‘Follow Your Passion’ can sometimes be a misguided advice

How often have you heard this statement, “Follow Your Passion”?

Several times, right?

This can, at times, be misguided advice. Why?

One, it assumes that there is passion hidden in you which you need to figure out.

Two, it can restrict you. It limits you to what you already know.

Three, passion may not exist naturally. It sometimes needs to be developed through exposure and practice.

Let’s explore this a bit. I want to share some personal experiences.

I have a passion for certain music – it developed because I trained in it. I did not have a passion earlier.

I have a passion for playing piano – it developed because I trained for it. I did not have a passion earlier.

I have a passion for coaching – it developed because I was trained by the right person and used the right methodology. I never knew what professional coaching was all about. Today I am very passionate about it.

I developed a passion for sales and marketing – I hated this once. But today, I enjoy it because I train and upskill myself regularly and I see how I add value to someone's life when I sell.

What is the message I want to give you?

When you are trying to figure out your passion,?have the self-awareness to acknowledge and accept that you may not be passionate about anything. Or that?your passion may lie in something that may not necessarily be transferable to your job/profession. And these are perfectly OK. You can start a journey to find what you can be passionate about by

• Speaking with others and learning about new things
• Working together with someone in an area and see if you develop a passion for that
• Learn and upskill yourself regularly and evaluate whether the new learning can be turned into a passion.

Try shifting the focus from ‘finding your passion’ to understanding what you want. Develop self-awareness to know yourself and identify your priorities in life. Follow your curiosity, explore what is available and around you, and find out what piques your interest. Once you have identified what sparks your interest, align your actions to take you in that direction so that it makes your work life meaningful.

Sometimes, you may be in a job that may not be aligned with your passion. And that too is OK. But you can evaluate whether it is aligned with your purpose, which will make you happy and content as a person. It is your WHY.

What have you learnt about #passion and #purpose? If you are interested in finding out about your true purpose, all my Coaching programs start with a session "Discover the REAL YOU". This helps my Coachees discover their purpose. Please reach out to me at my email address given below to learn more.

Johncey George is an International Coaching Federation accredited Leadership and Life Coach. He is an ICF PCC and an empaneled coach with several organizations.

Johncey (https://www.coachjohncey.com) focuses on Executive Leadership coaching.

Johncey has a particular interest and expertise in coaching introverts. He is India’s first and leading Leadership Coach for Introverts. He helps them celebrate their strengths and become successful as leaders. Being an introvert himself, he understands their thinking process. He combines this knowledge, his corporate leadership experience, and his coaching expertise to help create more leaders among Introverts.

Johncey has 23 years of corporate leadership experience as COO, Director, and Board of Directors. He did his BE in Computer Science and Management Education from IIM Bangalore, Harvard Business School, and ISB Hyderabad.

Johncey runs a one-year Leadership Success Club program to help Introvert professionals fast-track their career growth to Senior Management and CxO roles. Please write to [email protected] for more details.