There’s nothing to feel ashamed about if you do not know what your passion is or what you want to do in life. More than half the people out there face the same dilemma. Some people find their passion at a young age and pursue that as their career path. On the other hand, some others may struggle to find what they like or what they are good at. It does not matter when you figure out your passion because it is never too late for that spark to light that fire inside you and for you to go out there and chase your dreams.

Nevertheless, the earlier you find it, the easier it will be to pursue it of course. Here are 5 ways in which you can try discovering where your passion lies.

Photo by Mohamed Almari, CC0 1.0

1. Try Everything

Unless you try out something you will never know if it excites you. Read up on every single course offered by your college and see if it sparks an interest. Just going by the name alone will not give you insight into what exactly you will learn in that course. Read up on it and maybe watch an introductory video. Take part in all the different activities available in your school. A famous example of this is Steve Jobs and his class on typefaces. On a whim, he decided to take up a class on calligraphy which led to the making Apple’s products stand out in the market. Unless you dip your feet in the water, you will not know the temperature.

2. Don’t Quit Easily

What most of us tend to do is to give up on something the minute we are not good at it. What we need to understand is that no one is good at anything in the first try. You will always stumble in the beginning. If you give up the minute you face a hurdle you will never get a proper experience.

3. Imagine Money Not Being a Factor

Imagine for a minute that you had a billion dollars. What would you do today? Would you set up a canvas and paint? Or would you go into the kitchen and spend a day baking? When money is left out of the equation many situations in life become simpler. Sometimes following your passion may not lead to money, but once you figure out what your passion is and you truly love it, you will figure out a way to make money from it.

4. A Hobby Is Different from A Profitable Passion

Often people get carried away if they just like doing something. This usually happens to school and college going teens. Studies at school will not be half as interesting as playing football or playing the guitar. Before making a rash decision and saying that that’s what you want to do for the rest of your life, stop and think. Think if you are good enough to become a Rockstar. If you are not then you should keep it aside as just a hobby and continue looking out for something else you would want to do all your life.

5. Imagine

Once you find something that could potentially be what you want to do for the rest of your life, sit down and imagine yourself doing it. Read up on people who do what you want to do, or something similar to it. If you enjoy what you are imagining, there you go you have found your passion. It is important, although to not get carried away. Some professions are glorified. Try talking to someone who might help give some insight into the various positives and negatives in a certain career path.

If you are 15 or 50, there is always time to do what you love. Just expand you comfort zone and start moving towards the edge. Risks are always involved, if you are jumping from one path to the other.

Always remember to think everything through. Rash decisions lead to more downfalls than rises.

In today’s era, everyone is trying to be settled up in their lives, thereby, working hard, day and night, to earn more and more money to enjoy the luxuries of life. Somewhere, amidst all this, there may be times when you are not getting the desired output. This situation might lead to a motivational burn-out, where you feel stressed and that nothing is going right. If you are facing such a situation, then don’t worry, we have got some amazing ways to avoid motivational burn-out.

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1. Meditate At-Least Once in A Day

We all know that meditation works great, but let me tell you, it works wonders! After a good shower in the morning or in evening, try to settle down yourself with closed eyes. Release all your thoughts and let your mind be blank. Pronounce ‘OUM’ and listen to the sound coming out of your mouth, this will help in letting all your thought go away. Repeat a couple of times and start with 10 minutes of a sitting and increase gradually. Trust me, the kind of mental and internal peace you experience by meditating, nothing else can give that to you and you will certainly agree with me after one or two sittings.

2. Invite Positivity and Let the Negative Thoughts Go Away

To stay motivated, it is very important to have an optimistic approach in everything that you do. Believe in the mantra, that everything happens for a good reason; which we may not realize at once. A lot depends on the thinking. Whatever we think, we gather that energy and we call for it. Think positive, gather the positive energy and the positivity will be ultimately the outcome. It is natural for negative thoughts to barge in, but try not to overthink about them and do not hold on to them.

3. Do Not Hold the Glass for A Longer Time, It’s Just a Phase

There may be circumstances where you feel that nothing is going right in whatever you are doing. You keep thinking about it over and again and as a result, make yourself a victim of motivational burn-out. It is OK to think about the adverse states, but do not let yourself stick to those thoughts. Remember, it’s just a phase and it will pass with the time. All you have to do is divert your mind from it, focus, stay strong and drop the glass filled with negativity.

4. Take Out Time for Your Passion and Things You Like to Do

In the race to earn money and prove yourself, we certainly are forgetting what we loved to do during our childhood and what we had dreamt to become during our college. You might be a great painter, an actress, a model, a writer, a singer, a dancer, a traveler, a guitarist, a DJ, an RJ etcetera. Why not take some time out of your busy schedule and invest in the things you love to do? Believe me, they act as a great stress buster and keep you going! Try this, feel good and oh! You can thank me later.

5. Go for Digital Devices Free Vacations Once in A While

Getting away from your regular city/place of work for some time is another great idea. It’s perfect if you plan with a group of your friends, if not, don’t wait for your friends to make a plan, be a planner yourself, pack your bags and get away to some nice serene place for a vacation. Make sure that you do not use your cell phone much, except an emergency and for god’s sake, no laptop, please! Try to enjoy your own company and explore as much as you can be keeping yourself away from your digital devices. This will be a great refreshment and you will feel it yourself.

6. Socialize, Make Friends and Smile

If you are not a very social person and like to stay in your shell, then fella! It is the time to get out of your comfort zone and indulge yourself in group outings, socialize and make new friends. Pop that bubble and show them the hidden side. Participate in every activity and enjoy yourself to the fullest. And yes, most necessarily, do not forget to laugh loud and keep that smile lightning up yourself. You will definitely cherish this time well spent and this will definitely boost you up.

Success. Something every one of us strive for in life. Many people think that just hard work will result in success. Work for 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day. But hard work alone will not lead to success. Smart working combined with proper planning and discipline will result in achieving your dreams. Visualizing progress is the main task here. If you have a company to run, you need to visualize what it will look like in the next 5 or 10 years. If you are just starting your career you need to decide what you want to become and visualize yourself in that position.

Here are 5 ways in which you can figure out your pathway to success.

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1. Identify Your Passion

Discover those things which you do which make your heart flutter and your mind buzz with excitement. Those are the things which you can do in life without getting tired and without giving up on the way. Only when you find that one thing which you love doing will you be able to set it as a target for yourself and work towards achieving it.

2. Set Clear Goals

Most people often have vague goals. “I will work in the fashion industry.” Or something like “I will make a billion dollars in 10 years.” How you will make a billion dollars and what role you will play in the fashion industry are questions which need to be answered. Clear goals look like “I will be the CEO of Google.” It could even be something small like “I will score x percentage in my upcoming exam.” Whatever goal you set for yourself must be precise and accurate. Only then will working towards it become easy and it will be an achievable goal. 

3. Intermediate Baby Goals

Baby steps are what it takes whenever you start out on something. Set small intermediate goals which finally lead to the larger goal. This will serve as checkpoints on the way which will make sure you are working on the right path. Achieving a goal isn’t an overnight task. It takes months and years of hard work. Setting small goals along the way will train your mind into not diverting from the larger goal. If we do not do this, our minds will lax away from the goal at hand and we will not work towards achieving it.

4. Seek Accountability

There are always speed bumps on any road. Similarly, there will be hurdles on your road to success. Sometimes a situation needs to be judged and something some critical points need to be analysed. Seeking external help at this point of time will aid in making a better decision. A third person’s opinion will always broaden your outlook towards a certain matter. It may also lead to some ideas and certain lines of thought which may not have been considered before.

5. Turn on That Switch in Your Brain

A car will not start unless the ignition is turned on. A light will not come on unless the switch is turned on. Our brains will not start functioning in high capacity unless we turn on that switch in our minds which will make us go on full throttle till we achieve what we want. Find that switch and turn it on. Unless the motivation to achieve what we want comes from within we cannot get to where we want to be. External factors can motivate us only to a certain extent. After that it is all up to us. People can come along with us on this path only up to a certain point. After that we are all on our own. We need to learn to work without that external push. The fire should move from being at your legs to being inside your stomach. That’s when success can be achieved.

Writing a letter to your future self can be a very interesting activity. It can be great motivational tool that can help you fulfill your personal goals in life.  It’s a remarkable way to take stock of things happening in your life. This self enhancement tool if done with the right perspective will not only boost your morale but will also inspire you to move on in life.

Before you begin to write ask a few basic questions to yourself. Who would I like to be in the next few years? What is the time frame that I give myself? What area of my life do I need to improve? These are some of the basic questions. You could add more to the list to give you more clarity. The more specific your questions are the more specific your answers will be.

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1. It Awakens You to Your Life Goals

Writing a letter to yourself moves you to action. It is a wakeup call to yourself.  If you have lost your zeal or passion towards your life goals, this exercise will throw the search light within you. It will make you sit up and ponder over where you are and where you would like to be. Clarity in life can increase a sense of purpose and create hopefulness. Hopefulness always gives birth to positive actions and positive action in turn results in successful living.

2. Helps to Evaluate Your Current Status

This is a very personal activity and hence you can do it with utmost honesty and sincerity. Evaluate yourself objectively. Being honest with one’s self is an essential trait found in a successful person. This is a truth that been proved time and again in the lives of people who are genuine and successful. Development happens when a person begins to take honest assessment of himself or herself. Writing a letter is one of the best ways to do so.

It’s amazing yet true, that when you stop to take a look at yourself, you realize that you have long way to go. A person who has a purpose or goal in life will obviously not want to stagnate but want to move on and progress, both professionally and personally.

3. Helps You to Assess Your Strength and Work on Your Weakness

It is amazing how a simple task such as writing a letter can be a great assessment tool. This exercise will enable you to precisely review your strengths and weakness. This is a good time to make a SWOT analysis of your life. Use your strengths to get to your destiny. Work on your weaknesses and turn them into strengths too.

4. Helps Set Time Frame

Every time you write a letter it would have a time frame. Say for example, you write a letter to your ‘future self’, five years from now. So, you are addressing an individual who is five years more mature than you now are.

A future letter to one’s own self with a stipulated time frame, should be addressed to a person say for example, with a particular designation, profession and even a particular position in your personal life. If you are a student aspiring to be a teacher you could write a letter to your future self as teacher, a young executive could address his or her future self as a manager, a married person could address his or herself as a better spouse, those with children as better parents and the list goes on.

5. It’s A Good Way to Encourage Yourself

Writing a letter to your future self is a good way to perk up your spirit, especially when you are feeling low. As you go about with the mundane things of life, boredom can creep in, resulting in stagnation of life. As you write you will have to answer so many questions to your own self. Hence the task itself can be a propelling force that drives you closer to your dreams.

In an age where the writing a letter is a forgotten art, writing to yourself can be one of the most quirky and fun things to do. It is one of those unusual activities that not only lightens your heart and brightens your spirit but it also gives a deeper insight in yourself and your life.

A well written letter can not only create your future can also result in a well lived life as well.

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
– Jim Rohn

There is no single mantra to achieve success. Everyone needs to etch their own unique paths to their destiny, in the sands of time. But there does exist general ground rules that can be applied to any goal, profession or personal journey to fulfil your aspirations. So, if you are on a mission to achieve success, follow the steps given below:

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1. What Is Your Dream?

It’s obvious, isn’t it? You need to figure out your dreams and aspirations to move forward in life. We all aspire to become someone or have something, but is it something that we actually need? Ask yourself some of these questions ‘What do I want to do in life?’, ‘Where do I see myself in the next 5 years?’, ‘Does my aspirations align with my vision for tomorrow?’ or ‘Will this make me a better version of me?’

Once you’ve pondered upon these questions, you may realize your passion in life and what you want to achieve. Take sufficient time to introspect and set out a Plan of Action for yourself.

2. Turn Your Dreams into Goals

Once you know what you have to do in life, it’s imperative that you take steps to make that a reality in your life. Believe in your dreams and work on it. Jot down a trajectory that will lead you to your desired goals. Make short term goals for your long-term aspirations. Make sure to do something every day to walk step by step towards the GOAL of your life!

3. Seek and Achieve!

Faith plays a pivotal role in your journey to your desired dreams. All great achievers usually see where they need to be. Their vision carries them forward, from what they see to what they become.

According to research, focused visualization often works because your subconscious mind tries to sync your current scenario and what you’re visualizing. It tries to resolve any difference between those two and move towards your envisioned scenario. Therefore, your subconscious is that the intercessor, attempting to find what you’re seeing.

You may have heard it multiple times, what you seek is seeking you. It’s true. Believing and envisioning that alternate universe opens your mind and attracts what you seek.

4. Positive Outlook Towards Life

The journey to success can never be easy. It is never going to be pleasant, what you expected or comfortable when you aspire to create your own lineage. You will face multiple obstacles in your life whether it is financially or emotionally.

You need to realise that everything happens for a reason and have faith in your journey and your capabilities. You were born to fulfil a purpose, the one that you’re working on. Believe in it! Always have faith and an optimistic outlook on life, there are millions of permutations to do everything, believe that you’ll find your way.

5. Have A Mentor

A good mentor helps you think through a plan, suggests ways in which you can work towards that goal and provide the expertise and savvy you’re missing. You’ll get a head up once you are in the right direction and an alert once hassle comes — most likely long before you’d have noticed it yourself.

Finding a mentor suitable to your weaknesses is a good start to finding loopholes that you may not be able to see. Taking time out to network and find someone who fits best with your needs can always give you a lead. You get to expand your contacts with a mentor who can introduce you to the right people. This period of growth through your journey is a time to listen and learn. A mentor can always help you in understanding multi-faced aspects of a world you may be unaware of.

6. Work, Work, Work!

You’ve figured out your dream, you’ve made plans/short term goals. What do you need to do next? Obviously, work for it. Success comes to those who strive for excellence in their work. Successful people work persistently to achieve what they set out to achieve. Being diligent is an imperative habit that one needs to learn and embed to achieve anything in life.

Your short-term tasks multiplied by the number of times they’re done is equal to your long-term accomplishments!

7. Enjoy Life

Always reward yourself for the journey you’ve set out for, enjoy working towards your dreams. If you’re doing something that you are passionate about then you must enjoy every aspect of it. Life is a journey with lessons to learn and grow.  So, enjoy it as much as you possibly can. And once you reach your desired goal, don’t forget to reward yourself for these achievements! Be generous enough to share your journey and happiness with the ones you love to have a fulfilling life in every aspect.