Ways to Identify Your Passions

Passion is the fuel that can power you toward the realization of your dreams. To live a truly satisfying and purposeful life you need to know what your passions are so you can fill your day with them. Have you found your passions in life or are you still searching? Many people struggle to connect with their deepest core passions.

It has become increasingly common for people to feel  like they can’t really identify their passions or that they don’t know how to incorporate their passions into their daily life. It is also possible that you might already be living a life of passion without even recognizing it.

Could that be true for you?

If you want to discover your passions, the following questions will get you started. Why not write each question on its own sheet of paper so you have plenty of room for brainstorming.

Many people wonder, “How do I know what my passions are?” Use the seven questions below to put your passion to the test.

1) Does it make you feel good about yourself? There are certain activities that just make us feel good about ourselves – there’s a reason for that. Something about that activity resonates with one of our core passions. Exploring the precise feelings attached to these pursuits can help us identify those core passions. Once we discover what those passions are we can explore other activities that produce the same sense of satisfaction.

2) Would you do it for free? In a world that revolves around the almighty dollar it can be easy to ignore pursuits that don’t produce a monetary return. In an effort to identify our core passions we need to remove “earning potential” from the formula. There are many meaningful things in life that transcend financial consideration. We have all heard the saying “the best things in life are free.” More often than not, our passions live in the free zone. In fact, they are more likely to be attached to giving rather than receiving.

3) Do you lose all track of time when you do it? Have you ever said: “When I’m doing that I lose all track of time”? That feeling is usually a pretty strong indicator that you are passionate about whatever it was you were doing. We tend to be very time conscious when we would rather be doing something else. If you keep looking at your watch you are probably anxious to move on to some other activity. But when you completely forget about time it’s often because you are passionately engrossed in your current endeavor.

4) Do you talk about it to anyone who will listen? “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). Isn’t that true? Don’t we all tend to talk about the things we are passionate about (complainers excluded)? Sometimes we are not aware of how often we bring up certain subjects, but the people we talk to are. Why not ask those closest to you if there is a particular subject that you bring up a lot. You may be very surprised at what you discover.

5) Are you delighted to teach it to others? Do friends and family come to you when they want to learn some specific thing, something that you are good at? When that happens, do you take pleasure in sharing your knowledge with them? If so, then you probably have a genuine passion in that topic. Why not explore this a little further and see how it makes you feel?

6) Would you like to spend more of your time doing it? When you have a free day coming up that doesn’t involve catching up on necessary things, what do you like to do with that time? Even if your life is really busy and you need to do other things, what do you wish you could be doing? If you look forward to those rare opportunities then that activity is obviously anchored in some degree of passion.

7) Does it make you want to get out of bed in the morning? Is there something that you like to do so much that you can’t wait to get out of bed on the days you’ve set aside for that activity? Do you think about it the night before with eager anticipation? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and check to see what time it is because you are excited? If so, then this is definitely something that you are passionate about.

Your passions are waiting!

Answering these seven questions will allow you to correctly identify what really excites you in life. If you find something that meets all seven of these criteria, that is definitely something you are extremely passionate about on a core level. If even one of these points applies then you should look a little deeper at the degree of passion involved.

We all have passions. Sometimes we just need to clear our minds, ask some simple questions and then give ourselves a little creative space.  Why not start identifying your personal passions right now?  All you need to do is apply these seven questions and watch as the discovery process unfolds.