A New Method for Finding Your Passion

Are you having a hard time finding your passion? Many of my career coaching clients wrestle with this. It was hard for me too.

This month though I discovered a new way for my career coaching clients to find their passion . Although the circumstances are not what I would wish for anyone, everyone has tough times at some time in their lives so this might work for you too.

My mother who is 96 came down with bronchitis at the end of September. Two days after the doctor had diagnosed her she got worse so I called an ambulance to take her to the hospital.

She spent a week in the hospital sleeping most of the time. She woke only for meals or to say hello to me when she became aware that I was there. She was extremely weak and tired.

The next week they moved her to a rehabilitation hospital and diagnosed her with pneumonia. As her condition got worse she began to think she would always be bedridden. She told the doctor if she could not go to her bridge games each week she had no reason to live! It was another week before we saw any signs that she was getting better.

Recovery was very slow. All that time she basically slept and ate a little-mostly slept. There was only one other activity that she consistently did each day and that was the daily bridge game in the newspapers. Each day I would bring the newspapers and sick as she was she managed to muster up enough energy to play the hand in the papers before going back to sleep. Clearly she has a passion for bridge.

Needless to say I was concerned about my mother and so I stayed at the hospital most of the day. The only things I attended to were my client coaching calls and newsletter writing.

From these two activities I got amazing relief from the stress. Once I began a coaching call or started to write an article for my newsletter everything else vanished and I could think about only what I was doing. Other activities did not hold my attention. I had 300 messages in my email most of which were opened only after she got better!

So if you are having trouble finding your passion , look at the activities that give you pleasure even when times are tough. Ask yourself what gives you relief when you have a big problem. The answer to that question probably holds the key to what you are passionate about.

Look for something that you enjoy like bridge for my mother and newsletter writing and career coaching for me. It will be something that absorbs in a way that makes you forget your troubles-something you want to continue forever and that makes everything else bearable.