Why You’ll Never Find Your Passion

Well, douche chills are a very specific thing. Well, there’s a very specific subset of people that know what I’m talking about when I talk about douche chills. They’re usually from New Jersey and I probably grew up with them. Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be if you want to create a business in life you love and I know you do.

And this here is Q and A Tuesday, and today’s question comes from Janelle. And she writes, “Hi Marie. I’ve spent the last several months reevaluating what I want to do with my life. I’ve been reading self-help books and watching videos with some of the greats to find inspiration, my inner purpose, creative a vision board, learn positive thinking, you name it, but I’m really struggling to find my true passion. I know what I’m great at and the things I enjoy doing, but I still haven’t nailed a specific passion yet. Any advice? All the best. Janelle.”

Janelle, this is one of the most commonly asked questions ever and I struggled with this myself. In fact, for years when I was first starting out. I was making the same mistake that most people make, which is this, you can’t find your passion and by thinking about it in your head. Why? Because of this here, tweetable.

Clarity comes from engagement, not thought. This is especially true with finding your passion. I remember one of the things that I was quote unquote passionate about was hip hop dance, but I spent so much time and let me actually correct that. I wasted so much time thinking about whether or not I should do it as a career.

I remember thinking to myself, “You know what? I have zero dance training and most people start dancing when they’re like in the womb,” and I was already in my mid-20s. I also was worried because I felt like dance wasn’t really a smart, longterm career choice. I thought, “Well, I’m not going to make that much money. It could be a little unstable,” yada, yada, yada.

Finally I got smart and I got up off my butt and I actually put myself into a dance class, and it was at Broadway Dance Center, and I remember it was the first pro class that I had ever taken in my life and I was sitting on the floor and I was stretching and I actually started weeping tears of joy because it felt so right in my body.

And in that moment I knew there was no way that I was not going to go for this as a career. It totally took all the wishy washiness away and I got really clear because I engaged and I took action. Now there’s a lot more to this story, but the relevant part for you is you have to stop thinking and start doing. You got to remember, clarity comes from engagement, not thought.

So Janelle, you said that you had some ideas about what you think you might be passionate about. You know what you like doing. Stop thinking and just get out there. So whether that’s getting a job in that field, volunteering, taking a class, I don’t care what you need to do, you just need to get your bonds out there and do it.

Now the second part I want to talk about, which I also think most people get wrong, is this: Passion is not something that you can go find at the end of the rainbow. And no, it is not in a box of Lucky Charms. See? No passion marshmallows, Janelle. That’s because passion is not something that exists outside of yourself.

Now, the real secret to this whole finding your passion thing is that you have to train yourself to bring passion to every thing that you do. So when you wake up in the morning, be passionate about making your bed and when you’re making lunch, be passionate about making lunch. And even when you’re doing the dishes, you got to be passionate about doing the dishes. Got to get them clean. Love this.

Now, I know this sounds kind of hokey, but I got to tell you, it works. Passion is contagious. When you’re passionate and you’re passionate about everything that you do, people around you start to take notice and they want to know what’s up with you. Can they get in on whatever you’re doing? I promise you, if you really execute this, you’re going to find opportunities just falling in your lap and very, very quickly you’re going to fall into what you’re meant to do in this world and I got to tell you, it will be magically delicious.

That is my A to your Q, Janelle. Hope it helps. Now, I would love to hear from you. Have you ever struggled to find your passion? If so, how did you crack the code? Now, if you’re in the position of still struggling and you’re still looking around for it, how can you create a specific action plan based on today’s advice?

More concretely, I want to hear how you’re going to shift from thinking into engagement. As always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at marieforleo.com, so go there and leave me a comment now. Did you like this video? If so, subscribe and share it with all of your cute little friends, and if you want even more great advice to create a business in life that you love, plus some personal insights from me that I only talk about an email, get those sweet buns over to Marie forleo.com and sign up for email updates.

Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV. It’s transforming right before our eyes. Bam. And no one owns me. I say what I want. I’m going to wash you so good. Yeah. Gems?

It has a lot of [crosstalk 00:05:38]. Oh no.

My bracelet fell off. It knew it was done. It said, “I’m out of here.”