How to find what you love to do(1)

How to Find What You Love to Do
By: Brian Kim - July 17, 2006.
This article was inspired by Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University. In it, he says the advice we’ve all heard a thousand times:
“You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” - Steve Jobs
Well then, the question naturally arises:
How do you find what you love todo? It’s such a big question.
What absolutely boils my blood is that we hear we should be doing what we love to do all the time, but there’s not any step by step advice out there on how to find what you love to do. The advice that is out there helps to a certain degree, but it’s just a bunch of pieces thrown together with no coherent logical structure or order.
A perfect example is this. In orderto find your passion, we are told to ask ourselves: “What would you do if you had a million dollars(tax free)?”
The typical answer ensues: “Well gee, I would put it in an account that yields high interest and live off the interest each year. Then I would move to Hawaii, buy a house, sip margaritas all day, playvideo games, go to the beach, swim, travel around the world, taste all the cuisines, read the books, play the sports, and on and on and on.”
Does this really help? Not really. Sure, you figured out what your lazy butt likes to do, but it doesn’treally answer the question that’s hidden, which is “How do I make money doing what I love to do?
What's the result? People working in jobs they hate, feelingtrapped because they can’t quit as they rely on that sole source ofincome to finance a lifestyle tailored to escape their grim reality, drifting aimlessly in life, in short, leading lives of quiet desperation, as so eloquently put by Henry David Thoreau.
Why don’t they just quit their jobsand pursue what they love to do you ask?
Two Reasons.
Reason #1: They don’t know what they love to do.
Reason #2: Fear. They’ve got a lifestyle to uphold, bills to pay for, families to take care of, fear of nosteady source of income, fear of what other people might think orsay about them, etc. Fear. Conquer indecision in Reason#1 and ACT, and you will most definitely conquer all fear in Reason #2.
The very fact that you are seekingto find what you love to do (by the very fact you came across thisarticle and started reading it) is a BIG step believe it or not. Many people in their lifetime avoid or do not even seek to find the answer to that question. They hear the question in their head but have become extremely adeptat silencing it.
It is extremely important to answer the question on how to find what you love to do.
You must decide what destination to steer your life in. Otherwise, you leave yourself wide open for others to direct your life, as well as at the mercy of the winds and storms of life. If you know where your destination is, the rest is easy.
You will find once you know what you want to do, all uncertainty and burden will be lifted off your shoulders and you will have clear vision as to what your journey is and that journey will truly be joyful.
By the time you finish reading this article, I sincerely hope you experience that.
What about how to make money doing what you love?
The question of how to monetizedoing what you love is certainly avalid one. There are bills to pay, stomachs to feed, families to support, etc.
Don’t worry about that for now. That will be covered later in this article.
First things first, you’ve got to find what you love to do.
Why is it so hard to find what you love to do?
The answer is:
It’s not hard at all.
You read right.
It’s not hard at all.
Then why are so many people having difficulty finding what they love to do?
Because they’ve never truly asked themselves.
What amazes me is that there seems to be a stigma attached to spending time with oneself. You have to constantly be doing something, whether it’s going to the game, drinking beer with the buddies, going to that hot party or club downtown, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with doing all that, but I suspect the vast majority of people who engage in this “I have to be doing something every minute because I can’t be by myself” mentality are just putting up a front to show people how satisfying and fulfilling their life is, when in reality, it’s just the opposite. The irony here is that spending time with oneself is EXACTLY what you should be doing to lead a satisfying and fulfilling life.