Follow your passion is a theme we often hear in those inspiring commencement ceremony speeches.  We don’t just wake up one day saying “ I’m going to be passionate about  art…or cars….or fashion today”. Passion is something that evolves. It takes interest to ignite passion.

Author Angel Duckworth says “ Nobody is interested in everything, and everyone is interested in something.  So matching your job to what captures your attention and imagination is a good idea. “It may not guarantee happiness and success, but it sure helps with the odds”.  Lots of us, have to discover what we are passionate about first.

How Engaged Are We at Work?

In a 2014 Gallup poll, more than two-thirds of adults said they were not engaged at work, a good portion of them were “actively disengaged”. In a survey of 141 nations, Gallup found that every country but Canada had even higher numbers of “not engaged” and “actively disengaged” workers than the United States.  Worldwide, only 13% of adults call themselves “engaged” at work.

Where does Passion Come From?

It seems from the statistics that lots of us are, ”Working for the Weekend” just as the song by Loverboy says.  So let’s explore where passion comes from.  People who love what they do probably started from the same place of not knowing. They had to figure it out too.  Just like we all do.  

Passion for your work is a little bit of discovery, followed by a lot of development, and then a lifetime of depending. - Angela Duckworth

The Journey to Find Passion

Begin with Likes and Dislikes

How many of us answered the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. We were probably way too young to have an answer.  According to research it takes until about 7th grade before we begin to figure out what we like and dislike.  Discovering our passion is a process that isn’t necessarily a straight pathway.

Interactions with People Can Fuel Our Passion

There is no way to really predict what we will be interested in.  It takes trial, error and time.  And, we have to find our own way. If parents, coaches, teachers push too hard that could end it right there. It’s hard to predict which interests will stay and which will go. That feeling of boredom can creep in, it’s just below the surface when our interest wavers.  When hours seem like minutes we know passion has gripped us, for a while anyway.

Interests Grow Over Time

Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon) says “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves”. “Without experimenting, you can’t figure out which interests will stick and which won’t”.  Some of our interests take years to cultivate.

Encouragement Along the Way Keeps on Track

Jeff Bezos’ mother Jackie is quoted saying “I felt it was my responsibility to let them (my children) do deep dives into what they enjoyed”.  The process to discover a passion takes time, education and experimentation. It also takes the support of people around us. Jeff Bezos ultimately went on to build an internet bookstore named after the longest river in the world: amazon.com. He also registered the URL www.relentless.com. See where that takes you!

Too Much Encouragement Can Stop Us in Our Tracks 

Before any of us even know we have a passion we need to take time to have fun and play.  It seems like passion grows on passion's terms and we have to leave it, go back to it , perhaps tweak it many times along the way. Angela Duckworth says “Before hard work comes play”. At the early stage we’re not thinking about getting better or thinking this could be a long-term gig, we’re just having fun. Take the fun out and that could be the end of that interest. Interests are cultivated and refined before they become passion.

The Internet is Our Oyster

The internet can seem like this big scary unknown place sometimes. It helps us to understand it by simplifying. We are all surrounded by so many choices everyday, we are bombarded with information from every perspective.  Much like years ago, in our middle school years, we need to sift and sort our likes and dislikes.  We have the entire internet literally at our finger tips. Deciding what sort of online business we were going to dedicate our energy to was an important decision.  Being passionate and engaged with what we are part of puts us in that select 13% of “engaged” people world wide.  Choosing the right online business was a way for us to break though the barriers that traditional business dictates.

Like starting anything new, there is a learning curve. Passion helped us  break through barriers when the going was tough.  We look back in awe of what we have learned along this journey enjoy helping others to do the same.

We chose education for the digital era because we believe the digital world is the future. Six Figure Mentors provided the foundation we needed to be successful in the digital economy. Check out the video series to learn if this is the right choice for you too.

You might just wake your fun up!