5 Tips to Ignite Your Passion
Okay. We hear it all the time. Do what you love and the money will follow. The big problem is most of us don’t love what we do or haven’t figured out how to love the boring stuff that is a necessary part of getting the fun job. There’s no exact blueprint that magically works to help you discover your passion, but there are quite a few things you can start doing today that will help you get closer to finding it. Here are five of my personal favorite.
1. Take a purposeful sabbatical.
Sometimes we need to get out of our own way, shake up our mind and see what comes out of it. Taking some time away from the daily grind will help you figure out what it is you’re resonating with, give you a fresh perspective and help you find out what is important to you. A sabbatical should be intentional. This should be a time for soul searching and discovery, for opening your eyes and allowing new experiences transform your default method of thinking. This should not be an escape or a vacation. By firmly telling our subconscious that the purpose of the journey is to expand our mind and grow our horizons, we allow ourselves to be open to those experiences that will enlighten and ignite our passion. On a journey like this, we are flexing our mind, looking deep inside for a reason beyond the day to day.
There was a very dark time in my life where I was super depressed, out of work and didn’t have a clue why I was here. I couldn’t figure out how to shake the cyclical thinking, so I decided to go on a quest to find an answer and discover what my purpose in life might be. I bought a ticket to Japan and walked across the country visiting the modern day locations of the towns and landmarks depicted in 18th century woodblock paintings by Hiroshige. I sold or donated everything from my studio apartment except what I could fit in my backpack. I spent three months on the road, walking on foot in the pristine Japanese countryside, filming a video blog with an iPhone. That journey was the most enlightening and transformational experience of my entire life. It helped me discover my purpose in life: to tell ever improving stories with video. It would take a few years before I could define that as my calling in life, but it was certainly the catalyst to set me on the path of this realization.
The point of a sabbatical is go deep, not to flit around the surface sipping margaritas at a luxury resort. This should be a journey to discover who you are inside and what your calling in life is, and as such it should be seen as a holy pilgrimage, not a weekend of Vegas debauchery. If you sincerely set aside the time and resources to take a journey like this, get out of your comfort zone and look deep inside yourself with gratitude and awe for the incredible planet we are blessed to live in, you will discover something incredible. I promise. The wisdom you can gain from introspective traveling can grant you motivation and purpose that will empower you for ages.
2. Write a journal each night and each morning
Writing is therapy. It can also act as a wonderful way to tune into your passion. I like to think of writing as deliberate expression of our truest intentions. If we practice it consistently, we will be able to draw out the deep, elusive thoughts that flutter beneath the noise of the day to day. I strongly believe that each of us already possess passion enough to catapult ourselves to the next level, but we’re so preoccupied with trivial things that we make excuses and forget about it altogether. Passion just gets lost amongst all the clutter of the day to day. We need to actively bring it back to the surface, acknowledge it and give it life. Cultivating passion doesn’t have to be a once every year kind of activity - it can be a part of our daily routine.
Writing daily in your journal, even if it’s three simple sentences will encourage you to recall that passion, because whether intentional or not, we tend to write about what we care about. If we take the time to put it on paper, we will coax that emotion to the surface of our mind and give it the attention it needs to thrive.
Writing in the morning will set you on a steady course for the day, no matter what side of bed you wake up on, if you make the time to stop and write - even if just for a moment - you will rekindle the flame of your passion, and that flame will act as a beacon guiding you through all the challenges of the day. Writing at night will serve as a way of releasing all the accumulated clutter of the day and finding clarity. Like wiping a thick layer of dust to reveal a beautiful sparkling jewel, writing in a journal each night will help your passion shine brilliantly.
3. Walk, Run, Move.
If you feel stuck, like life has just hit a plateau and there’s no end in sight, it’s time to put the running shoes and elastic sweatbands on and hit the road. Movement does so many incredible things for you. Running and walking will bring oxygen into your brain, allowing you to think and process at your optimum levels. Changing your physiology will also get you to start thinking new fresh thoughts. Putting yourself in movement is a sure way to kickstart your initiative. Once things start to move, to change, you’ll be better able to get out of whatever rut you’re in and rediscover the fuel to keep you going.
Running and exercise also carries an important discipline-building bonus that contributes to strengthening our resolve to keep going when things get tough. Every time we say yes to getting off the couch and taking a jog, we build our discipline. Every time we push ourselves an extra 2 minutes on the treadmill, we build our discipline. Using exercise as a tool to build our discipline quota will help us use that same fortitude when it comes to our daily lives. Daily exercise can give you the strength to maintain a calm demeanor and keep yourself from getting sidetracked from the things you are passionate about.
4. Talk.
Set aside intentional time with people you care about and open up to them. Tell them your fears, your struggles, your dreams. Tell them what is on your mind. So much of our time is spent on surface level conversations - what we ate, the weather, what someone said about us, what we drank last night - that we run out of time to talk about what we’re feeling on the inside.
You’d be surprised how much your friends will appreciate being in the position to help you find direction. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for advice. We all love to help when given the chance. Sometimes just taking the time to express our goals, dreams and struggles will help us reconnect with the things we’re passionate about.
5. Set milestones and reward your progress.
Even if you don’t know what your “life’s mission” is, you can still create some nice checkpoints that will get you moving in a positive direction. One of my favorite quotes from Tony Robbins is, “Progress equals Happiness”. Quite simply, the more we take action and move towards our goals, the more we will feel better about ourselves and find happiness. If you want to keep your passion burning brightly, keep moving towards your milestones and checkpoints. It’s also very important to reward your progress as you continue on your journey.
Because I have a tendency to set ridiculous goals that take me forever to accomplish, I’ve learned it’s also important to set small checkpoints that lead up to the big goal to keep myself from getting burned out or intimidated. If we don’t ever make a dent in our goals it becomes discouraging and we lose interest. That’s why having mini goals scattered along the way will keep you pumped and passionate about the road ahead, even if it gets hard, you’ll feel like you’re making progress.
I hope these tips have helped spark a fire in you and would love to hear if you have another strategy that you’ve discovered that works well for you.