Did you set out to be the accountant, manager, HR specialist, estate agent or whatever it is you’ve become? Or did you once have a different dream for yourself, one that was bigger and more exciting?
For all manner of reasons, many of us end up somewhere we didn’t intend, side-tracked by circumstances, events or necessity. However, rarely do we try to rekindle our dreams and get back on track.
Often that’s through fear of what might happen if you ‘rock the boat’ of your current existence. So you carry on as you are, even if you aren’t happy with life right now … and haven’t been for a while.
If that sounds familiar, read on.
One of the best ways to break this unful filling cycle is to discover and follow your passion, something that motivates you so strongly that it has the power to drive you in a totally new direction.
When you’re passionate about something, obstacles that may have seemed insurmountable can be overcome, and new energy found that isn’t there when you’re just plodding along. You’re also better able to focus on what needs to be done without getting side-tracked, and to bounce back faster when things don’t go as you hoped.
So how do you rediscover and rekindle your passion?
1. Reconnect with your real self.
Think deeply about what really interests you. What are you naturally drawn to, or have been in the past? It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it excites you. Think around the subject widely and in depth, exploring all the options and opportunities that it offers. Don’t edit out possibilities too soon. Give them a chance to develop, always thinking to yourself, ‘how could I make this work for me?’
2. Think in 3D.
You’ll never become truly passionate about something if you can’t paint a vision of it and associate positive feelings with it. If you’re looking at a business idea, create a ‘technicolour image’ of how it could be in the future, a waking dream that’s so vivid it feels real now.
3. Find inspiration and motivation everywhere.
Look for the stories of others who have taken the plunge and changed their lives dramatically, ideally by doing something along similar lines to what you’re interested in. If they’ve done it, you can too. And don’t think in a straight line. Inspiration and motivation can come from different sources and in different ways – reading articles, watching inspirational films, talking to older people about their lives, engaging in a cause that inspires you, playing with your children, going to a concert… anything and everything that makes you feel alive can fire up your creativity.
4. Be choosy and don’t mistake moths for butterflies.
Don’t share your thoughts with those who might shatter your dream. There are many around who are all too willing to tell you something can’t be done, or that you’re not the right person to do it. You don’t need that kind of ‘help’ from these ‘passion killers’. I think of them as ‘moths’. Instead be drawn to those who make a positive difference to everyone around them, the butterflies. Both are attracted to light – you – but one drains it and the other magnifies it.
5. Find the right support.
Find people who believe in you to help make your dream a reality, people with different strengths and experience that can be your sound board and mentor in your career, or at a business or at a personal level. Together you will generate far more momentum than if you try to make everything happen on your own. Alone, you may never get off the ground at all, so don’t underestimate the importance of teamwork.
Injecting passion in what you do is the best way to overcome the fears that are holding you back from being all that you could be in life and in business, and to achieve your dreams. Never forget that you were born to stand up.
Author Bio
Maite Barón is the multi-award winning author of Corporate Escape: the Rise of the New Entrepreneur. Passionate about transformational leadership, wellbeing and lifestyle, she is a co-founder of The Corporate Escape™, which specialises in helping professionals find their purpose, rekindle their passion for life and reinvent themselves as business owners. She’s an international speaker and a regular contributor to the influential Huffington Post, Global Banking and Finance Review (GBFR) and Entrepreneur.
