Forget “discovering” what you love. Develop it.

“I want to do something I’m passionate about but I don’t know what that is. Also, I hate my current job.”

Sound familiar?

I work with a lot of clients who have this question or one like it; they desire passion in their careers (and other aspects of their lives) but don’t know what that passion is or how to go about “pursuing” it.

But is the “pursuit of passion” really the right thing to do?

I recently read a study published by Stanford University that concluded passions and interests should be developed, not found. In other words, saying “discover your passion” can be harmful because it’s passive and indicates that people have dormant interests that simply need to be discovered.

Rather, the study suggests we should encourage people (including our kids!) to actively develop their interests, which can then turn into passions.

So how do we do that (especially for the sake of this article, in our careers)?

First, it’s important to know if Passion is even an important value for you when it comes to your career. You can do this by better understanding your career values (here’s an article on how to do that). For some folks, it is and for others it’s not.

[Examples of career values: Learning, Compensation, Mission, People, etc. Passion may not be on that list for people who view their job as a monetary means to help them pursue other things in their lives. For others, Passion may be their #1 career value.]

If passion is important for you in your career, then here’s a process you can follow:

1. Literally list out your interests. Challenge yourself and try to come up with at least 100. This will require you to go outside of your usual. [Note: your interests don’t and shouldn’t be limited to “career.” List everything! Your list could include “mentoring” and “watching puppy videos on youtube.”]
2. Get your friends, family, and loved ones involved in helping you create your list. Oftentimes it’s the people who love us that know us better than we know ourselves.
3. Once you have your list, identify common themes or recurring interests that you and your loved ones suggested. For example, do people keep saying you’re their go-to person for advice on disciplining their pets (i.e. cute puppies)?
4. Choose 1 interest or theme of interest and create an action plan on how you can develop it. For example, starting a blog that requires you to research more cute puppies or techniques for disciplining cute puppies.
5. Depending on your action plan, repeat with another interest 1 week/1 month/1 quarter out to consciously better understand what is important to you.

The example above might reveal that this person could combine their love of mentoring and animals to become a dog trainer. Or to create an online community for cute puppy lovers. Or to mentor new puppy parents on how to discipline their pets. Or…who knows! The point is these passions usually don’t just show up on someone’s doorstep, they’re actively pursued and honed.

Like all things in life, this isn’t a fool-proof plan to have you suddenly do what you’re passionate about. BUT it’s a wonderful starting point to actively and consciously develop your passions. Try it out and let me know how it goes!

If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about my coaching services, feel free to reach out and schedule a chemistry call with me here.

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