Many people are stuck in jobs that they don’t enjoy, wishing and waiting for a time when they find their passion. Instead of going out and seeking it, they just sit back and wait – and because of this, their passion may never come. Here are five creative exercises that you can do today to help you find your passion.
1. Think about your spare time
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? If you had a day off with no obligations, what would you spend it doing? The answer may give you the key to what your passion really is. When you imagine an ideal day, the things you see in it will be leads to explore. If you imagine going to watch a movie, then maybe directing or producing could be your thing – or running a film festival. If you seriously love flying, maybe you could turn your amateur plane lessons into a career. When you find what you love, you will be prepared to put in the work which is required to be the best in your industry.
2. Make three lists
Sit down with three pieces of paper. On one of them, write a list of the things that you are good at. On the next, write a list of things that you enjoy doing. On the third, write a list of things that give you a sense of purpose. Where these three lists intersect, you can find the passion which will sustain you enough to become a viable passion career.
3. Discover your flow
Flow is described as the mental state in which you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all track of time. It happens when you are passionate about what you do: you manage to block out or forget everything except the task at hand. Look back over your whole life, from your childhood to today, and try to remember times when you went into a state of flow. This will help you to identify the things that make you really engage. Write down a list of occasions as they come to mind, even if they don’t fit with what you expected.
4. The answer will make you cry
Write down a question on a piece of paper: “What is my true purpose in life?” Start answering it and continue writing answers down. Go and go and go until you write down an answer that makes you cry. This answer is your true passion and purpose.
5. Write a novel
You don’t have to actually write a full novel with this creative exercise, but just plan one out. Imagine that your ideal self is the main character. Who are they? What do they do and achieve in the course of the novel? What steps would your current self have to take to become your ideal self and achieve those things? Make sure that you are as precise as possible. A best-selling author might be a character, but that doesn’t explain what they do. In the course of your novel, they might have their movies turned into films, or win literary awards, or simply make enough money to retire to the countryside. You are in control of the story, so write the ideal self you want and then plan out how to get there.
Finding your passion is difficult, and many people do not discover what it is until later in life. If you are struggling, take a deep breath and try these exercises. So long as you are alive, there’s still time to find your passion!
