Don’t Know What You’re Passionate About? Here are 4 Signs.

“ I don’t have any passions.” “Work is just work.” How often have you heard variations of these statements over the bar, or during a casual coffee date?

This is because most people associate passion with this grandiose and heartfelt love for saving the planet or chimpanzees in Africa.

The truth is, passion can be as small or big as you want it. If you love sketching, you can spend weekends and your spare time dabbling with pencil and paper, or you can consume your whole day with it, trying to make a go at it in the art world.

Pursuing your passion is not always equivalent to dedicating your life to something. It can be committing short periods of time to it, for a long stretch of time. Maybe eventually your sketches start selling online—but you haven’t quit your day job to do this. 

I struggled with the concept of passion for a long time. I once heard from a lovely young woman I was interviewing for a publication, that “your passions become the things you hang onto for a long time, those things become your passion.”

I believe that statement synthesized what passion is for many of us. In this article, I’ll break down the four simple signs to know if you’re passionate about something and the potential ways it can morph into a career.

Wonder

I use writing as a reference point for all of the following signs I’m about to explain. I often find myself early in the morning, or after a generous jolt of caffeine coming up with phrases or headlines for articles and blogs. During my school years, it was melancholic and reflective poetry before my classes began, and journaling before I went to bed. 

If you’re passionate about something, you often find yourself deeply lost in thought about it. I’m reminded a lot of my songwriter friend when I think of wonder. She’s often lost in daydreams, but what’s retrieved are bits and pieces of harmonies and lyrics that go into her next song. The reminisce of that is eventually compiled into a beautiful song that gives me goosebumps every time.

Even when I watch television. I often pay close attention to (sometimes ingenious) costumes, settings, and personalities of the characteristics, because it gives me a good visualization of how to describe events, places, and people in my own writing.

If you find your mind drifting towards a hobby or an idea, this is the initial spark that can turn into a passion.

Flow

Being in flow is extremely riveting, there have been books written on it. If you can easily lose yourself in hours doing something without getting bored, this is a pretty simple way to tell that you’re passionate about something. 

Let’s not mistake passion for efficiency though. For a year I worked as a bookkeeper and I could spend hours doing one repetitive task—ie. Matching bank statements. But this wasn’t reflective of how I felt about the task, but purely because I wanted the work to be done.

Perhaps a better way to describe flow in passion terms, is your ability to stay on a task, that’s outside of your day-to-day work.

Do you get filled up energetically whilst completing this task? Can you manage to get lost in this task with great concentration? This is an indication that you might be passionate about something. Many lucky individuals get to do their passion for their work. Arguably, being passionate about your work can translate into long-term success. Many entrepreneurs, for example, will state passion as one of the main contributors to their business success.

Reflection and Growth

When you’re passionate about something, you’re more likely to regularly reflect on your growth in that discipline. For example, I constantly compare my work now to my writing in the previous year, notice changes, and look for ways to improve. By no grain is my work perfect, or near the type of quality I want it to be. However, I view that learning curve as a fruitful challenge.

Your passion may come more intuitively because you possess a natural talent for it. But it’s the constant hard work and consistency that will make that passion stretch and grow beyond just a casual hobby.

For people who “wish they could travel for a living” fail to think about the hard work that is required to make their passion into their day-to-day reality.

We all need to make a living to survive; thus, if you’re unable to produce economic value from your passion, it’s very unlikely you can make it into your job. Nevertheless, if you’re willing to put in the work and seek opportunities that can put you in alignment with your passion, the sky is the limit. In fact, most employers these days know the healthy impact it can have on their company to align talent with their passion, values, and purpose. Don’t be afraid to go searching if what you’re currently doing doesn’t satisfy you.

Longevity

This last point is probably one of the most critical components of what makes or breaks a passion.

Some people may say they’re passionate about public speaking or skiing, but haven’t stood up on a stage, or dusted off their skis in three years. This is a false idea of a passion you think or want to have.

The fact is, being passionate about something means you take some type of action toward practicing and nurturing that passion. It’s likely the things you don’t mention in a dating profile, are the things you’re actually passionate about. Passion becomes like an exercise you do so regularly, that you don’t even think to mention it when someone asks. You’re more likely to think of more whimsical and casual examples (like hiking, fine dining, or windsurfing), when someone asks what you’re passionate about. Or more broad and general topics like human rights or political activism.

Passion is something you latch on and return to, even when life gets busy. For some, it can gradually start to permeate or shape their work, simply because of the amount of time and focus that is dedicated to it. I know for a fact that even if I never got paid to write a single word again, I will always write for my own sanity. Writing has always been a lifeline, and I don’t see that changing in the near future.

Don’t Overthink it… Instead, Invest Time into the Things you Love

Often when people think of pursuing their passion, it equates to some die-hard fantasy of being able to monetize that right from the get-go.

Start slow, and pace yourself. View allocating time towards the things you enjoy doing as a healthy self-investment. You never know what it might flourish into in a couple of years. Give yourself ample time and space to grow, and don’t force it upon yourself to get somewhere with this passion right away. Find pleasure and satisfaction in the growth, and the journey of learning, and one day you might find yourself in a place where you get to cultivate that passion full time.

As someone who’s passionate about writing, I managed to score a career where I spend a lot of my time producing written content. Now it’s stretched to more managerial and strategic initiatives. I’m discovering more passions along the way of this one. And although it felt like it took forever to get here, every experience I’ve had up to this point has helped me along the way. And I’m nowhere close to finished yet.

I hope this gives you more space and less confusion on the whole passion discussion.