Igniting Passion one big burst and wham! Passion is burning, the way is clear, and motivation is on. Those who “Ignite” and make life happen on a grand scale are enviable. We all know people who love what they do, are passionate about it, have known since they were in diapers what it is they were born to be and do, and then they successfully execute their life plans.
“Ignite” is one way to arrive at life’s passions, but not for me. Like deep breathing, inflating seems more deliberate, consistent, and permanent. It takes most of us time, struggle, mistakes, hurdles, challenging people, loss, grief, money…any number of possible obstacles before we arrive at something that really lights us up, and then it may take additional years of training and experience before enough competency is built up so that we gain confidence in our passion.
Passion has been and still is more of an inflate/deflate experience in my life. What is your unique experience of passion? Slow burn, dim candlelight somewhere deep inside, or a bright-hot bonfire?
If you are looking to get to your own answers quickly, give these resources a try.
Find useful information and an exercise in How to Easily Find your True Passion to help uncover your own personal “why.”
Watch Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action for additional inspiration.
(Note, if you are not familiar with Ted talks, please, please go explore all of the excellent learning resources on just about any subject.)
Passion, when excitement courses through me, energizing and focusing my life I feel so ALIVE! But the absolute certainty about my passion is usually variable. For a day, week, month, year, or series of years I feel fully inflated, totally clear on what needs to be done. But sometimes it feels like someone sneaks into my life and creates a slow leak in my passion balloon, I end up feeling deflated and in need of a renewed search for ways to reinflate my passions. How do you know if you’ve Discovered your Passion?
Follow along and let’s inflate our passions together…
Step 1
Clear away the obstacles. This can take a bit of time & work to sort out. What’s holding us back? What if we changed some people, places, circumstances would we think more clearly?
Step 2
Dig deep! Buried inside of us somewhere is what we really want, along with our special gifts and talents. We are told, from very tiny, what we can and can not be, do, and have. As a result, we must get out the shovel and dig out the dirt until excitement, enthusiasm, hope are uncovered. Finding Your Passion: Hint: It’s not what you Think
Step 3
Make our own Decision. There is only 1 voice that speaks loud & clear in my head anymore (OK, sometimes my Dad still yells at me), MY VOICE. I want to dance, walk in the rain, snorkel, and read a good book. But there are those other voices, the ones that have said NO, Stop, Can’t, Shouldn’t, Won’t, Don’t, Not…Insert yours here. Be decisive!
Step 4
GO! It’s only real if it’s on our schedule, therefore schedule 1-3 action items a week, on the calendar. Here are action tasks that move us closer to fully living our passions…
- Internet research
- Meet with someone already doing it
- Visit a place where you can see your passion in real life
- Join a group of people already doing what you want to do
- Take an introductory course
- Visualize what it will look like
- Journal
- Discuss with someone who really is excited and supportive
- Schedule time on the calendar, at least once or twice a week, daily is even better
Additional Resources:
8 Simple Steps to Ignite Passion!
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