How do i discover my passion?

Hello Cornelius,

1. Understand how positive & negative experiences can drive you

People driven by positive emotional motivation do so because of their desire to share. Something in their life, whether it be a person, place, product or event; impacted them in such a great way that they experienced the amazing benefits of it firsthand. When they find work that aligns with this passion, they are motivated by the opportunity to impact others in the same way. To them it’s not about selling a product to a customer, but about delivering a beneficial experience.

1. Determine significant experiences in your life

Discovering your passion requires getting creative in how you connect past emotional experiences with present day interests.

EXERCISE: Set aside an hour to reflect on your past experiences . Make a list of stand-outs in each of these categories: the people who have affected you; the places and environments you have experienced; major events that have taken place; achievements and failures made.

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   Activate your passion into a career

   
   


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   If you explore that field of work on a broad enough scale, you will be able to discover related opportunities. Someone who loves playing the guitar for instance, may eventually find a job as a sales rep for a record label. They are still doing something connected to their original passion, but are sharing it in a different way.

   
   


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   Keep your eye out for these opportunities as you experience challenges in your everyday life. Remember that you can innovate and be entrepreneurial by starting your own venture, by joining a new, innovative company or by being intrapreneurial within your current company. The right path will make sense for your life.

   
   


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   Whether we are sharing a positive experience or changing a negative one, it is the value that we are able to provide others that fuels our flame. We become personally invested into each person we impact because we can relate to what they are going through.

   
   

"You will have found your calling when your life story influences your work, and not only the other way around".

In: http://www.liveinthegrey.com/passion-202-identify-your-passion-turn-into-career/

All the best!

Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose.

When people learn and develop autonomously, they develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. As you mature, innovating in ways that provide answers for the problems in society will set you apart from others, Next, create and re-create and revamp. Always work at getting better. As you master your craft you are in position to provide a response to an issue or gap in your or someone else's world. That is what I call purpose or passion. Both will have you working for hours and not noticing it.

Think about the hobbies and activities you enjoy most. Start making lists of what you enjoy and don't enjoy doing. Also think about your strongest subjects at school.

Next I would advise you to take some career and personality tests. Here are some good ones:

www.123test.com: Career test, personality test, work values test and JUNG test
http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip: Onet interest profiler

This may seem like a lot of tests, but different test may yield slightly different results. Once you've taken a few of these you can compare the results and see which fields they have in common to narrow down your results. Once you narrow it down a little, begin looking into the remaining career fields which interest you. Begin volunteering in these areas to get a sense of what it would be like to actually work in these areas. Also start talking to people in these fields about how they got into that line of work, what they like and dislike about it and what the job generally involves. If you don't know anyone in that field, try asking on this site.

Good luck in whatever you choose!

For you to make a good career choice, you first have to know yourself. There is a vital knowledge between one's knowledge of self and the work, job, occupation or career one decides to take up. Your occupational decision will affect your entire life. And your choice of occupation does not only reflect on the type of person you are, but also your personal values, interests, strengths and weaknesses in verbal, quantitative and psychomotor areas of operation. There are tools for self-appraisal that will help you know more about yourself. These tools allow you to know your personality traits, abilities and aptitudes. Help you know the type of training you need and the subjects and courses you should pursue in order to attain your career goal. I have written a handbook, specifically for this type of questions, and it is simple , clear and easy to use. You can get it on Amazon, and the title is " Career Guidance: A Practical Approach for High School Students And College Freshmen" By Felicia Oforiwa Omotosho, PHD. Look out for it, it will soon be on the Amazon store. It takes you on a step by step method of self knowledge and helps you determine what type of career will suit your personal characteristics. It is clear and simple and straightforward. I hope it will be of immense use to you. Feel free to ask more questions and I will be glad to be of help.

Identify what you enjoy most. What are you excited about? What lights you up? Write these options down. Then go through each item, closing your eyes and imagining yourself doing each in the future. Which feels right?

Remember to FEEL more than you think about each item on your list.

Once you know what you want in your heart, explore how to make it into a career. You can do it!

Daniela's answer is amazing!!

I read a book called Mastery by Robert Greene.

In it he listed examples of some greats - Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci, and many other people that are great at their work.

He said that they all found their passion as children. Before he was a naturalist, Darwin would go into the forest and collect specimens and study them, without any one telling him to do so. Before Leonardo da Vinci was a great painter, he would spend hours in the woods drawing foliage in fine detail, also, without anyone telling him to do so.

In my own experience, as a child, I loved writing books and drawing. 30 years later, after taking a long and winding road to where I am now, I found that writing and drawing are what I have loved all along, even though life took me in weird places.

Greene suggests to find your passion in your childhood. You are born knowing what you want to do, and you lose it along the way. Your passion is something you would do without anyone having to tell you to do it.

Look into the mirror and don't look away till you see it.