It’s there, whether you recognize it or not. We’re all passionate about something – even if it doesn’t strike us as job- or career-worthy. Think about all of the things that get you fired up, excited, eager to act…write those things down. Ask others close to you to help add to the list. Sit with that paper for a few days. Add notes, details, and illustrations. Fill the page with things you love and are good at. Those are the best clues you’re going to get. You may need help to do this next part, but challenge yourself to translate what’s on that page into ways you might be able to channel those abilities or passions into some form of educational track that would deliver what you want to create for your life.
Never tell yourself you’re stuck. You’re not. You have more options than you can even dream of. In fact, you could spend your whole life researching them and still not uncover everything that’s possible. Challenge yourself to uncover 5 new career path opportunities for you this week, then another five next week. Brainstorm 10 or 20 with your friends or family if you’re really inspired. It’s an amazing exercise to do with a group. See the road ahead of you as an open one to do with as you wish. Get excited about having so many options. That energy will help you tremendously as you set out to pursue the ones that rise to the top of your list.
If you’ve ever traveled internationally, you know that exposure to different cultures changes your perspective, often profoundly. Start to shake up your routine, influences, and contacts locally to expose yourself to new influences immediately. If a more drastic life change is in order, think of it like adapting to a different country or culture. Consider everything you might do to visit a very different culture – all the research, talking to others who’ve been there, getting expert advice, seeing what people say online, etc. – and apply it to a new area or industry you’re contemplating. Your comfort level (and likely enthusiasm) will start to rise quickly. You could even consider studying internationally.
Competition can be daunting. And with more people than ever applying to colleges, it can be even harder to break free from the pack. Whether you’ve got excellent grades, led the Student Council, did an internship while in school, or are really fighting for a spot at that college of your dreams, there’s a fabulous concept you should know about. It’s called the Blue Ocean strategy, and it’s based on a book by that name. The concept is simple: Most people stick to small confined areas where they fight like mad to compete for the same pool of opportunities or resources. The competition gets so fierce that it often gets bloody. However, the ocean is huge and vast and loaded with abundance. You just have to start fishing in the blue waters – where no one else is or few others have ventured. Remember that point above about international schools? That’s one place to look.
Get out and discover what’s out there! Make a commitment to launch a serious expedition to uncover all sorts of new and exciting possibilities. Every day of every week holds opportunities to meet new people, attend events, sit in on webinars, sign up for newsletters, join organizations or fan pages and engulf yourself in the worlds that following your passions can open up to you. Keep exploring until you get yourself to that place.
You don’t necessarily need to be an expert in your area of passion. You don’t need to have years of experience under your belt to do something with it either. That can come. Take whatever it is that makes you different, unique, special, interesting, quirky or uncommon and turn that into a fascinating story of why you’re pursuing X. Share it with everyone you can.
Being just like everyone else is boring. Having an interesting story to tell on how you ended up in that pursuit will make people curious about you. Then you just have to back it up with a fierce passion, evidence of wanting to do something about it, and the commitment to take it forward. Other people will respond to that. And if you’re learning on the go, share what you discover along the way and opportunities will start to present themselves!
Passion is driven by emotion, by a raw hunger to learn, pursue, explore, engage and exist in a special kind of euphoric state. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you really should. That’s the key to loving what you do. Others love the same things you love, too, and value the same things, ideals, and principles. Go find them. Online, offline, it doesn’t matter. Spend as much time as you can in these circles to fire you up and learn. So much starts to happen when you discover your sweet spot.
Once you have your passion clearly identified, you really should create your own map of that universe. All the industries, companies, organizations, experts, educational resources, websites, etc., that are significant in any way to that one thing, should be mapped out.
