A Step by Step Method to Find Your Passion

"I want to do something I am passionate about."

"What do I want to do when I grow up?"

"How do I know what I am passionate about?"

Do any of those statements sound familiar?

Passion is an interesting thing. It is something we look for and seek out, but also something that causes stress when seemingly absent.

I notice people eagerly wanting to “find” their passion, but even the most competent professionals often do not know where to start. We care deeply about certain causes or missions, but they have nothing to do with our current job. We hope and dream of stumbling upon our passion one blissful day and many dismiss the idea of a reliable method to find a true passion. And what is even more disheartening, some may do the groundwork to find a potential passion, but crumble at the first sign of difficulty or adversity.

In my line of work, these struggles are understandable and common, but no less confusing and troubling to the individual. Adding to this internal struggle is the world of immediate gratification we find ourselves in, screaming at us to find our passion now. So what are we to do?

Thoughts on Passion

I believe that a person’s passion doesn’t stray too far away from what he or she loved doing as a child. Maybe a certain childhood love or skill has even be consistently recognized by others, just in different ways. This can take on different forms: building legos can mold a future architect, and opening a corner lemonade stand can build a budding entrepreneur. If you look closely, there are elements in many activities as a child that remain present in more “grown-up” endeavors.

In addition, what you are passionate about may change over time. As Confucius says, “We are constantly evolving and reacting to circumstances. When you think about what you want to do, don’t think about it in terms of making decisions but in terms of setting trajectories in motion.”

I struggled for many years to define what really interested me. I went from thinking post university that I was passionate about finance, and now find myself in the tech world doing something wildly different. I have been fortunate at LinkedIn to be supported by several mentors and peers, who have been key facilitators in enabling me to find and operationalize my current passion(*). But I also recognized that I had to take ownership over finding my own passion so that I could provide a north star for these key enablers to help me along the way. Specifically, I needed to create a methodical way to identify what brings me joy and how I could sustain a living doing that.

One very practical way to go about doing so is to pick up one of the many wonderful books centered around finding a passion. I love The Element, by Sir Ken Robinson. Robinson beautifully illustrates the intersection of natural aptitude with personal passion in a final state of “work as play.” He also speaks extensively to the nonlinear nature of life (as I mention here). He argues that linear thinking and a rigid mindset are significant limiting factors in the manifestation of our passion.

From personal experience, and through my coaching work with others, I believe there is a practical and methodical way to go about finding your current passion.

Identifying your passion becomes possible when exploring the overlap between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation describes performing an action because you enjoy the action itself. Extrinsic motivation refers to behaviors that are driven by external rewards. (Check out Dan Pink’s Ted talk here - a wonderful explanation of what motivates us). For example - I am intrinsically motivated to sing, but no one in their right mind would validate me for that! So while I consider myself a star shower singer, I would not find a sustainable passion by singing publicly. Equally, I have been externally validated often by my ability to perform data analysis. But this clashes with my lack of intrinsic motivation to do such a task consistently. In either case, an enduring passion is not only impossible, but also misguided.

Methodology for Finding Passion

There are different types of people who are looking for a passion:

1. The minority: People who have an idea of what they want to do, but do not know how to get there
2. The majority: People who have no idea of what they want to do, and are therefore unsure of what steps to take now to start the journey towards a passion

If you are in the majority, here are some proposed steps:

#1: Identify the common skills of the archetype or role you’re passionate about

• Look on LinkedIn to gather an understanding of common skills of some of the people doing the things you want to do. Keep an eye out for people who have had experience similar to yours.
• Reach out to well known figures or success stories in the certain space. Sure, some may not respond, but you will be surprised at the result a well-worded and genuine note can achieve. Equally, as expressed in my post on the shared human experience, these well known people are human too - they want to help others and continue to improve and grow. And don’t forget, most people enjoy chatting about themselves from time to time! To illustrate, my first job out of college was at Merrill Lynch. In my first week, I emailed a senior executive and mentioned I had just started and wanted to understand his path and story. I recommended a coffee break one afternoon. He agreed, and after two years at the company we were meeting consistently every quarter to discuss my career development.

#2: Work towards a crystal clear understanding of your current skills. Allow some brutal honesty to creep in, it can be scary but it will allow you to start objectively and decisively.

#3: Understand your skill gap gap (where you are today vs. where you want to be)

#4: Start to bridge that gap

• Prioritize your shortcomings - which ones are most important to improve? Start there.
• Execute, execute, execute. In my line of work, I often hear people use their current job as a barrier in making changes. There’s no time, no extra resources. I can understand this difficulty. But if you really want it, there are ways. Some possible ideas:

1. As Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha say in The Startup of You, let your manager know and take on a stretch project
2. Take a class on Lynda that can help fill the gap
3. Volunteer for a position that requires certain skill you currently lack. For example, if you would like to learn how to manage a budget, join your HOA board, or volunteer to be a treasurer of an organization.

In regards to the second group described above, I have been there (and continue to be as I, too, learn more about myself), and more importantly I understand the confusion related to not knowing your future passion, or which direction to go.

In an eerie turn of events, you may realize you are uncertain about your future profession or mission, yet you also know your current path will not help you get there. In this case, since you may not have a clear beginning or end point, why not start today? Here are some thoughts on what you can do to take action:

#1: Understand what you intrinsically enjoy doing. Some ways to do so are as follows:

• Log all the articles you read
• Reflect on past experiences or jobs

1. Write out what projects or aspects of projects you enjoyed, and what made them so enjoyable
2. Jot down the people you were with during the more enjoyable projects. What did you enjoy about them? And equally, what did you not enjoy about teams that were unsuccessful or unfulfilling?

• Ask yourself the following at the end of each day: what activities gave me energy, and what activities depleted my energy? What activities have you done today that felt easy or natural to you?
• After completing the above activities, write down the themes of each. What was the foundational piece of the tasks you most enjoyed?

#2: Understand your extrinsic motivations. Are you praised or validated for certain skills or tasks? Positive feedback will find its way to you...what was it for?

• Think back to your most recent complements. What did they highlight?

1. Look at your performance reviews and find themes of strengths
2. Ask friends, colleagues and family members about your strongest traits and abilities

#3: Now, look for an intersection, or overlap between your intrinsic and extrinsic motivators

#4: Without thinking of a specific job quite yet, answer this: “How you would implement and enjoy using those skills that are both intrinsic and extrinsic?”

• Write down or draw the outcome
• Can you find anyone on LinkedIn that fits this mold?

1. If so, ask those people about their jobs. Validate whether your assumption of their day to day responsibilities and leveraged skills is correct

• A quick note about expectation management - you will not likely change the course of your life, or career overnight. However, you can start to move the needle by identifying activities or skills that you currently leverage that make you happy.

Passion ASAP

The steps above are not rocket science. But we often never complete or even start the process. Just as we understand exercise and cardio to be good for us, we often skip out, or make an excuse not to do it. I believe in an approach I have worked on called ASAP that can be helpful when working through such blocks on the way to a true passion:

A + S + A + P ==> Passion

The breakdown of my equation can be found below:

Attitude: Finding your passion is neither easy, nor done overnight. The old adage, “Enjoy the journey,” holds extremely true in this case. There will be joyous moments, and there will be disheartening moments, but if you can focus simply on each sequential step and maintain a beginner’s mind, you will soon get there.  

Self-Awareness: Finding a passion requires a tremendous understanding of one’s self. As Carl Jung said, “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.” Additionally, because we are constantly evolving and growing, it is important to continually check in - not with a mentor or peer, but with yourself. To do so, think of your journey as an experiment, equipped with a lab full of experiments, trials, errors, and triumphs. What do you discover?

Action: You can do all the thinking you want. But thinking doesn’t read that next book, or reach out to that manager who you hold in the highest regard. You have to take action based on what you have learned, both about your surroundings and yourself.

Perseverance: You will hit roadblocks. You may experience moments where hope is dwindling and no clear path forward exists. You may not be selected for a special stretch project you applied for. These bumps will happen. However, if you keep working, pushing, and learning, you will break through to get one step closer to your true dream and goal.

To conclude, I believe Passion is a function of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In my years as a coach, every passionate and driven person I have met has been motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically, both from the inside and the outside. If your dream is to do something you are genuinely passionate about, and you’re willing to approach getting there with the right level of attitude, self-awareness, action, and perseverance, you are already giving yourself the best possibility to attain that dream.

*My sincerest appreciation goes to Amy Borsetti, Fred Kofman, Brian Frank, Aaron Naldoza, Julien Boubel, Ryan Longfield and Ousman Jobe for being enablers in my journey to identify and operationalize my passion.

**Big thanks to Max Hogan for his generous time and help!