There are many books, articles and podcasts on the subjects of disruption, entrepreneurship, start-ups, and life coaching. A theme that runs throughout a lot of them is finding something you are passionate about.
Unfortunately for many the term “follow your passion” has become a bit clichéd and can be a turn-off.
However, one of the key points that come out from a lot of the content is how much of your wellbeing is linked to your work being something you are passionate about and how much it affects your state of mind and ultimately your happiness. Also how it needs to be something you jump out of bed for each morning as opposed to wishing for the week to be over so you can just about make it to the weekend.
It is human nature to want to feel we have a purpose in life, that we contribute to the world. That is what makes us happy, not material objects and wealth. Those things may do for a short period of time, but it is superficial happiness.
There are plenty of people who cover this topic and I’ll put some recommendations at the end of this article.
One of the books I have really enjoyed recently is called “Entrepreneur Revolution” by Daniel Priestly.
In it, he describes the three key aspects to hitting what he calls the Entrepreneur Sweet Spot. These are:
1. Do something you are passionate about
2. Do something you are good at
3. Do something that makes money
He talks about how to identify your passion and how it should be your “compass” that guides you every day.
With so many choices, opportunities and distractions, this compass helps you stay focused on what is important to you.
You can then ask yourself the question, is this thing I am about to do going to contribute to what I am passionate about? Does it add value to me on that journey? Would I be better doing something else with my time instead?
So how do you identify your passion if you aren’t lucky enough to have found it yet? (or even better be in a job that you look forward to every day).
Daniel goes on to explain it’s important to identify what he calls your “theme”. This is something you feel so strongly about you could rant about it for hours if not days.
What wrongs would you like to see righted? what frustrates you that you wish you could see improved? What missed opportunities do you see on a regular basis?
Think of this as kind of your mission statement, your guide to know whether what you are doing will allow you to be your best and your happiest.
I have followed the process in the book to try and map out the things that excite me to discover my theme.
To do this I sat down and captured a bit of a brain dump onto paper. For me, I am involved in digital channels and products and I get excited about producing high-quality services that put the customer first. My brain dump looked like this…
The end result, Daniel suggests should be a rant that begins with one of four sentences:
1. “For as long as I can remember I’ve felt there’s something exciting at the intersection of … and …”
2. “I deeply believe that the world needs …”
3. “Never in history has there been a better time for …”
4. “My whole life I’ve been fascinated by what happens when you mix … and …”
The theme I came up with goes as follows:
“I deeply believe that the world needs better digital products and services built by people who care passionately about their customers and understand their needs. This will be achieved through creating a working environment that allows creativity to flow and the status quo to be challenged. An environment where rapid change is welcomed and it is safe to make mistakes and learn as that leads to continual improvement. Where digital teams are hard-working, but to them, it doesn’t feel like work. Ultimately that digital products and services are used to make people’s lives better for both the customers and those that spend their time creating them”.
I have found this exercise really helpful and am fortunate that I am already in this space in the work I do.
Hopefully, this will help you if you are struggling to find what excites you or if a career change is something you should really be considering.
If you found this article interesting please share with someone else you who would find this interesting too.
I promised you some useful links at the beginning of this article.
1. Entrepreneur Revolution, by Daniel Priestley (the book that inspired this article — highly recommended)
2. A video of Daniel talking about this subject
3. Gary Vaynerchuk on “finding your passion”
4. The School of Greatness, by Lewis Howes
Finally, I’d love to hear how you get on with finding your own theme or passion.
Posted in: Wellbeing