How to Find Your Passion: Activities and Strategies to Try

In the context of your career path or professional goals, your passion is the job or work arrangement that allows you to take on tasks and challenges you actively enjoy, which feel important to you. Finding your passion could involve a line of work that aligns with your values or that’s beneficial to your well-being. More generally, it’s a way of spending your time that makes you feel like you’re living a more fulfilling life.

Figuring out how to change your life so it better reflects your wants and needs can seem like a daunting, nebulous task. However, there are some strategies and activities that may help you take a look at your life and determine the best way forward:

1. 1. Keep a record. Taking stock of your whole life can be difficult while you’re busy living it, so one way to begin your search for a passion is to use a few minutes of your free time to start writing a journal or log of what you enjoy in life. For example, try zeroing in on a single day and documenting the activities that made you lose track of time. Identifying these “flow state” moments can help you figure out what you’re invested in, as opposed to what you do out of necessity.
2. 2. Analyze your experience with an open mind. Having a written record is useful because it allows you to look for common themes in what makes you happy. It’s important to think positively as you review your log or journal entries. Instead of focusing on your current skill set or comfort zone, think expansively about what brings you joy. Delving too deeply into what your “true passion” is at this stage may be counterproductive since there may be several things you’re passionate about. Instead, look for patterns and settle on a few areas of interest based on those patterns.
3. 3. Do your research. Try to get a holistic view of your areas of interest. Take some online courses to see if you like spending a significant amount of time in that area or speak to people in the field about what their daily work entails. Since this strategy is essentially networking, it may be helpful down the road if and when you start looking for new opportunities.
4. 4. Set goals for yourself. As you explore options, create a realistic step-by-step plan for yourself to figure out how you might work toward a new job or career path. This plan may involve going back to school or pursuing an internship or volunteer program that could give you real-world experience in a field. At this point, consider talking to a career coach or life coach about setting realistic goals.
5. 5. Implement your plan and be patient with yourself. Once you’ve worked out a roadmap, take small, manageable steps and evaluate your thoughts and feelings about the experience as you go. It can be tempting to go all-in once you feel as if you’ve found your “real passion,” but taking things slowly at first gives you the chance to adjust course or reconsider your options if things are not going as you expected. Remember, it’s okay to change your mind—passions change, and the most important thing is that you feel fulfilled.

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