What Were You Born to Do? 7 Ways to Discover Your Passion and Purpose and Turn Them Into a New Career in Your Future

Passion and purpose are critical ingredients to true success in life. Some might think that money is a sign of success, but it isn't. All the money in the world without passion and purpose will feel meaningless in the end. Remember the Beatles song, “Money can't buy me, love?” Well, it can't buy you happiness, either.

American television and film screenwriter, producer and director, and comic book writer, J. Michael Straczynski wrote, “Follow your passion. The rest will attend to itself. If I can do it, anybody can do it. It's possible. And it's your turn. So go for it. It's never too late to become what you always wanted to be in the first place.”

Life without passion and purpose feels flat and dull. Worse, it can make your life feel like a struggle. Days filled with endless and tedious activity drag. When you are caught up in a job that is repetitive or doesn't feel meaningful, your whole life will seem like more of a struggle. By finding your passion and purpose, no matter what it may be, you will discover joy, creativity, and inspiration. You will also experience a greater sense of freedom and well-being.

And you will find meaning in life.

The problem for many people is discovering their passion and purpose. They have lost touch with–or feel they never had a sense of–their true passion. Sometimes people need help to identify their passion and purpose, and that's okay. You can feel free to search. What you don't want to do is give up!

Here are seven specific ways you can discover your passion and purpose in life:

1) Create a Vision Board

Collect images and quotes that illustrate what you want for your life. Add your goals in both written and visual form. Creating a physical vision board allows you to place it somewhere prominent. Place it where you will be able to see it several times a day. Seeing visual representations of what you want will reinforce the vision you have for the life you want to live.

I have created several vision boards since I first learned about them. The focus of my first one centered on my graduate studies and my goal of graduating in May of 2007 with a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership. At the time that I made my vision board, I was deep in the research phase of my dissertation, and there were no guarantees that I would finish on time.

My vision board helped me to stay focused on my goal.

And I graduated on time.

A diploma and grad hat represent a high achieving student.

My current board is one that I set up several years ago. I update it as I need to. For example, at the time, I wanted a relationship in my life with a loving and kind man. I started my vision board with a magazine clipping of a handsome man, and I placed it in the center of the board.

I eventually met my current boyfriend, and a few months later I recognized some of the physical features that he had in common with the magazine photo. They both had sweet smiles. They both had graying hair, and they both had blue eyes. When I realized that my boyfriend was the manifestation of my vision on the vision board, I replaced the photo of the magazine guy with the real guy who has been in my life for over five years now. I had manifested the relationship I wanted in my life!

I also had the photo of a couple of dogs on my vision board. At the time, my two beloved dachshunds had died a few months earlier within days of one another (both of old age), and I was without a dog but knew I wanted one in my future.

After a few months of grieving, I decided I was ready for a new doggy addition to my life, and I found my current companion, Bernie. Ironically, it took me several months to realize that the dachshund I had picked to become part of my family had the same red and white face with freckles that the photo on the vision board had!

Another vision manifested.

Bernie, a red and white piebald dachshund

Similarly, I am now driving the car that I placed on my vision board. There are still things on the board that I am waiting to manifest. I want to do some traveling, for example. But I am confident that when the time is right, those trips will happen.

So do I believe in the power of vision boards?

You bet I do!

And many others do, too. Check out Jack Canfield's resource (Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame) here: “21 Vision Board Ideas to Set & Achieve Goals More Effectively.”

John Assaraf is also fond of vision boards. Both these guys were in the 2006 movie, The Secret. In the film, Assaraf tells the story of how he bought a new house, and as he unpacked his box of vision boards, he discovered that a photo of a house he had placed on his vision board a few years earlier was the exact house he had just moved into. He hadn't realized it, but he had manifested his house after visualizing it years earlier.

So, don't hesitate.

If you want to start making some of your dreams come true as well as identify your passion and purpose in life, start a vision board. Find photos of items that resonate with you and represent the things you want in your life that you don't already have. Then wait. You will be surprised and delighted as you watch those things come about in your life.

2) Make a List of the Things You Enjoy Doing

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Write down everything–no matter how small or seemingly insignificant–that you enjoy doing. Think back to your childhood and add all those hobbies and activities that you loved and were good at then. Which of these things sparks the greatest feeling of passion and joy in you?

Believe it or not, a lot of people have trouble with this activity. They have lost touch with what brings them joy and happiness because they have become so focused on making a living and doing whatever they have to do to “get by.”

When I was a kid, I struggled with what my real talent was.

My sister can draw, and I can barely draw stick figures. My brother is also artistic with the ability to paint and play musical instruments. He even writes music! I could scarcely plunk my way through a piano recital even after taking lessons for ten years.

When I was in high school, I shared with a good friend that I didn't know what I was any good at. She looked at me, dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me? YOUR talent is knowing exactly the right thing to say and when to say it.”

I hadn't thought of that as a talent.

But as luck would have it, it is a trait that has come in handy many times over the years including in my current position.

As a kid, my favorite past time was reading. Some of my fondest memories are of our family's early visits to the public library. My mother wasn't much of a reader herself, but she encouraged my sister, brother and me to read, and we all became avid readers. Years later, how fortuitous was it for me to become a librarian! I always said I had the best job in the building, and I always felt lucky to have landed in the ideal position for me. That is the key to happiness, I believe.

3) List Your Dreams and Goals in Life

What do you really want from your life? How would you like to be remembered?

What do you want your legacy to be?

What do you want people to say about you after you have died?

I ran across an interesting story about Alfred Nobel, the man who started the Nobel Peace Prize. On the occasion of his brother, Ludvig's death, the papers erroneously thought that Alfred had died. The headline in one of the newspapers was “The Merchant of Death is Dead.” You see, Alfred Nobel was also the inventor of dynamite and other explosives. More specifically, the paper offered that “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”

Dr. Nobel was mortified at the thought that this would be his legacy. As a result, he left $9 million in his will to be used to set up the Nobel Peace Prize. By doing so, he hoped to improve his public image. He did not want to be remembered forever as the “merchant of death.” Who would?

For what do you want to be remembered? What is the legacy you want to leave your family and the world?

Think about that when choosing how you want to live the rest of your life.

4) Dream Big

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Write down all the things that you have ever dreamed of being or doing. Include those from your childhood. Also, include the things you may have listed from one of the activities above. Forget about how “crazy” some of those things might sound to you now. Just go with it for the time being. Write down everything that you ever thought of wanting to do in your life, no matter how out of reach it may feel right now.

Go back over the list as often as you need to until you know it is complete.

Review the list. Which of these dreams and goals resonates with you the most? From that list, which one still speaks to you at your core? Which one makes your soul soar? What might bring you a sense of having found meaning in life? (If you struggle in this area, maybe this post would be of interest to you: “What Gives Your Life Meaning? Can Everyone Figure it Out on Their Own?”)

Identifying your passion and purpose can create a massive shift within you.

But to make the shift, you must get in touch with who you are at your core. Even if what comes up for you feels like a big, scary, “I could never do that” kind of dream, sit with it. Is it really impossible? Or are you afraid to try because you might fail?

I have a magnet on my refrigerator that reminds me every day: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

What would YOU do if you knew you would not fail?

Consider whether or not you have been deferring living your passion and purpose. Check out this post entitled, “Have You Placed Your Big Dream on the Back Burner? How to Stop Deferring Your Dreams and Make Them a Top Priority At Last.”

5) Be Inspired

Think about and list on a piece of paper, all those people who inspire you. Then note down what it is about them and what they do that makes you feel inspired. What can you take from their examples to create passion and purpose in your life?

Growing up, I admired stories of courageous women who pioneered new paths for themselves and others.

Eleanor Roosevelt was one example. As a young woman, I was inspired by the success and authenticity of Oprah Winfrey (and I still am) as well as Ellen DeGeneres.

I just finished reading Michelle Obama‘s book, Becoming which was a great example of a woman having to find her way in unchartered territory as the first African American First Lady. And at the moment, I am fascinated with the energy, enthusiasm and seeming authenticity of our youngest member of Congress, Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez, or “AOC.”

I say “at the moment” because it is too early to tell if she is as “real” as she is presenting herself to be or if she will be somehow changed by the establishment that would like her to “calm down” and not be so outspoken. The jury is out on how that will go. But in the meantime, I do find some inspiration in her Twitter feed, and I am following her closely as are her other 2 million-plus Twitter followers.

Those are the people who inspire me.

Who inspires you?

Think about that. I mean really give it some serious consideration. There may be something there that can help you decide what path you want to strike out for yourself.

6) Get a Mentor

Find a mentor who is already living a passionate and purposeful life. You can use that person as a model for the success you want. If you don't already know someone you would like to have as a mentor, networking is a great way to find someone suitable. Once you know what your goal is, find a way to connect with other successful people with the same interests.

Mentors are not the same as coaches, so let me be clear about what I mean by “get a mentor.” A mentor is someone that you have established–or you are in the process of forming– mutual respect for one another. You as the mentee recognize that you want and need help from your mentor. Approach someone you admire who may be able to guide you and provide a good role model. Ask them if they would be willing to mentor you.

A mentor is someone who takes time out of their busy schedule to share wisdom with you.

They may share strategies that you can use. Your mentor should be someone you respect and to whom you will listen. Don't waste someone's time by asking them to mentor you if you aren't going to be open to their advice to you.

Be willing to listen and be prepared to be humble. You are asking for mentoring because you are admitting you don't know everything. You want to learn from someone who has preceded you and forged a path you admire. A place to find a mentor would be at work where you ask someone with seniority if they have time to mentor you or you ask a professor or former teacher. It should be someone you admire and trust.

In my career, I have been mentored by people who took an interest in me and helped me become successful. My first Supervising Teacher comes to mind. An English Professor I had in college is another. An older colleague who volunteered to share her wisdom when I was starting my teaching career was also a mentor to me.

You can learn much be finding a mentor, and one day you can also learn by becoming someone else's mentor.

7) Find a Coach

Coaching is a potent tool that will help you discover yourself.

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A coach can help you identify your interests and create the life you want for yourself. Invest in yourself by hiring a coach who will help you discover your passion and purpose. Additionally, a coach will provide you with the support, guidance, and encouragement you need.

The coaching relationship is different from that of a mentoring relationship.

Coaches offer advice for a fee. You may find someone to coach you pro bono, but be aware that you often get what you pay for. If you are serious about growing yourself and improving your life, you may want to invest in yourself by hiring an experienced, professional coach.

There are many types of coaches who are available to you who specialize in specific areas of endeavor. The generalist is a Life Coach who helps with life goals and planning. A Career Coach focuses more on career direction although as a Certified Life Strategies Coach and trained and experienced Career Transition and Job Search Coach, my coaching flows between the two areas a lot of the time. If you want to find or improve a relationship, you can find a Relationship Coach. You can also hire someone to help you with your finances, your health, your weight, or any other area of your life that you may need help working on.

In just about all of these areas, what you will be working on is finding your passion and purpose.

Passion and purpose are what everything boils down to in the end.

Thankfully, there are many ways to discover your passion and purpose in and for life. Many are free, and some will need an investment of money as well as time. But if you want to live your best life, then you need to take action starting now. Pick one or more of the activities above and create the change you want and need.

Don't delay. Starting now will get you what you want and where you want to be faster than if you sit and wait for something to happen. You need to be the catalyst in your life.

What are you waiting for?

If you are ready for some career coaching, perhaps it is time to take advantage of a 20-minute complimentary Discovery Session. By talking together, we can determine if I can help you with finding your passion or purpose or if you need help from another type of coach. To make an appointment, just click here: http://kittyboitnott.coachesconsole.com/calendar. Let's chat!

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Until next time.

What Were You Born to Do? 7 Ways to Discover Your Passion and Purpose and Turn Them Into a New Career in Your Future

And you will find meaning in life.

Here are seven specific ways you can discover your passion and purpose in life: