If you haven’t read my last article about why I chose to become a personal development blogger, then read it now. It will help you understand this post better.
Before we begin, you’re going to need a piece of paper, a writing utensil, and five or 10 minutes of free time. Relax – this isn’t an exam. But it’s important that you take the time to actually do the exercise. Especially if you don’t already know what you want to do.
On Hot Chicks and Guys in Suits
They are two distinctly separate groups that many people find themselves in. One group follows their passions, the other group follows their wallet. I like to personify these two archetypes as the classic business guy and the hot art chick.
Classic business guy is, well, a classic business guy. He has a perfect family, lives in a nice upper-middle class suburban neighborhood, drives a white SUV, and is kind of a dick. Of course, he has a great home life, loving children, and has the skillz to pay the bills. The catch? He’s clinically depressed between the hours of 9am and 5pm.
On the other hand, hot art chick is beautiful, fulfilled, passionate about life, and utterly broke. She definitely isn’t making the big bucks, but hey – she’s a free spirit. She’s doing exactly what she wants on her own terms and she loves it. Except when the ramen supply runs out in her studio apartment. But everything else is pretty good.
What do you see when you imagine these two people? They’re both doing certain things right. After all, classic business guy has enough money to pay the bills and then some, whereas hot art chick is doing what she loves. But they’re clearly missing a piece of the puzzle as well. To use the terms in this article, business guy has mastered “skill” and our hot chick has mastered “passion”.
This article is going to show you how to do both.
Find Your Skills and Passions
Get your paper and pencil ready, because we’re putting them to use now. I want you to draw a line vertically down the middle of your paper. On the left, you’re going to write the header “Skills” and on the right you’ll write (right right right) “Passions”.
You’re going to identify different hobbies and abilities you have that correlate to each area. Skills will cover things that you’re good at or have knowledge in, but aren’t necessarily passionate about. This might include computer programming, typing, or breakdancing. The other side will include anything you’re passionate about. General or abstract things like art, movies, or philosophy will be found here.
If you find something that you have skill for and are passionate about, then you can write it twice. Usually you’ll find that you’ll have a slightly different description for the skill portion and the passions portion. For example, while art might be your passion, painting or drawing would be your skill. The same goes for metaphysical knowledge or even “philosophizing” for the passion for philosophy.
Some sample skills I have:
- guitar playing
- typing
- Internet marketing (follow me on Twitter!)
- workout knowledge
- writing
Some sample passions:
- women (haha)
- helping others
- fitness
- music
Chances are, your list is going to be much longer than what I put here. Be sure to include everything, and be extremely honest with yourself. If you’re a big macho guy, yet you secretly hold a deep passion for puppies, then write it down. It doesn’t pay to lie to yourself.
Brainstorm for Various Fulfilling Crossroads
Now you’re going to be creative. Think of as many ways as possible for your various skills and passions to intersect in the form of job and lifestyle opportunities. Write these down too. Be sure not to limit yourself. You’d be surprised at what kind of ridiculous things you can make money from.
For example, if you look at my list above, I could combine guitar playing and music to start my own band. I could add helping others into the mix and become a guitar teacher.
What about other possibilities? I could combine my women and helping others passions with my typing, Internet marketing, and writing abilities to create a website designed to help men become better with women. But wait – I don’t have talking to women as one of my skills here. What then?
Don’t Be Afraid to Stretch It
As you look through your list, you’ll probably come up with some ideas that almost match your skills and passions, but not quite. Make a separate section for these. In parentheses after those ideas add what skill you would need to learn, or what you would need to become passionate about. If the results make sense to you, then keep it. If not, then mark it out.
So if I had all the above skills, but puked out of nervousness every time I even thought of talking to a woman, I would add girl skills in parentheses by my online dating website idea. Then I would decide if it was reasonable and desirable to me to become a Don Juan-style ladykiller. It’s important to be completely authentic when doing this. If you don’t, you’ll end up with ideas that you either can’t do, or aren’t interested in.
Take the time to really create this list to the best of your ability. By the time you’re done you could have anywhere from 5 to 20 ideas that you’re both skilled in and passionate about. Now you’re probably wondering, “How can I take this list and apply it while generating money?”
Stay tuned because in part two (edit: clicky) I’m going to show you how to monetize your idea and finally be able to make money from doing what you love.
Also, don’t forget to connect with me so you can keep updated with all my super awesome content. Bonus points if you click the StumbleUpon button below.
I’ve done several variations of this exercise many times and every time I’m left with a few ideas, but nothing that jumps out at me. I don’t know what my problem is, maybe I’m letting some limiting beliefs get in the way or maybe I’m not being honest enough with myself.
I’ll give this one a try right now and see what I come up with. Nice post!
David recently posted..Is Anything More Christian Than Universal Health Care?
Hmm, have you tried meditating and really getting in touch with your core self before you do the exercise?
I find that throughout the day I’m operating on a sort of “normal” level for me, but it’s not really me. If I tried to do that exercise in that state, I might find some interesting things, but nothing that really resonated with me. To find out what I REALLY want to do, I’d have to get in touch with who I really am, which can sometimes take a little internal housecleaning, especially if I’ve got a lot going on at that time.
This reminds me of Steve Pavlina’s article about finding your life purpose and 20 minutes. You’ve probably seen it, but here it is.
Yea, I should probably meditate before doing these kinds of things. I have meditated before and then gone into the Pavlina exercise that you linked. I came up with some good stuff, but nothing concrete that jumped out at me. Just really abstract stuff that kinda left me saying, “Ok, what do I do now?”.
David recently posted..Is Anything More Christian Than Universal Health Care?
Allright, let me read your e-mail holmes.
Will do, took a stab at the exercise today, going to do again later tonight and will email you.
David recently posted..Is Anything More Christian Than Universal Health Care?
Another exercise we’ve talked about before is sentence stems. I’ve learned a ton doing this. For example, start with the stem “I feel good when I…” and think of 5-10 endings. Make handful of these stems then fill them out.
As you fill them out, you’ll think of more good stems. Write them out and complete them, too.
Louis Savalli recently posted..The Habit of Being Positive
Hmm. That’s a great idea Louis, I’ll have to try that one
I suppose it could even work for negative sentence stems like, “I feel bad when I..” So we know what to avoid or change.
Fred,
What a great exercise and great way to identify your passion and skill set!
Angela Artemis/Poweredbyintuition recently posted..Finally, a No Nonsense Guide to Energy Work
Thanks Angela.
Hey Fred,
Great and simple technique to find one’s life purpose or to get closer. I am actually positioning a new ebook to be released soon on the 10 most effective ways to find your purpose in life. I think I might make the eleven most effective ways to include yours.
Your method has the same principles as one of mine here. http://mylifearchitects.com/25-elementary-principles-for-success-in-life-%e2%80%93-principle-2/ go straight to the diagram with three circles for the exerise.
May I just add to your conversation with David. When we have discovered some activities from these exercises, it is important to just start doing them. They might not be the one, but starting the journey will bring you closer. If we sped too much time meditating and figuring out if it is the one, we are wasting time.
Hey Jimmy,
I really like your system that you have there. It looks a lot like mine, but you’ve added a critical component: attention. That makes sense, as what we focus on has a huge impact on everything else.
Yeah, I agree with you. I think that we choose our life purpose, not that it’s chosen for us. Therefore, by doing, we might just find something that really clicks with us, even though we didn’t think it did before.
Thanks!
Fred,
OK I know you probably are not an Oprah reader but her latest magazine has a really good article similar to this idea called Find Your True Calling. If you get a chance to read it at the grocery store or something, it would be worth the time. I was really surprised by what I found out about myself.
Julie | A Clear Sign recently posted..Patterns | I Am Not A Psychiatrist Or A Fortune Teller But I Can See Your Future
Lol, Oprah…
Okay, Julie, just because you said so though. And don’t tell anyone about this.
Hey Fred,
Beautifully written work here. There was a diagram I used in a post back in July that would fit really well with this post.
http://balancedworklife.com/blog/career-venn-diagram-sweet-spot/
There are 3 buckets we tend to fill. 1. Stuff I enjoy doing. 2. Stuff I’m good at. 3. Stuff the market pays for.
Where all three of those intersect is your Utopia. However each intersection has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. It’s worth checking out.
Loved your comment btw.
Bryce
Bryce Christiansen recently posted..When Risks Go Wrong…Reward Them! (Here’s Why)
Nice diagram!
It’s funny because this article contained the buckets of “stuff I enjoy doing” and “stuff I’m good at”, and in part two I’m essentially covering “stuff the market pays for”. I’ll see if I can work your article into mine as a link. There’s a lot of great advice there.
Thanks Bryce.
Hey Fred,
I was recently introduced to some of what you’ve shared here about how to find your passion. I must admit, I’ve struggled with this my entire life. Only much later in life did I even consider the possibility that I could actually make money at what I enjoy doing.
I took a course earlier this year that laid it out for us in much more detail then you are explaining but at the same time we all have some things that hold us back to really finding our true selves. You know, those limiting beliefs and all that most of us had instilled in us growing up. Not all, but most.
I think once you break through all those barriers and start to realize that you can be or do anything you want, then everything seems to flow much better. At least it did for me but I’m also not a 20 something just now trying to figure this all out. But, your tips will definitely be very helpful for those specifically in that age range. I say do this now and start your life off on the right foot!
Thanks Fred!
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..A New Directory For Locating Quality DoFollow Blogs
Hey Adrienne,
Absolutely. There are so many blockages we all have due to the limiting beliefs we grew up with. All the negative emotions we faced and repressed also play a role. It can take a while to go through all that junk and process it, the one we do we have much more of a shot at really connecting with our true selves.
And once we make that connection, finding her true passion is a pretty easy thing. Making money from what you enjoy doing this such a great feeling. There’s really no other way to do it. And the best (or worst, take your pick) part is, so few people are willing to put in the hard work that the door is open for anyone
Thanks for the comment.
Yeah, I see many people start a blog about something they are passionate about yet they don’t have the experience to become really successful at it, at least not yet.
Make your vocation a vacation is one expression that comes to mind.
I like these kind of posts because they get us thinking about who we really are and what we really want to experience in life.
Justin | Mazzastick recently posted..Are Reptilian Entities Manipulating Humans And Earth Affairs
For sure, Justin.
The good thing about doing something you are passionate about is that you can eventually learn the skills to do it, even if you don’t have them at first. That’s why I would weigh the passion section much more heavily than the skills section. That’s assuming you can learn the skill to do what you’re passionate about of course.
Ok yeah… I’ve got mad break dancing skills, but I’m not passionate about them, which is why you’ve never seen them.
I can’t help but think you’ve just spawned a whole new group of former geeks who learned how to insult women who think that sort of thing is sexy and are now teaching other geeks how to do the same. Good God man! What have you done?!
I love your analogy of the hot artsy chick and dick business man. So, if we combine the two, we’ll get a hot, artsy, happy guy in a business suit with a fat wallet? Send him my way would ya? I’d be pretty passionate about that…
Hugs,
Melody
Melody | Deliberate Receiving recently posted..Becoming a Money Magnet – How To Make Money Your Bitch
Lol, I’ll be sure to send him your way. But what kind of hot artsy guy would wear a business suit? That just doesn’t make any sense.
Spawning nerds bent on insulting women? I wish. Maybe someday.
Now, the important stuff. Let’s see those breakdancing skills. I’m already subscribed to your YouTube account, all you have to do is upload the video…
I like these exercises. They are indeed good for delving into who you could be if you are not sure. This is one area I can be almost smug about. I have always known (and continue to learn) me. So I know my skills and passions and luckily they always gracefully collide.
But I relish the idea of you furtively reading Oprah in the mall.
pea recently posted..Sustainable Woodland Home
Lol, I am not so sure I’m happy about that one.
I’m similar to you in that I’ve always known – or at least been able to decide rather quickly – what I want to do. Though I changed get a couple of times, once I decided what I wanted to do it was relatively easy to get good at it. It just takes dedication and hard work.
Just like getting up the nerve to pick up and Oprah Magazine.
Wow cool post here Fred. Love the creativity. It’s always important to do what we love in life. Compared to living life like a drone, instead, live life full of passion and love. I like what you’ve mentioned here. I’ll be doing it myself. I love writing, Internet Marketing, gym, reading and so much more. Now I have more time to do all these.
Thanks for this post! Keep it up!
Pj Zafra recently posted..Sean’s Thoughts For The Week Ahead – 7
Man, I need to get a gym membership again. I’ve been putting on the pounds lately, and the holidays are just coming up! Ut oh…
There’s such a different energy to living a life full of passion as compared to living like a drone. I’ve definitely done both, and we all know which one is better.
A big part of achieving a lust for life is not being a drone for someone else. Even owning our own time and making ourselves our own little worker bee is better than the alternative.
Glad to see you here, and take care Pete.
Ooh! I totally identify with hot art chick minus the hotness and artistic side. =P I guess what I mean is that I relate to the feeling of fulfillment, passion, being broke, and eating ramen! =P
I love the exercise you propose, Fred! I think a lot of people believe that it’s impossible to unite our skills and passions into a truly fulfilling career. Maybe it’s because of beliefs that society has instilled in us? Nevertheless, it seems that they’re often just beliefs that we don’t even take the time to analyze and think through. This is why exercises like yours are so important.
Another really insightful exercise that has helped me a lot in life decisions is a values exercise that helps me prioritize what’s most important to me in life. I find that my values have helped me define the direction I want to take with my skills and passions.
Thanks so much for having me think about this, Fred! =)
Samantha Bangayan recently posted..Calle 13′s Latinoamérica, Our Latin America
Lol, when I first read that I thought you are simply saying you were a chick. Honestly, I probably have more in common with hot art chick than business dude as well. But God, I do love my Ramen.
How funny that you mentioned values. I was reading a post on Jimmy Tong’s blog today that pretty much the same exercises I had, plus a field for values. That’s definitely something to think about!
Thanks for coming on over!