How to Develop Passion
Think about your childhood hopes and dreams., Identify your personal values., Do a best possible self exercise., Set personal goals., Lean on mentors or leaders in your life.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Think about your childhood hopes and dreams.
If you’re struggling to identify your passion, you may want to consider what you enjoyed doing as a child.
Make a list of the activities you lived for as a kid, from playing with legos to dressing up dolls.
Consider if you would enjoy doing that activity now, but in a different context.If you were really into building with legos, for example, this could indicate your passions might lie in architecture or construction.
If you enjoyed dressing up your dolls, this could indicate your passions might be geared more toward fashion or styling.
Taking a childhood passion and translating it into a viable job or field of study could lead to a more fulfilling career and a more full life. -
Step 2: Identify your personal values.
Your personal values are your core principle beliefs or the ideas that are the most important to you.
Determining your personal values can help you determine if you are passionate about your job, your field of study, or even your relationships.
You can ask yourself some guiding questions to help identify your personal values:
Consider two individuals you respect or admire.
Why do you admire them? What characteristics do they embody that you admire or appreciate? If you could change or shift one thing in your community, what would you change and why? What world issue would you change if you could? What issues or problem get you the most charged in conversation with others? Consider a moment that was satisfying to you or made you feel good.
Identify that moment and consider why you felt so satisfied in that moment.
Look over your answers to these questions and try to identify any themes or common ideas.
These principles, beliefs, and ideas are likely some of your personal values.
You can then use your personal values to help you determine your priorities in life and how these priorities can shape your passions in your career, your schooling, and your relationships. , Your “best possible future self” is a personalized representation of your goals and the future you envision for yourself.
Doing a best possible self exercise can help you gain better insight into your goals, priorities and motivations.
It can also help you to gain some control of your trajectory in school or in a career using critical thinking and self analysis.To do the exercise, use this prompt: “Consider your life in the future.
Imagine that everything in your life has gone as well as it possibly could.
You have managed to achieve all your life goals.
You have realized your life dreams.
Now, write down what you imagine.” Write to this prompt for 20 minutes a day for three days.
On the fourth day, read over your responses.
Highlight or circle any repeating themes, ideas, goals, or aspirations.
These could be a good indication of where your passions lie and how you can pursue them. , Another way to home in on your passions is to set personal goals.
This can motivate you to pursue a certain passion that could then turn into a career option or an educational option.
Writing down your personal goals requires you to be self reflective and consider what is meaningful to you.
It also requires you prioritize and narrow down your ideas to form clear personal goals.
Once you have formed your personal goals, you should create a schedule to determine when you will need to achieve these goals.
You may have different timeframes for different personal goals, depending on how simple or complex they are.
Creating personal goals will also allow you to identify what you are already doing in your daily routine to achieve certain goals and what you skills you need to learn or develop to achieve certain goals.
This can be highly motivating and a very active way to determine your passions in life. , If you are struggling to identify your passions and goals, you may want to reach out to a mentor or leader in your life that can offer advice or guidance.
This could be a teacher, parent, community member, or even a sibling or friend.
Have a discussion with this mentor about possible career paths you are interested in and how you can access this path.Sit down with your mentor and talk about your personal values and goals and how you can translate these into a viable career or field of study.
Often, mentors that you are close with can give you some perspective on your options and encourage you to pursue goals or passions that you enjoy and may excel at. -
Step 3: Do a best possible self exercise.
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Step 4: Set personal goals.
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Step 5: Lean on mentors or leaders in your life.
Detailed Guide
If you’re struggling to identify your passion, you may want to consider what you enjoyed doing as a child.
Make a list of the activities you lived for as a kid, from playing with legos to dressing up dolls.
Consider if you would enjoy doing that activity now, but in a different context.If you were really into building with legos, for example, this could indicate your passions might lie in architecture or construction.
If you enjoyed dressing up your dolls, this could indicate your passions might be geared more toward fashion or styling.
Taking a childhood passion and translating it into a viable job or field of study could lead to a more fulfilling career and a more full life.
Your personal values are your core principle beliefs or the ideas that are the most important to you.
Determining your personal values can help you determine if you are passionate about your job, your field of study, or even your relationships.
You can ask yourself some guiding questions to help identify your personal values:
Consider two individuals you respect or admire.
Why do you admire them? What characteristics do they embody that you admire or appreciate? If you could change or shift one thing in your community, what would you change and why? What world issue would you change if you could? What issues or problem get you the most charged in conversation with others? Consider a moment that was satisfying to you or made you feel good.
Identify that moment and consider why you felt so satisfied in that moment.
Look over your answers to these questions and try to identify any themes or common ideas.
These principles, beliefs, and ideas are likely some of your personal values.
You can then use your personal values to help you determine your priorities in life and how these priorities can shape your passions in your career, your schooling, and your relationships. , Your “best possible future self” is a personalized representation of your goals and the future you envision for yourself.
Doing a best possible self exercise can help you gain better insight into your goals, priorities and motivations.
It can also help you to gain some control of your trajectory in school or in a career using critical thinking and self analysis.To do the exercise, use this prompt: “Consider your life in the future.
Imagine that everything in your life has gone as well as it possibly could.
You have managed to achieve all your life goals.
You have realized your life dreams.
Now, write down what you imagine.” Write to this prompt for 20 minutes a day for three days.
On the fourth day, read over your responses.
Highlight or circle any repeating themes, ideas, goals, or aspirations.
These could be a good indication of where your passions lie and how you can pursue them. , Another way to home in on your passions is to set personal goals.
This can motivate you to pursue a certain passion that could then turn into a career option or an educational option.
Writing down your personal goals requires you to be self reflective and consider what is meaningful to you.
It also requires you prioritize and narrow down your ideas to form clear personal goals.
Once you have formed your personal goals, you should create a schedule to determine when you will need to achieve these goals.
You may have different timeframes for different personal goals, depending on how simple or complex they are.
Creating personal goals will also allow you to identify what you are already doing in your daily routine to achieve certain goals and what you skills you need to learn or develop to achieve certain goals.
This can be highly motivating and a very active way to determine your passions in life. , If you are struggling to identify your passions and goals, you may want to reach out to a mentor or leader in your life that can offer advice or guidance.
This could be a teacher, parent, community member, or even a sibling or friend.
Have a discussion with this mentor about possible career paths you are interested in and how you can access this path.Sit down with your mentor and talk about your personal values and goals and how you can translate these into a viable career or field of study.
Often, mentors that you are close with can give you some perspective on your options and encourage you to pursue goals or passions that you enjoy and may excel at.
About the Author
Kimberly Bailey
Enthusiastic about teaching hobbies techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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