When Passion And Purpose Collide

Sometimes, passion and purpose collide in ways that are spectacularly powerful. You feel it in your body, your mind, and your spirit. Your heart skips a beat as you contemplate what to do next.

There’s a sense of certainty in your gut when you decide to move forward. You have no doubt that this is right. It feels good, even though you’ve never done things like this before!

When something like this happens, it can completely change the way you relate to yourself and the world around you.

It can bring you happiness for years to come. Or it can push you beyond your limits – and still more out of your comfort zone.

But whether it pushes you towards success or self-destruction depends on how you handle it.

You must figure out which parts of you want to keep running at full speed and which ones need to be slowed down.

What is purpose?

Many people feel that once you have your career and life “figured out,” then it’s time to stop working.

But what if pursuing your dream job doesn’t make you happy? What if putting in all this effort isn’t rewarding for you?

What if the thing holding you back from living an inspired life is yourself?

Your personal passion, or desire to do something, is not the same as having a job that makes you passionate.

Having a goal that requires lots of work can become monotonous, even frustrating. This is why, at times, giving up on your dreams seems like the better option.

Tracy was struggling with this. She had her dream job, but she didn’t enjoy it. Her colleagues were great, but Tracy felt overworked and undervalued.

Her superiors expected her to do more than she wanted to, so she kept pushing herself harder and harder until she reached her limit. It was just too much sometimes.

It took a lot of courage for her to admit this to herself, but eventually she made the decision to leave. If she couldn’t find joy in her job, maybe she needed to search for it elsewhere.

Running your own show sounds appealing now, doesn’t it?

A few weeks later, Tracy received a call telling her that her employment has been terminated due to lack of commitment.

How do I know when I’m living my passion and when I’m living my purpose?

We can tell when you’re living your passion by how happy and motivated you are. You will feel a strong pull towards it, you will get quick flashes of inspiration for it, and you will enjoy it, all the time.

You may even find yourself talking about it nonstop, which makes other people ask you why you seem so passionate about it.

Living your passion is always going to make you happier than anything else, which is the ultimate goal in life. So if you ever feel more excited about something than what you normally would be, then that thing is your passion.

And remember from earlier in this article that unless you are investing lots of energy into things that don’t lead to bigger dreams, then you should probably pick a different career path.

But if you really want to stick with what you have been doing, then that is okay too. It just means you need to add more motivation to keep chasing your dream.

Never try to force passion and purpose on yourself

We’ve all heard stories of people who spent their lives trying to find their life’s calling, only to give up because they couldn’t feel that call inside them.

That can be very discouraging, so many people give up before figuring out how to bring themselves to believe in it.

But there is an easy way to know if this theory sounds familiar to you — unless you’re already passionate about something, don’t even think about investing your time in things that don’t make you excited.

If you ever feel like you have to push through or drag yourself into action when you want to give up, then maybe it's time to consider what you were originally called to do.

Do what you feel is your passion and purpose

Even if you don’t know what your passion is, just doing things that make you happy are great ways to figure it out. You will probably find that some things give you more satisfaction than others, but you can still learn something from them!

It sounds crazy, I know, but there’s a way to do anything. And this isn’t an empty cliché — we’ve been talking about it for years now. We all have our own special skills and talents we bring to life every day.

Your talent is like knowing how to write well. Or playing the piano really well. It’s not particularly glamorous, but it makes us happy and brings us joy. It's what we're good at.

And just as writing comes easily to most people, being able to play the piano does too. But not everyone feels motivated to practice when they could be spending time with their friends or family instead.

Be realistic about your dreams

Let’s look at an example. Suppose you wanted to be a doctor so badly that you made it your number one goal. You studied hard, worked hard, and now you have the degree. Your dream has come true!

But what happens when you start working as a doctor? Now that you have this important job, how do you feel about yourself?

I don’t think I can even say “doctor” anymore. Because the word doesn’t fit me. I want something bigger. I want to know more things. I want to help people in ways that only I could.

It was my passion. But I didn’t make the career choice I did because I felt good about myself. I invested in my career because I loved learning and sharing knowledge with others, but not because I thought I wasn’t worthy of anything else.

So here’s the thing about dreams – they’re always worth having, but they’ll never satisfy you. They’ll keep you hungry, but never full.

They’ll push you to pursue higher goals, but never enough for you to believe you’ve got it all figured out. What a waste of time that would be!

And we need to understand that part of being passionate is feeling like you’re walking in place. It’s knowing there is nothing beyond this moment.

Get a good job

Even if you are not sure what career path to take, doing something that makes you passionate is a great way to learn more about yourself.

Finding your passion means learning more about who you are and what makes you happy. By being in jobs that make you feel accomplished and successful, you will find it easier to keep moving forward with life.

A few years ago I was never really keen on social media marketing. I thought it was too promotional focused and would instead choose to focus on blogging.

But after chatting to some colleagues about their careers, they convinced me that this was totally wrong!
I now enjoy writing blogs, posting videos and using social media to promote brands. It has helped my personal brand as well as those of others!

By having fun while working, you will give much happier end results. Find your passion and stick to it, the rest will follow.

Get an advanced degree

After earning your bachelor’s degree, you can choose to go back to school for an advanced degree or pursue professional certification. These are very good options if you want to advance in your career or need to bolster your credentials to prove yourself more highly within the organization that hired you.

There are many types of advanced degrees available, from masters degrees like MBA programs to doctorate degrees such as Ph.D.s. Certain master’s degrees may be able to unlock additional opportunities for you, while other certifications help you build on your current skill set.

For example, some MBA programs teach you how to run large groups and departments effectively, which is a valuable job skill. Or maybe there’s an exam related to something you're already doing that credential will verify!

Professional certificates often focus on specific areas we've discussed before - like healthful eating habits or effective productivity strategies. By obtaining this certified training, you prove that you know what they are and why it's important.

Try to start your own business

Starting your own business is arguably one of the most significant life changes you can make. It offers you two things that we as humans need – autonomy and challenge.

You are your own boss, you get to choose what hours you work, you get to determine how you spend your time, and you get to set your own goals. You also get to create new opportunities for yourself, something that many people feel limited about due to how much money they have in their savings or how big their paycheck is.

Many successful entrepreneurs were not always wealthy, and some even lost large amounts of money before succeeding. But they never gave up, and instead found ways to re-focus their energy on achieving their goal.