5 Ways to find your PASSION - #BelieveLife

Good morning, Believe Nation! Today we're going to talk about 5 ways that you can find your passion. Number 2 is my personal favorite, but I'm curious to find out which one you guys like the most.

People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you're doing, and it's totally true. And the reason is is because it's so hard that if you don't, any rational person would give up. It's really hard, and you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don't love it, if you're not having fun doing it, you don't really love it, you're gonna give up. And that's what happens to most people, actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up, you know, being successful, unquote, in the eyes of society, and the ones that didn't, oftentimes it's The ones that are successful loved what they did so they could persevere when it got really tough. And the ones that didn't love it quit, because they're sane, right? Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don't love it? So it's a lot of hard work, and it's a lot of worrying constantly. And if you don't love it, you're going to fail. So you've got to love it. You've got to have passion.

So there was a wonderful article by Steven Kotler published in Forbes about how to find your passion. It's a question we ask ourselves every single day. We've all been told that a life of passion is a life that means something, but how do we identify our passions? It's not always easy. So one of the things that Stephen Collar breaks down is that he says that passion essentially exists in the intersection between multiple things that you're curious about. So he says the first thing you should do if you want to identify your passion is to make a list of all the things that you're curious about. All the things that you wonder about. Be as specific as you can. And then create kind of a Venn diagram and try to figure out where the things that you're curious about, 3 or more, intersect. And that's the sweet spot. That's where there is energy. That's where there is dopamine and neurobiology. Multiple streams of curiosity intersect at a space called passion, right? And then once you've identified your passion, then you can figure out how to turn that passion into a purpose. To turn that passion into a purpose, make a list of 15 things in the world 15 challenges you'd like to see solved. And then figure out which one of those challenges can be served by your passion. So then you see curiosity leads to passion. Multiple streams of curiosity leads to passion. Identifying problems in the world that can be served by your passion leads to purpose. And then, my friends, you've impregnated your life with a sense of significance, with a sense of meaning. And then you can go forth, my brothers. You can go forth.

Keep trying different things. It's okay to not know 100% what you're passionate about. It's not a crime to be in a job that you're not 100% in love with, but there are things that you can do. All right, don't be a victim. That's the thing that drives me crazy when I talk to people and they're like, yeah, but I— I'm like, yo, if you really want— if you get to the point where it's more uncomfortable being where you are, you will figure it out. But a lot of times we get stuck in these ruts. We let other people's perception of what they think we should do for ourselves sort of decide what we do. And this is crazy, it's absolutely nuts, guys. Life is way too short to be living without passion. And for a career, if you're in a place where you're just not 100% happy, there is absolutely no better time than right now to try and figure it out, because you're amazing and you deserve it.

What area of your life do you fear judgment in, right? Is there an area where you have a backlog of work, whether it's songs or poems or any piece of art or business or whatever it is, that you're afraid to share with other people for fear of being judged? This means that you care about it tremendously. It's core to your identity, and so, you will work hard to be excellent at it. When I look back at my own life, writing was the clear winner. Ever since I was a kid, I've been writing, I've been taking creative writing classes every chance I got, but I was very scared to publish in any sort of school newspaper, or blog, or in anything, and that was because it was core to who I am, right? If somebody didn't like my writing, I thought that would tear me apart. Of course, that's not the case, but look for that area. What are those things that you're afraid to share? That means that it is really important important to you, and you'll work to be good at it.

Don't fool yourself in thinking you're gonna get lots of energy back in your life if you're constantly wiped out because you're not sleeping enough, you're not rehabbing enough, you're not rejuvenating enough. I mean, if you are always go, go, go, go, go, but you're never taking a moment to give your brain and your body that break, then you're never going to have the levels of energy that frankly you deserve. We know from science and neuroscience, you must be getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep consistently. If you don't believe that, please go do the research. It's unanimous. It's 50 years of sleep research now. Your cognitive abilities go so much further down in terms of nega— negativity, your ability to think, your ability to process when you're tired. And along with your cognition, goes your motivation. You know, it's just like if you can't think, you can't get really motivated and excited about things. So please just get some rest in. Make sure if you're not getting enough of sleep, then meditate or nap throughout the day whenever you can find your spot. I don't care if that means you come home and before you go in to hang out with the kids, you just pass out for 15 minutes in the car. You know, just do something to rejuvenate yourself because if you're not rested, the passion is gonna go away. And you and I both know that we are living in a culture right now where everyone's burning the candle at both ends, and most of what they're doing isn't really necessary. They're just replying to everybody else and losing themselves in their lives. We gotta get you back. And the way to get your energy back is first and foremost, please get some rest.

Passion is not a job, a sport, or a hobby. It is the full force of your attention and energy that you give to whatever is right in front of you. And if you're so busy looking for this passion, you could miss opportunities that change your life. You could also miss out on great love, because that's what happens when you have tunnel vision trying to find "the one." We all think we know the kind of person we are and the kind of person we could love, but sometimes we're wrong. Blissfully wrong. And sometimes you don't know what you're going to do next, right? I mean, I don't. I love not knowing what I'm going to be doing 5 years from now or what I'll be into. And that's okay. It's okay not to know.

You know why?

Because the most fulfilling relationships, the most fulfilling careers are those that still have the power to surprise you. And as for the things you know you want to do, you want to write a book, you want to start a business, You want to change careers? Great! But if you're sitting around waiting for passion to show up and take you there, you're going to be waiting a long time. So don't wait. Instead, spend your time and attention solving your favorite problems. Look for problems that need solving. Be useful, generous. People will thank you and hug you and pay you for it. And that's where passion is, where your energy and effort meet someone else's someone else's need, that's when you realize passion lives in realizing, you know, what you have to contribute. Why do you think when you ask people what they're passionate about, they say helping other people? So don't wait. Listen to my mother. Just start doing. Because to live a life full of meaning and value, you don't follow your passion. Your passion follows you.

So hope you guys enjoyed. My quick take on it is you find your passion by exploring. You got to explore, explore, explore, and try different things until you find the thing that makes you come alive. You're not gonna find your passion by just sitting on the couch and watching TV all day. You got to get up and do things, and sometimes those things are unexpected. Sometimes those things push your comfort zone, and at least try it once before you give up on something. A quick example that I told a couple times in this channel, but it's worth a repeating. I'll say yes to doing something once most of the time. And as an example, I went rock climbing and I hated it. I'm afraid of heights. It's not a fear that I need to get over or have a desire to get over anytime soon. I didn't like how, you know, the, the strap was in my crotch and I felt tight. And anyway, it just wasn't a pleasant experience for me. So when somebody asked me, do I want to go? I said, yes, I'll go and try it out. But I didn't like it. So I've never gone back. Then I went snowboarding and I sucked at the start and I failed and I got up and fell and get up and fell and get up and fell. I would fall 30 times down the mountain, but I loved it and I fell in love with it and I would push off meetings and I would just try to do as much snowboarding as possible and I got really good. And for 2 winters I was kind of obsessed with it and then it slowly died off to where I was going, you know, a couple times a year. And this past winter I didn't even go snowboarding at all. I just kind of lost the love. And so that can also happen when you explore. You find something that you get obsessed with, you, you fall in love with it, but then that love fades. And so the answer isn't to continue doing it, it's to, when you stop loving something, move off and go do something else. The third example is I found salsa, and I found salsa just by exploring. Again, I said yes to an opportunity, they said yes to going out and trying out a class, and I fell in love with it. Something about the music and the dancing, the connection, the people I just fell in love with it. It made me come alive. And now, still 10 years later, I'm still dancing. I now own a salsa dancing school, the largest maybe in North America. And that's my advice for you, is to explore things, say yes to things, see what makes you come alive. Sometimes you hate it at the start, sometimes you like it, it's worth exploring a little bit more, and then it falls off. And sometimes you find a thing that you want to do for the next decade plus, but you don't find it until you say yes to opportunities. Opportunities and you explore, explore, explore until you find the thing that makes you come alive. So I'd love to know what you think of this video. I'd love to know which clip resonated the most with you and why. Leave it down in the comments below. I'm going to join in discussion. I made this video because Tydarius Reed asked me to, so if there's a topic you'd like me to cover on the next edition of Believe Life, leave in the comments below and we'll see what we can do. Thank you again for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe And I'll see you soon.