5 Tips to Help Find Your Purpose

Should you chase your passion and make it a career? 

Many people would say, 'No,' and some would say 'Yes.' Some will say following your passion is terrible advice and that you need to find a job, make money and start somewhere. To some extent, this is true; everyone needs to start somewhere, which is usually near the bottom of an Organization or starting your business from scratch, but not everyone needs to pursue a job for money and security. 

I agree and disagree with the advice of following your passion for building a career. I disagree on a minuscule level, as it depends on the individual's circumstances. Does someone have no money and will be on the streets next month if they don't have a job? Or do they have some time to be selective? 

I advise 'follow your passion,' mainly because happiness is far more likely pursuing a passion, you are more likely to be energetic in starting (meaning you do start), and for me, happiness is the ultimate goal. If you rely on recognition, money, and awards to make you happy, you may be in for a surprise; these accomplishments are short-lived and rarely lead to long-term happiness. Many times, they lead to future regrets. Life is far too short and precious to waste pursuing something you don't enjoy. 

If you need a job to make ends meet, pursue a job today, but continue working towards what you truly want. You will likely need to work harder than the trust fund kid, who had their education paid for and has the additional financial support to which you don't have access. This is ok…. I worked an average of three college jobs while playing varsity hockey. The full schedule made me resourceful and gave me the true definition of what time management and hard work meant. This helped prepare me for the Corporate world and my career, as nearly nothing in your career is handed to you; in the professional environment, you will need to earn it. 

I was broke when I graduated college and accepted the second job offered to me. This worked out well, as it has led to where I am today and happy, but this was only sometimes the case. Careers are journeys; you will have both good and bad days; for me, I had good and bad years, and this made me make a change…. After a bad year, I told myself that I will never be in this position again, and I haven't been. I made the necessary changes to secure my happiness and future. This required me to move cities and many other personal changes, which I will not discuss in this blog, as it is irrelevant. I learned from my journey that making a change, whether it requires you to either make a career move, a physical move to another country or personal changes to eliminate bad habits, takes tremendous discipline and hard work. Unlearning something you have done for years can be difficult, but it may be necessary.

Since I did not pursue a passion at the start of my career and only started doing it in year 11, I tend to be someone who advises young aspiring professionals to pursue their passion; this is tip number one to finding your purpose.

1. Follow your passion - With practice and hard work, you will gain experience. You can improve exponentially by working harder and practicing more than 40 hours a week. You are more likely to work harder at something if you are passionate about it. You will need to invest time if you want to improve quicker. Never be naïve and think you don't need to work hard for a dream. To be successful, you will need to work hard and put in the time. You are more likely to put in the time and enjoy the time spent by choosing something you enjoy doing.

2. Ask the difficult questions and answer truthfully – If you lie to yourself, you will be trekking your path but potentially in someone else's shoes. Happiness resides in being self-aware; this includes understanding your strengths and weaknesses and your ability to be truthful in answering the below questions:

• What do you enjoy? 
• What do you want to learn? 
• What do you want to achieve in your career? 
• Can you see yourself doing a hobby as a career? 
• Do you have an evident and enjoyable passion? 
• Are you willing to work harder than anyone else? 
• Are you ready to put the time in (weekends, evenings)? 

To find your purpose, you must never lie to yourself. Answering these questions truthfully can assist in choosing a career path. 

3. Make a list of the actions you like doing – Sometimes, your activities and hobbies tell a more remarkable story. Do you enjoy helping others, playing sports, teaching, analyzing, and questioning? If you love playing and watching football and teaching, maybe being a football coach or a gym teacher is part of your future career. If you like solving complex problems through analytics and data, then there could be many potential jobs you would enjoy pursuing. Your actions and what you spend your free time doing can be where you start to build a career. Make a list of what you enjoy and what traits you enjoy specifically about a particular activity, and see if you can link it to a career. 

4. Pick your top three favourite hobbies and see if there is a business there - Don't stop yourself from pursuing a crazy hobby because you think there is no future. Social media has created a unique environment of opportunity. Some people make a living off of posting puppy pictures on Instagram. Seriously, there are; I follow several of their accounts. I love dogs, and after a long day at work, I enjoy looking at cute puppy photos and videos. Some of these accounts have tens of thousands of followers and advertise for pet companies… They made their unique little hobby into a viable business and career. 

5. Practice your talent and build skills – Talent and passion tend to go hand and hand. If you love to write, then write! Even if it's a bad book with a crappy idea, if it's the only one you have, write it. Ideas build off of ideas; where you start is not where you end up. A small snowball at the top of a hill will be much bigger once it reaches the bottom. It would help if you started somewhere; once you start, you will pick up momentum. Chasing the wrong goal in the right area of interest can help you. You most likely will not get it correct right out of the gate; you will make mistakes and need to re-adjust to ensure you get to where you're going, but if you love the journey, you will be able to push through the obstacles. 

If you're feeling lost, I hope these tips can trigger some ideas of where you should put your energy and time. It is expected to second guess yourself; many times, these second guesses keep us honest and alert; do not suppress them, engage them and never ignore them. If you're not enjoying your current career journey, you may not be chasing the correct career and goals; there is never a better time than the present to re-adjust and change direction. 

You're in the driver's seat of your career, and you control the steering wheel; pick your direction.

#worklessons101