Finding your passion is never easy, and there's a very good chance you've tried multiple times without success. I've been through this same process myself. I first stumbled upon the topic by accident while working on this post. I was just trying to write something. Then it hit me: "That's what I want to do!". But how does one find their passion?
To be honest, finding your passion is a journey, not a destination. It's about discovery, not fulfillment. Don't expect to find out in just one day.
The most important question to ask yourself is, "What excites me?" In an ideal world, the answer to this question is, "Nothing". This means that you are in the perfect state of mind to discover your passion, which will naturally guide you towards it. However, this isn't always true, so let's dig in a bit deeper.
I've tried multiple things to find my passion over the years. From volunteering to working with a variety of projects, I've taken a number of approaches that seem to work, and some that don't. Below I'll list several approaches and share why I think they failed. I also include some ideas from personal experience that may help you find your passion.
Some Approaches That Failed:
- Get Some Experience Doing Something Else
I know what you're thinking, "Yeah, but what is it I'm going to do, exactly?"
The answer lies in "Experience" and "Action". A good question to ask yourself would be, "What would I do if I had 10 years of experience doing X?" Now, I know that I can't realistically do that today, but what would I do if I were experienced in some related field? You may be able to take the answer that you got from this question and use it to your advantage, but it all depends on the area you're trying to gain experience in.
For instance, if you wanted to start an online magazine, you may look at it as a way to gain experience working with computers, so you can then move on to learn Photoshop.
Alternatively, you could do something completely unrelated to the field you want to specialize in. If you want to become a doctor, you could work at a hospital for a year or two and gain the experience necessary to enter the medical profession.
These examples may be overly simple, but hopefully they make sense. In general, the idea here is that you should be able to find a related area where you can gain experience that you could eventually apply to your main passion. It's important to keep in mind that it doesn't have to be related to your current passion, so don't limit yourself based on that.
- Work With Different People
Another common approach is working with different people and figuring out what they enjoy doing. However, this is often ineffective. First, there's the problem of people not telling the truth.