How to Identify Your Passion at an Early Age

Nothing new and innovative is realized without passion. You need to identify what you love doing and make time to do it. You can identify your passion by conducting three forms of analysis.

Namely:

Your body language analysis

Your childhood analysis and

Your adulthood analysis

Finding your passion should be a fun and exhilarating exercise for each one of us.

Identifying your passion is no easy fit and this does not happen in a day.

We will now look at each of the three extensively.

· Your body language analysis

You are not passionate about your work when you get panic attacks when performing your current job, you get regular headaches, you get tensed up at work, you get bored, you fall asleep at work, you always look forward to breaks at work, the end of your shifts and public holidays when you never get to get to work. When you are passionate about your work the reverse happens. You are always happy to do and talk about your work, headaches and body aches cease to exist and you happily put in extra hours.

Picture yourself doing what you are passionate about. What is the feeling you get from this? Does it make your heart and blood race? Do you see yourself living a healthy life, with a healthy body and having a more positive attitude in life and work? Are you always fatigued? Are you always feeling depressed? Are you always making hospital visits?

Share your feelings and concerns about your current job with your boss and ask to change your job.

Take time to relax, exercise and finding a balance in your life. Doing this helps your body and mind revitalize, energize, rejuvenate and this entirely can help you find your passion. You may join your local gym, start jogging, start swimming, yoga classes or meditation exercises.

You will put your effort into something you succeed in. With success comes passion in what you do. With success you will put more effort into your work. You cannot be passionate about something if you are constantly failing at it. When you constantly fail at doing something then you become frustrated. So why not try something else completely new?

· Your childhood analysis

This is the easiest way to finding your true passion. Childhood presented us with many great opportunities to discover and learn new stuff. Even learn about ourselves and our talents.

Ignore what school and your parents told you when you were a child and growing up. Try and recall what made you happy when you were a child. This could probably make you happy today also.

If you loved singing, then try joining the local choir. If it was playing the drums or piano, start a band in your garage or basement with your friends. If it was washing cars, start a car wash business. If it was braiding and making your friends’ hair, start your hair salon.

The education system never gave us a chance to explore our different talents. It could be the sciences, mathematics, arts or sports. As you moved along, math and the sciences got more challenging and they categorized us as average students. Soon the frustration builds up and many others drop out.

Most schools do not put much attention on the arts or sports. Talent and passion is therefore also lost along the way while growing up.

Parents, family and society also preferred certain careers over others. These preferred careers or professional lines were seen to be respectable, prestigious or more rewarding. In Kenya it is either teaching, being an accountant, economist, doctor, lawyer or an engineer. We were therefore made or forced to go along a certain preset career path in life and eventually ended up where we are today. Not following our passions and frustrated in life. Are the stories below familiar or can you relate to them?

Bill Gates is an American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of Microsoft Corporation. His parents wanted him to pursue a law career but Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC. He dropped his math classes to pursue his interest. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen launched Microsoft, the world's largest PC software company. Gates led the company as chief executive officer until January 2000, but he remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates transitioned from full-time work at his company to part time work and full time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000. Gates is the best known entrepreneurs of the personal computer.

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter best known for his work on Mr. Bean. Atkinson first came to prominence in a BBC's sketch comedy show in 1979, receiving the 1981 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. His other work includes the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994, The Lion King also in 1994, and The Thin Blue Line. His work in theatre includes the 2009 West End musical Oliver. Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll. He went to Newcastle University, where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering just as his father. In 1975, he continued for the degree of MSc in Electrical Engineering at The Queen's College, Oxford.

Like Bill Gates and Rowan Sebastian Atkinson try to recall when it is you lost all the fun in your life and life suddenly became so serious.

· Your adulthood analysis

Find out what you love doing today even as an adult and find a few hours each day to do what you love. It will be wrong to assume that your job can be your passion. Your side job could as well be what it is that you are passionate about. It could be cooking and preparing food in a restaurant, part time teaching, bar tendering or any other job out there. All these can be turned into successful and profitable businesses.

Still you do not know your passion? The following small exercise is meant to help you identify your passion.

Pick up a pen and paper and list down your talents. You are not just putting down what you are good at doing but doing these things also make you happy and you enjoy doing them.

You might have ignored what people told you in the past. People you trust can help you identify what you are good at. What have people complimented you on doing so well in the past? Go ahead and ask your close friends and family what they think you can do so well or what they think you can prosper at.

You may repeat a similar exercise where you try to recall when you lost all the fun in your life and life suddenly became so serious. When did the headaches begin? When did the anxiety begin? When did time suddenly become important at work and you began looking forward to the breaks? Trace back what it is you used to do that you are not doing currently. Go back to doing the fun stuff you used to do that made you happy in the past.

Picture yourself doing what you are passionate about. What do you figure doing? Do you see yourself jumping out of bed, excited, happy and looking forward to your work? What does your team look like and who is it composed of? Can you imagine yourself not doing this thing for a day? What are you spending hours on? Use these to identify your passion.

You may enjoy doing something but you are not really skillful at doing it.

Go back to school or take time to retrain yourself. Travel if you have to. Travelling helps you open up your mind, build new networks and gain exposure in your area of interest. Make time to learn and increase the knowledge you have in your field. Technology is always changing. Business processes and business models are always changing. Find innovative, effective and efficient ways to pursue your passion.

Reverse engineer and find out what it is that you hate doing. You may also want to make a list of things you hate and hate doing. The goal is to avoid falling into a similar cycle where you are unhappy and doing what you are not passionate about.

Note what makes you jealous. You probably are because you wish you could be good at it or you wish you could be good at it as someone else is. Are you jealous of Bill Gates? Are you passionate about technology? Then you need to start by studying his business success and seeing what you can learn and copy from him.

Look around and someone close could be doing something you love. Spending time with them will help you nature your skills and talent in the area. You can take up an apprentice job or you could volunteer your free time to help out in the office or field.

Do not be afraid to try new stuff. Always experiment. They say curiosity is the mother of invention. Learn a new skill, learn a new sport, try learning a new language, make time to travel to a new place and meet new people. Learning new skills can reawaken or rekindle lost passion. It could also lead you to pursue a passion you never knew you had. You will probably relate to all or some of the following stories.

Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team, spending his entire professional career with Bacelona. Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At 13, he relocated to Spain. He joined Barcelona who agreed to pay for his treatment. Considered the best player in the world, Messi has won an impressive five Ballon d'Or awards and a record five European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won 33 trophies, including nine La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles, and six Copas del Rey.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Juventus and the Portugal national team. Born and raised in Madeira, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart at age 15. He underwent an operation to treat his condition, and began his senior club career. Considered the best player in the world by many, Ronaldo has an impressive five Ballon d'Or awards and won four European Golden Shoes. He has won 26 trophies in his career, including five league titles, five UEFA Champions League titles and one UEFA European Championship. He holds the record for most official goals scored in Europe's top five leagues at 398 goals, the UEFA Champions League at 120 goals, the UEFA European Championship at 9 goals and has scored over 670 senior career goals for club and country.

Even better go ahead and try inventing something new. You can go ahead and start a new business. Passion is instantly reawaken or rekindled when you start a new project in your life or when you design or create something new. Many have succeeded in their new projects. Let us take a look at some of them and their stories.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist best known for co-founding Face book. Zuckerberg was Face book chairman and chief executive officer. Born in New York, Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, where he launched Face book from his dormitory room on February 4, 2004. He co-founded Face book with college roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Face book expanded beyond colleges, reaching one billion users by 2012. The company went public in May 2012.

Christian von Koenigsegg got the idea to build his own car after watching the Norwegian stop-motion animated movie in his youth. Koenigsegg Automotive AB is a Swedish manufacturer of high-performance sports cars. He took his first steps in the world of business in his early 20s running a trading company in Sweden. He exported food from Europe to the developing world. The success of this venture gave Koenigsegg the necessary financial standing to launch his chosen career as a car manufacturer. In 1997 the company needed larger facilities and moved to a farm, just outside Ängelholm. On 22 February 2003, one of the production facilities caught fire and was badly damaged. Koenigsegg then acquired an abandoned air field to use as his new factory building. Many years of development and testing led to the CC8S. In 2006 Koenigsegg began production of the CCX, which uses an engine created in-house especially for that vehicle. This sold even in the United States. In March 2009 the Koenigsegg CCXR was listed by Forbes as one of "the world's most beautiful cars". In December 2010 the Koenigsegg Agera won the BBC Top Gear Hypercar of the Year Award. Apart from developing, manufacturing and selling the Koenigsegg line of supercars, Koenigsegg is also involved in "green technology", development programs of plug-in electric cars' systems and the next-generation reciprocating engine technologies.

Simon Kabu is the Chairman and CEO of Bonfire Ventures. Born a son to a civil servant and a peasant farmer, he lived a normal life, going to school without shoes and fetched water at home. He was very bright in school. He qualified to join university where his passion for business was nurtured. He rented out televisions and opened movie halls where he showed movies at a fee. His parents could not afford to pay his school fees and he had two options either, to discontinue his studies or work and go back to school. He discontinued school for a year to look for school fees. He worked in the public transport industry and after a year he managed to raise the money required to pay for his school fees. He remained focused and managed to complete his studies. He lived in a one room iron sheet house. He always believed that he will one day be successful. He remained resilient and focused. He was employed in a milk processing company and worked for long hours each day. He went on to work for two other companies after that. He was part of a group that met to discuss various issues of mutual interest and he was later chosen as one of the group organizers. He got to organize one of the group trips that everyone enjoyed. He went on to organize many other group trips and team building events. With just a laptop his company Bonfire Ventures was born and now employs over a thousand people. He has greatly transformed the tourism industry in Kenya and his company is considered Africa’s leading tourism agency.

Kenneth Ndua is the founder and the person behind the stove that can purify water through a heating process. The idea was to save lives of women and children dying of cholera and typhoid because of drinking dirty water. Kenneth started out with readily available materials and developed two types of stoves. After giving away free stoves and getting feedback he developed the final product. This could boil two litres of waters. He did not make money initially in his venture but his passion made him push on and succeed. He eventually succeeded in securing a business loan with a local bank and Kenneth went on to expand his business.

Naseeb Abdul Juma is popularly known by his stage name Diamond Platnumz. Diamond is a Tanzanian bongo flava recording artist and dancer. He has had several award winning hit songs. Diamond won numerous awards at Channel O and the HiPipo Music Awards. Diamond is considered influential in the music scenes and is said to be the most loved and decorated East and Central African artist at the moment. He is believed to be the highest selling Tanzanian artist and among the artists earning the highest income in the region's music industry.

Daniel "Churchill" Ndambuki is a Kenyan comedian who hosts the comedy TV show Churchill Show. Churchill was born in Kitui town, but later moved to Machakos. He has worked in the comedy industry since 1996 and has now become a household name in Kenya. He launched the Churchill Show in September 2008. The show has given a platform to hundreds of comedians in Kenya. Churchill has brought a new and fresh style of comedy to the Kenyan airwaves and mainstream media gaining him millions of fans on Radio, TV and the internet. Churchill is now a Kenyan household name. His hit show Churchill Live has increasingly become East Africa’s most popular and hilarious TV Show even in the US, the UK, India, Germany, and rest of the world.

Note that the older a field is, the harder it is to get into. It is also harder to establish your business and be recognized.

Scan the market for unfulfilled needs and find innovative ways to fill the gap in the market.

It does not matter your level of education. Most successful people dropped out of school because school did not recognized their areas of interest or present them with the opportunity to develop their skills along their areas of interest.

If you honestly answer the questions below, your answers should guide you towards finding and following your passion.

Take the below quiz to assist you in Identifying your passion and purpose.

· What is your favorite discussion topic, what do you enjoy and love reading on?

· What is it you would love to learn?

· What do you see yourself doing for the rest of your life if you had limited time left to live?

· What have people in the past said you are good at?

· Do you have hobbies and what are they?

· What do you see yourself doing without getting paid a din?

· If you were promised success in whatever you did, what would that be?

· If you had all the money, time and energy you required, what would you be doing?

· What do you like about doing what it is you love?

· What story would you want to tell your child and family or leave behind?

· Do you have the skills required to peruse your passion?

· What impact or difference or contribution would you want to make to the world?

· What is important to you, money or your time or doing what you love?

· What advice would you give yourself and other in a similar predicament as yourself?

· What experiences do you have that can help you explore your passion?

· What skills do you have or what skill can you learn that can benefit other people around?

· What are the requirements in your area of passion?

· How long will it take for you to fulfill your passion?

· Are there any new developments or technologies in your area of passion that you need to know about?

Cheers,

Peter Kirimi Mburugu.

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