of our purpose by jumping in and discovering what people respond to, and what we are getting joy from. Hard to divine that COMPLETELY without having started on the path.
Good luck on your focusing your ‘thing’.
Regards, Jillian
Jillian,
Great question here and one that we seldom ponder. When you put someone under pressure they can come up with a quick response without much effort.
I remember Wayne Dyer speaking and he said, “Don’t die with the music still in you”. I use my blog as a vehicle of expression. As a reminder to people that we are the ones that we’ve been searching for all along.
that is a great question to ask! re: “If life were compressed into 24 hours, and you could make the impact of your life in that time, what topic would you speak about?”
when we narrow it down to such truth and simplicity, we are able to see our passions clearly.
Ariana:
I’ve noticed that with my clients, some need to process things deeply before arriving at an answer. Some are visual, they need pictures to frame the story. Some merely need a very short deadline or very narrow window from which to draw a conclusion.
I’m glad that the version I gave resonated with you!
Warmly, Jillian
I like this new approach with “finding your passion”. As a professional poker player for 6 years, many people have asked me, “How did you end up as a professional poker player?”
My response the first few times was, “I dunno… it just sort of happened.” (Can you see how this applies to what this article is saying?)
Now, I know what my initial response translates to: “I just stuck to something I was good at, followed my heart, stayed true to myself, and got caught up in a journey.”
ya, you said it. you got caught in the journey. i feel as if all my work boils down to whispering in people’s ear: “it’s time, you’re ready, start the journey, start the real adventure.”
thanks for writing..
jillian
I still don’t know if i died tomorrow what i’d do i feel like i’ll never find my passion i feel so stuck
feeling stuck is the first step, the second step is noticing it. you are actually at step 3, which is that you have to do SOMETHING to deal with the fact that you are ‘waking up’
i usually suggest, books, blogs, and research for several months at this stage. action and thought followed by action. action without thought is useless.
this should get you going. I recommend WISHCRAFT by Barbara Sher to get you started, or the book for sale on my web site, http://www.jillianjdavis.com.
Best, Jillian
Hi. It is a very inspiring post, but still I am in the bucket full of things I would like to do. I started taking drawing lessons for product design. I realised that it is not my thing because I want to create manifests. I want to open peoples eyes in several domains. I think I would like to make people realise where they are, where they should go through music, drawing, painting, through art. I feel that I am capable of that. I am great in influencing people and I would not like to make them do wrong things. I can not start discovering my true passion…these are influences I guess…because I can be easily influenced, but I want to be dedicated to my work. What should I do? What is your advice? I do not like hanging much with people…I am more of a „see the big picture, show them the big picture, vanish!”
Radu:
Creating a life based on your deepest held passions is not *just* a conviction. It’s a working process, like a marriage, like therapy, like raising kids. There is NO SCRIPT, just toolboxes and signposts. My post that you responded to was a tool and a signpost.
Therefore, if you ask, “What do I do?” I’d tell you that ‘B follows A’. If you think you’ve discovered your passion, you begin launching experiments or projects to confirm it is true. You primarily need to begin doing research and projects aimed at getting more information on what your talent is, and where you can apply it. Then, you need to jump into the void and try things.
Eventually, your path will be born out of the spark sequence. There is NO SHORTER PROCESS. THIS IS THE PROCESS, darling.
BTW, there is no way you can influence people unless you connect with them — DEEPLY. Forget about vanishing — nothing happens in life (really, nothing) without relationships and connections with people. This is part of the spark sequence.
Good luck. Dig in. Go for the adventurer’s ride.
xo Jillian
Thank you. It is good indeed to talk to others from time to time. You have opened my mind with some ways I should…step on. I appreciate a lot. Good luck to you too and I promise I would read your blog periodically. I owe that to you !
good post , i like it . But i got confused that i try a lot to find my passion but it’s on various field and for me sometime is very difficult to understand that where should i exactly go .i give you example that my complete interest is in the computer field but it’s difficult for me to decide that whether should i go for software eng. or networking, website designg., and also hardware . i want to be an entrepreneur right now i am in first year of computer engineering stream . plz help
Probably the simplest advice that can be given – try different things, and choose the one you like the most.
Fantastic read! Definitely opened my eyes to a new perspective. Thank you!