Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

This is a topic I`ve been trying to find the answer to since college, nearly 20 years now.  I still haven`t figured it out.  I`ve asked myself all the questions mentioned on here, such as: If I won a million dollars what would I do?  My answer is invest it and live off the income while still trying to figure out what to do! I do have a passion for film (producing,directing), but believe it is an unrealistic industry to break into at this point. 

I recently left the Investment industry after 15 miserable years (not because I hated the work, but because of the politics).  So now I`m starting up a business that was ranked here on startup nation.  So this is completely new for me, though I feel like I`ve been forced into entrepreneurship (not necessarily in a bad way).  But I am very excited about it.  Still, will it become my passion?  Who knows? All I know is its been a frustrating journey, and at nearly 40, its time to take some risks.  Maybe then I`ll finally be happy.  I just know I`ll work harder for myself than I will for some jerk of a boss.

One of the qualifiers for the above questions, particularly about the lottery or million bucks is that you can`t have the answer you give here. You`re not allowed to just invest it and live off the proceeds. :-)

To that end, you probably DO have a passion, but you`ve chosen to shut it down.

And that brings up another interesting problem. It`s entirely possible, and happens all the time, for people to turn off their passion. They may think it`s unrealistic, or they`ve been told it`s impossible and agree. Or they grew up in a family that refuses to let the children be themselves.

A passion isn`t like a genetic destiny. It doesn`t "have to happen," any more than much of life has to happen. It`s a choice, and it requires a desire to pursue that passion. In SOME cases, the passion is so all-consuming and powerful that the person can`t shut it down. But not always.

Sounds like film-making is your passion. :-)

I`ve been thinking more on finding your passion and as I said before, I always come up with writing and helping others. Only when presented with the idea of what would I do if I had a million dollars or won the lotto, I have to say starting a business or working are not in the picture. I`ve really been thinking about this more intently over the last couple days. I had a rather disruptive childhood, mostly surviving and being tossed around that I never really acquired hobbies or interests. In my adutlhood, I`ve struggled with personal issues and spent most of my time being a care taker, Mom and Wife. I moved around frequently, and have been in working positions that were pretty much care taking positions. I`ve explored possible hobbies, but never stuck with any one thing in particular.

So you could be a Horse Whisperer....like that fella in the movie, played by Robert Redford, right? :-)

It takes watching the movie to understand, but it`s sort of like a horse psychologist or therapist.

I was thinking about this post, though, regarding issues over role identity--mom or wife. What about the role of woman? Why two roles that are defined by one`s relationship to something or someone else?

Another aspect of passion is that it`s personal to an almost complete level. There can be two (or more) people who have the same passion, but each person is absorbed entirely by their passion. One of the difficult problems in our modern culture is where one person gets "caught up" in someone else`s passion.

I`d propose another exercise in finding one`s passion. Look at the activities in your whole life, up to this point, and list them by broad categories. Then put them together in a sort of hand-drawn pie chart. Estimate what you`ve been spending the most amount of time doing.

You can`t just say "work." What specifically do you spend your most time doing at work? For example, "cleaning up other people`s problems," or "answering the phone," or "dealing with customer problems," or "figuring out budgets."

And "work" can`t be the only thing in that pie chart. (You`re not allowed to put "sleeping" in there, because you`re not initiating action during sleep.) You CAN put in food, though, because cooking and eating food can certainly be a passion.

How much of your life`s activity has been devoted to what other people want? Then how much has been devoted to what you particularly want? If you`re giving over much of your time to other people, then how would you find your own passion, much less begin to act on it?

Actually, if you think about it, "a business" isn`t just a thing, like buying a car or piano, or adding a porch to a house. Having a business is a basic part of a person`s life. In many cases, a mom is in the business of managing a household, raising kids, and so forth. The "customers" are the kids and the husband. Or, vice versa, where the father`s customers are the kids and wife.

Another important part of finding one`s passion is that it isn`t an intellectual exercise. A passion, remember, is where we focus on what we value the highest in our life. We certainly can have more than one very high value, but what gets interesting is when the highest value is someone other than our own self.

Because a passion is an evaluation, it`s related to emotion. And that means you can`t usually find it with the intellect. It requires the imagination and the feelings (the physical interaction with life type of feelings and perceptions). I think too often people who can`t find their passion are trying to do so by analyzing it.

Put the analysis on hold for a bit, and *imagine* what life would be like doing something you love to do. It doesn`t matter if it`s realistic, affordable, or anything else. You can always extract what is realistic or affordable, and begin from that platform. But without first imagining that type of life, you`ll never find it.

Passion is as engaging as emotions, and both concepts require a physical interaction with life. Lots of piano players can play extremely well, but that doesn`t make them stars. It`s often because they`re technically masters, but they have hardly any real emotion in their playing. Other players aren`t anywhere near as technically proficient, but their music speaks to the hearts of millions of people.

So too with passion: You can`t logically insert your passion into something. You have to actually feel that passion on an emotional, value level. After that, you can use the logic, analysis, intellect, and language to define what it is you feel. It doesn`t work the other way around, though. You can`t tell yourself to feel passionate about something. :-)