Do What You Love! How To Identify And Pursue Your Passion

As Confucius said, “choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” It’s great advice, but it’s not always that simple—it can be difficult to figure out what you love and how to turn it into a viable business or job.

Here’s a step-by-step plan to identify your passion—and ways to help you turn them into a career.

1. Remember What You Loved As A Child

Often, our truest passion emerge during our childhood, only to be limited by real-life pressures.  Think about what you loved long before you had to worry about your career. Writing? Science experiments? Taking care of people? Getting back in touch with those instincts is an important step in identifying your passion.

2. Eliminate Money From The Equation

If money were no object, what would you do? Would you travel? Spend all of your time with your children? Would you start a charitable organisation to help abused women? Of course, money can’t be ignored, but don’t let financial pressures dictate your choices. Your career should ultimately lead to financial security, but if financial security is the defining motivator, it’s unlikely you’ll end up doing what you love.

3. Ask Your Friends For Feedback

Sometimes you’re just not the best judge of what makes you happy. Ask the people who know you intimately when you seem the happiest and what you do the most enthusiastically. Their answers may surprise you.

4. Browse www.CareerAdvisor.Asia 

Find some quiet time and see which courses naturally interest you. What would you study if you could do it all over? What courses do you think you could teach? Which subjects scare you to death, and which ones do you find boring? Revisiting these possibilities will point you in the direction of the right subjects and topics that you love.

5. Identify Your Role Model or Professional Hero

Of everyone you know, either personally or in your extended frame of reference (from your dermatologist to Oprah!), whose career would you most want to emulate? Reach out to her to learn more about how she got to where she is, or, if that’s not possible, read everything you can about her career and life.

6. Figure Out What You Enjoy That You Also Do Well

After you’ve done these exercises, think about what you’ve learned. Focus on the things that you both enjoy and do well—whether you have a way with animals, make a killer lemon tart or crazy about origami—don’t forget to write them down. Then, narrow down the list to your top three or four interests. Review the list often and use it as a starting point when you’re plotting your career move.