Navigating the Journey: Finding Your Passion When You’re Lost
December 17, 2023 | Supreeya S
Ever feel like you’re adrift, not sure where to direct your energy in life? You’re not alone. It’s a feeling shared by many.
You’re eager to invest all your energy, time, and effort towards something meaningful but that “something” remains undefined. The longer you wait for the realization of what your meaningful “something” is, the more behind you feel. And you settle for not ever figuring out what “it” is.
Angela Duckworth, in her book “Grit,” addresses finding your passion through a 3-step process.
Grit helps you to lead a fulfilling life. But it’s important to understand that grit is more than just persistence. It’s also about passion. Without a clear direction, relentless effort won’t give you the desired outcome. Duckworth’s process – discovery, development, and deepening – is a lifelong roadmap to help you find your passion.
“Passion for your work is a little bit discovery, followed by a lot of development and then a lifetime of deepening” – Angela Duckworth
Part 1: Discovery - Finding Your Interests
To start the journey of finding your passion, you have to give yourself time and room to play. You have to try new things, to discover what excites you.
Although you’re focusing on self-discovery, that’s not to say that the whole process is internal. It’s a combination of internal and external exploration. You have to actively engage with different situations, not sit and imagine if you would like it.
Passions emerge from contemplation and action.
It’s a cycle. First, you think about what you would potentially enjoy doing. Then you make a choice to try it out. You actively experience it a couple of times. And finally, you decide with all the newfound information, whether it’s worth continuing.
Analyze it beyond thinking that it’s “not it.” Think about the elements of the thing you tried out. What component did you enjoy? What about it made you sure it wasn’t for you? And with this new data, you can restart the cycle with a clearer understanding of what you might enjoy.
Watch out not to be too hard on these new opportunities. If you don’t hate it, but don’t absolutely love it – keep trying it out. Approach your activities with curiosity. What makes you hesitant to let it go? Or what’s pushing you to not continue? Contrary to popular belief, interests must be cultivated. Nothing will feel like love at first sight.
In this phase, you have to think and act. The outcome from this phase is a better understanding of yourself. Any progress towards understanding yourself or what you like is a triumph.
Part 2: Development - Cultivating Your Passions
At this point you have an interest that you decide is worth continuing to pursue. Your mission now shifts to nurturing your interests. Passion grows from putting in time to develop skills. Even though it’s a “passion,” it doesn’t mean it will always feel easy to put in time towards it.
You have to turn the initial sparks of interest into developed and refined skills by putting in the time and effort. Skill enhancement and getting better at what you like will make you enjoy it even more. The more you work on it the more proficient you become.
Below are five components that sets you up for success in building new skills. Duckworth recommends the cycle of “deliberate practice,” to ensure that you are improving. The first four components are from Duckworth’s guide on deliberate practice. The last component is for increasing your emotional connection with your newfound passion.
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Clearly Defined Stretch Goal
Be honest with yourself. Do you have the basics in place on the skills for your interest? Don’t feel bad that you have to start with the basics, the foundations. If you get your foundations strong, it will help you to speed up later on.
Although you might be working on the fundamentals, the goal should still challenge or stretch you. Pick a goal that makes you a little uncomfortable. Challenge yourself. But do that from a lens of honesty on where you are starting from.
Keep in mind that your goal should be specific. You should be focusing on only one aspect of your performance – one thing you want to work on.
Concentration & Effort
Incorporating learning into your daily routine will help you to stay consistent. Small, regular efforts compound over time. Build a daily routine that incorporates building the skills for your newfound interest.
Deliberate practice will oftentimes not feel easy, but that’s when you know it’s working. You’ll have to actively work towards learning the unfamiliar.
It’s about putting in 100% focus and energy towards learning the skill. And working towards the goal you made for yourself.
Feedback
You need to find out whether the way you’ve chosen to work is effective. You do that by getting feedback. If your methods are not paying off, you need to correct your approach.
Focus on what you’re not getting right. What skills aren’t sticking? What are you still confused by?
Reflection
Reflect on your journey. Write down your daily or weekly wins. What are the new things you learnt? What did you find out about the things that excite you? What are some potential passion projects that you want to take on?
In your reflections journal, note your progress. Encourage yourself. Recognize your achievements. Note what further interests you.
If you don’t feel good, take a moment. But don’t quit. Read your previous journal entries and see how far you’ve come.
People
Finding people with similar interests will help you stay committed.
Find a way to join a circle with people who are passionate about your newfound interest. Talking about your interests means you get to think about your interests more often. You will also widen your understanding through learning from others’ perspectives and journeys. The people around you will provide ongoing stimulation that makes you like it more.
Look for mentors or people that are further along in the field that you’re interested in. They will be able to suggest learning methods or skills to pick up first so that you don’t have to go at it by yourself. Get inspired by the projects they are working on and the things they have tried out in the past.
The road to mastery involves deliberate practice and engagement with your newfound passion. Sustained passion is what brings your life more fulfillment so keep that in mind when you are facing challenges.
Part 3: Deepening - Committing to Your Passion
This part is a lifelong process. To deepen your passion, you must also deepen your commitment.
At this point of your journey, you can start thinking about your goals and values within your chosen passion. What do you want to do with your passion? How do you want to share that with the world?
Setting goals, both short-term and long-term, will help you to stay committed to your passion. It will keep you challenged, motivated, and focused.
According to Cal Newport’s book, “Deep Work,” mastering new skills are not enough. You need to be able to turn that potential (all your new knowledge) into tangible results. You need to produce using your newly developed skills. Through your project, you will learn even more skills relating to your interest.
Creating things will bring you feedback and satisfaction. It will create more learning opportunities and open doors for you to more things that you enjoy. Remember, there’s always new things to learn and new perspective to look at things. You are entering your journey of lifelong learning in the field of your choosing.
Finding and investing in your passion will pay off. It will bring more satisfaction, enjoyment, and purpose to your life.