Really, this passion searching thing has been the topic of self-development for ages! Almost anything possible to be done on passion has been said or written somewhere over the internet and in our life. What else can you be getting out from this post of mine then?

Well, you might be surprised as to how useful the tips are. I’m saying that because I’ve spend a lot of time reading blogs/books about finding your passion, thinking about them innovatively, and using them to help find my own passion. I’m sure you can at least use one of them to bring you closer to your passion.

Alright, I will share with you 7 great ways to find your passion (Why 7? Because 7 is my lucky number! Seriously, I think these 7 are the most useful ways to get you started):

1. You don’t need to find your passion right away

Yes, you don’t have to force yourself to find your passion now! I know you want to, but since you’ve already spent at least 20 years not having a passion, why are you in a rush to OWN one now? It takes time and patience.

Having said that, you do have to be proactive in the search. You should always think about finding your passion and be curious about the things around you to see if they fit your passion criteria. Tune your mind to look for your passion, and don’t expect for instant results.

2. You can have more than 1 passion

When people talk about passion, they always narrow them down to 1 thing. But, you can have multiple passions! You might love entrepreneurship and computers, so you build a business selling computers (think Michael Dell).

As for myself, I’ve combined 5 of my passions: entrepreneurship, writing, personal development, money management, and Information Technology –> Think Big Think Money blog. It’s tough to limit yourself to 1 passion, but it’s easy to combine all your passions into one and save yourself some headache deciding which one to go with.

3. Dare to be different

Do you notice how many people try hard to please their friends and family? Even though they don’t enjoy what they do in the pleasing process. But this is your life, you gotta take charge of it and do something different from others. How can you find your passion if you behave like the majority of the population who either doesn’t have a passion or doesn’t want to have one?

Remember the last time you met someone full of passion? Don’t you think he is a little bit different? A person with passion literally lives life to the fullest, and acts according to his heart and will. He doesn’t fear to go beyond the ordinary path. Sure, he might get a lot of criticisms from others, but nobody can please everybody, so stop trying!

4. Don’t read about the things you’re interested about

Right, stop reading about the cars, clothes, gadgets, etc on magazines or the internet, for at least a week. If you feel that it’s tough to do and it’s killing you inside, it’s a good sign that you might be in for the real passion! Think of ways to turn that passion into a working model (think money and success).

Be proactive in the ‘transformation’ process, the key to finding your passion often lies at your ability and willingness to be innovative (ideas + actions = innovation).

5. Don’t ask yourself questions

This might be counterintuitive, and might not work for you if you love to answer questions in schools/colleges. I’m sure you’ve come across many different books and articles that pose questions for you to answer in order to identify your passion. No doubt those are helpful, but NOT for everyone! Furthermore, most people would probably just ignore them or tend not to follow up afterwards.

If you fall within the category, use your guts instead. You don’t have to ask yourself questions to know what you really love to do. Close your eyes for a moment and think about what you might be passionate about – visualize it, feel it, live it. Do that at least once a day for a few minutes, keeping in mind that your passion might change from time to time. It’s 1000 times better than answering a question and not doing anything about it at all!

6. Find out as much about something that you don’t like to do and make it your passion

Reverse psychology, you can call it. But it works. If you understand how our brain works, you should know that we don’t always act according to what we really should. In the long run, however, we would be most happy if we act according to our subconscious mind (read: your guts).

So why not do something against your conscious mind and make something you thought you didn’t like to do your passion? You might just find that it’s actually something that you’ve always wanted to do but has been suppressed by your rational mind because it was against the social stigma or some ridiculous societal influences.

7. Tomorrow’s your first birthday!

Happy Birthday! You know Steve Jobs’s famous commencement speech:

I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I’ve been trying to treat every day as if it were the last day of my life, but I find it very difficult to do because I would probably just spend my entire day with my loved one, friends and family. I still care about my blog readers of course, and I’ll definitely post some last words here on the blog, but realistically I wouldn’t spend my last 24 hours blogging, even though it’s my passion!

Instead, I thought the opposite might work just fine. Before you go to bed every night, ask yourself: “If tomorrow were the first day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do tomorrow?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, you know you need to change something. (Note the exception: this is the only practical question you want to ask yourself because it’s just too effective to ignore)

Unfortunately, most people don’t think outside the box

They follow the traditional ways of doing things and end up like everyone else. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if you want to succeed, you need to think outside the box and change the old and ineffective mindset.

So, 7 new and unconventional ways as I promised. I’m confident that you can use at least 1 way here to bring yourself closer to finding your passion if you put them into actions. But really, just by reading this post a few times might already be changing your paradigm (the old mindset). Finally, If you’ve found your passion through this post, feel free to email me your newfound passion and I will post them on the “Post My Goals!” page.

Passion, here I come!

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