Question:

What if my top five passions do not have anything to do with a career? I have found that I love to learn new things and I have many hobbies such as scuba diving and flying small planes but I would not want to do those things every day as a career.

Answer:

This is a great question and a common one as well. Many people will share with us their surprise that after identifying their passions, only a few or perhaps just one appears to be directly related to a career that they think can be monetized.

It doesn’t matter if your passions appear to have nothing to do with a career, they will always guide you as you look at options; always ask, “Will this decision help me be more connected to the things I care most about, or take me farther away from them?”

Next week Janet and I travel to Calgary to participate in Engage Today - Engaging Community, Changing the World. Janet will launch the Global Passion Initiative for Canada and speak along with the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, F.W. de Klerk and others. 

The Global Passion Initiative is intended to focus attention on the primary role that passion plays, in individual lives, in organizational life and in the life of society. As we travel to countries around the world, our message is that we have gotten lost. 

This past week we were in Iceland where we launched "The Global Passion Initiative." On September 5 we introduced 250 Icelanders to the power of The Passion Test and by mid-day we had them up and dancing, smiling and hopeful. As you may know, Iceland came within a hairsbreadth of bankruptcy last fall, when its three largest banks had to be nationalized.

"What you put your attention on grows stronger in your life."

It's a simple statement, yet when we are surrounded by news of financial upheaval, wars, natural catastrophes and the other favorite topics of the news media, it's easy to put attention on what you don't want, rather than what you want.

This is one of the reasons why it's so important to surround yourself with people who will remind you, and support you in giving attention to the things you do want to experience in your life. TEAM - Together Everyone Acheives Miracles. We need each other.

This doesn't mean you should bury your head in the sand. The opposite is the case. When you experience anything which creates a negative emotional response in you (what we call contraction), that's a sign there is a chance to gain greater clarity. And as we know . . .

People who are passionate work harder, do better work and more motivated than those who aren't. Needless to say they also enjoy their work more.

Who do you think has the greatest opportunity to prosper when times are tough? The person who hates their work and has to drag themselves to work every day, or the person who loves what they're doing and can hardly wait to get to it?

80% of the population has been thinking that following their passions is a luxury, that they can't do what they love because they have to earn a living and support their family. These are the people the current economic crisis will hit the hardest.

You see there is a reason you love the things you love. There is a reason you care about the things you care about. Your passions, the things that matter most to you are like carrots leading you on to fulfill your unique purpose in life.

We all want to feel our life has a purpose. So, how do you find it, live it, expand it?

It's a moment by moment experience.

The Passion Test will help you identify what matters most to you. Once you've done that, the results become a powerful decision-making tool to help you align your life with your passions.

When you follow your passions consistently, then you will live a passionate life. As you follow your passions, you'll find that life feels more and more purposeful.

The entire purpose of The Passion Test process and all the exercises in the book is to help you become a conscious creator of your life. The emphasis is on "conscious."

It's as if some people are hit by lightning and all of a sudden they KNOW what they are here to do. But what if that doesn't happen to you?

Unfortunately, most of us don't get such a sudden awakening. So what do you do if you don't get hit by lightning?

This morning I saw someone ridiculing the saying, "follow your passions and the money will follow."

Will you become wealthy when you follow your passions? It depends.

You create your life from the inside out. As long as you have negative beliefs about money or being wealthy, it doesn't matter how much you follow your passsions, those beliefs will keep money away.

This is one of the reasons we recommend The Work of Byron Katie so strongly. It is the most effective tool we've found for unraveling the beliefs and concepts that keep you from living the fulfilling life you deserve.

What we can say without a doubt is that your passions will lead you to discover what is really meaningful to you. And why is that important?

In the bestselling business book, Success Built

It's so easy to give attention to all the things we don't like in our life. Yet what a fascinating paradox it is that the more attention you give to what you don't want, the more of that you get. If you're focused on all the problems, you get more problems.

So, does this mean the prescription is to try to think positively all the time?

Not at all. Anyone who has tried to think positively when you don't feel positive knows that it's hopeless. Everyone has "problems", things which challenge us and require coming up with some solution.

The sub-title of The Passion Test is "The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose." This is not just a nice sub-title.

The day will come when you will look back and say, "Aha, this was my purpose for being here." Just by consistently making decisions based on what really matters to you, day by day, you will discover your life purpose has arrived, without you havinng to make any great effort to discover it.

But there's an extra bonus gift waiting for you at the end of the path: When you arrive at that time when you simply CAN'T do anything you aren't passionate about, you simply aren't able to do something that you don't enjoy and care about, a new realization will dawn. Even though you may have spent many years in accomplishment and achievement, in being with and taking care of your family, of working on your health, or traveling to far reaches of the earth, these things will pale in comparison to this.

You will emerge into the awareness that the only thing that ever mattered was to be solidly established in the bliss, the joy, the fulfillment, which naturrally arises when you are deeply connected to your innermost nature.