The pursuit of a bold life requires many things. It demands a commitment to realize your greatest potential in life, and it must be accompanied by focused actions. But even before these can be pursued, one must know their true passion and purpose in life. Without an awareness of your true passion, you’re more likely to float along through life without fully living each day. In contrast, a clear understanding of what drives you, motivates you, and makes you feel fulfilled fuels action and excitement. This is why identifying your passion in life is essential in your bold life journey.
Of course, many have struggled to find their true passion over the course of their life thus far. Without a clear idea of their underlying passions, they find themselves feeling dissatisfied and misguided. If this is the case for you, there is good news. It’s never too late to find your passion and change the course of your life. Just because this decade is coming to a close doesn’t mean the next one might be your boldest. If a bold life is something you desire, then consider these 10 essential steps to help redefine your true passion.
- Identify the Activities and Subjects That Interest You – The best way to start when finding your true passion is to identify the types of things that pique your interest. When you embrace these aspects in your pursuit of the bold life, you naturally increase your chances of success. And inherently, these activities and subjects energize you in your bold life pursuits.
- Identify Times When You Feel Truly Satisfied – Not everyone will immediately know which activities and subjects fuels their true passions. When this is difficult, or when several interests, exist, it helps to identify those that provide high levels of satisfaction. In other words, performing a task that makes you deeply fulfilled is another great way to find your true passion. And often, this provide a hint at how you might pursue your major bold life goals.
- Notice Activities Where You Lose Track of Time – Another excellent way to identify your true passion is to notice which activities cause you to lose track of time. Paying attention to these moments can help you identify the specific activity, subject, or pursuit that naturally motivates you. For some, they may have difficulty finding their true passion because they lack conscious awareness of it. But by noticing situations when time seems to vanish, they can recognize it and better define their bold life pursuits.
- Revisit Childhood Interests – Often, as we grow into adulthood, choices are made that take us in specific life directions. In some cases, interests that reflected our true passion in childhood get left behind. Therefore, reexploring childhood interests may also reveal your true passion and help you redirect your life’s course. If you feel as if your current efforts aren’t creating a truly bold life, this is a worthwhile endeavor.
- Take an Inventory of Your Skills and Talents – For some idealists, this may not seem like an important step. But in reality, taking an inventory of your own skills and talents is essential in the pursuit of a bold life. Being passionate alone is not enough by itself to realize bold life goals. For example, one may be passionate about being a world-class sprinter but lack the natural talents to achieve this. Therefore, you should know your innate skills and talents in better defining the true passion that will guide your efforts.
- Research All Your Options – Many times, individuals can be too narrow-minded in exploring their true passion. They may limit their search to their specific career or current field of expertise. But in doing so, they may be missing their true passion and a number of unique life callings. Because of this, it is similarly important to research a variety of areas where your true passion might lie. What you find may surprise you and lead to your greatest bold life adventure.
- Create Your Own Bold Life Mission Statement – After completing the prior steps, you should have a good idea about what your true passion is. The next step is, therefore, to incorporate that passion into your pursuit of a bold life. With this in mind, creating your own bold life mission statement centered on your true passion is important. This will not only serve as a guide but also make sure your pursuits are fueled with passion.
- Identify Gaps Between Your Skills and Needed Ones – In a previous step, you took an inventory of your skills and talents. This helped identify which passion might be your true passion. But even so, you may still have some shortcomings that could be improved to help you achieve a bolder life. This can serve two purposes. First, it can identify areas for improvement so that you can determine if indeed they can be improved. And pursuits in this regard allow you to perform activities that will let you “test out” your true passion.
- Set Realistic and Achievable Goals – Identifying gaps in skills and talents is necessary for creating bold life goals. Likewise, additional goals will be needed to achieve bold life pursuits that are motivated by your true passion. Using your mission statement as a guide, realistic and achievable goals should, therefore, be created based on your passions. This will again help you align your passion with your actions, which will increase your chances of success.
- Create an Action Plan – The final step in identifying your true passion and applying it to your bold life pursuits involves an action plan. Nothing can be achieved without action. And in order to realize your boldest life possible, a focused plan is required that is driven by passion. Action plans should focus on your new life goals, your mission statement, and your underlying true passion. Once complete, you will be prepared to make your life the boldest it can be.
Make 2020 and the New Decade a Bold One!
By following the 10 steps provided, you will be better able to identify your true passion in life. At the same time, this can then be used to create further steps in pursuing a bold life. No matter how old you are, or your specific situation, these steps can be performed at any time. Why not choose to identify your true passion and dedicate your efforts in 2020 to achieving a truly bold life? If you do, you will undoubtedly realize a much more fulfilling life and one of which you will be proud.
