Finding your passion is an essential ingredient of winning armies, companies, and individuals. It is not a soft nice-to-have, but a strategic requisite.
How can you rapidly connect to your passion and purpose?
Want It
Carl von Clausewitz talked about the strategic power of passion and Sun Tzu underscored its importance as well. Soldiers who care about their cause fight harder. Their passion invites support. They turn the world on their side.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the psychologist who coined the term “flow,” describes it as “the feeling of total engagement in the activity so that you don’t notice anything outside of what you’re doing.” Finding flow reduces stress, increases happiness, and improves mental health.
Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, argues that entrepreneurs out of touch with their passion do things for “prestige.”
“Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy,” said Graham. “It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like.” If you pursue what others are passionate about, rather than what you love, you will always be second to market.
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, puts it best: “If you’re into kite-surfing and you want to become an entrepreneur, do it with kite-surfing. Look, if you can indulge in your passion, life will be far more interesting than if you’re just working. You’ll work harder at it, and you’ll know more about it. But first you must go out and educate yourself on whatever it is that you’ve decided to do–know more about kite-surfing than anyone else. That’s where the work comes in. But if you’re doing things you’re passionate about, that will come naturally.”
Find It
So, hopefully you want it now (I do!). How do you find it?I found 14 short, practical exercises you can use to connect to your passion. I also created a workbook to walk you through the exercises. Click here to download a copy, or email outthink@kaihan.net.
1. Build your portfolio
Randy Komisar, technology legend and now a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, thinks looking for your one-and-only passion will paralyze you. Instead, think of a portfolio of passions and use those passions to guide you. You don’t have to choose just one!2. Write three lists
Sit down and write out three lists: everything you are good at, everything you enjoy doing, everything that gives you a sense of purpose. Then look for the common themes in these lists. (Source)3. Recall flow states
Sit me down in a library with a stack of old books and mission to produce a blog or paper, and time stops. I blink and three hours have passed. Flow states occur when you mind is so engaged in your activity that it lacks the mental capacity to notice other things. It means you are loving what you are doing. Sit down and think back from childhood to today and put together a catalogue of activities that put you into a state of flow.4. Explore the “four aims of life”
A Buddhist framework suggest there are four aims to life: (1) physical health and pleasure, (2) wealth and things and family, (3) becoming a perfect person, and (4) finding your greater purpose. Think of and write down three potential passions for each of these aims.5. Ask yourself
Deepak Chopra suggests you meditate for a few minutes to reach a state of deep relaxation, then, “Ask what your heart deeply desires and yearns to express and listen quietly for an honest response … don’t fixate on one response.”6. Create space
President Obama dedicates 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. each night, while Michelle and his girls sleep, to work, read, and write. I find my think time while cooking a midnight meal in a quiet kitchen, when everyone else is in bed, or on long flights. When is your think time?7. Write until you cry
Steve Pavlina suggests you write down the answer to “What is my true purpose in life?” Then, write another answer. Keep writing until you cry. “This is your purpose.”
