Businesses are now transforming at an accelerated pace and your industry may look very different five to 10 years from now. Your ability to grow and develop the skills you need to thrive will depend largely on your adaptability and willingness to learn and collaborate with others. Mentorships are great conduits for this kind of growth, particularly if both parties are benefiting from the relationship.
Traditional mentorships involve employees with different tenures. The more seasoned mentor provides their mentee with ongoing advice, including guidance around career decisions and challenges. If you are on the receiving end of this relationship, you may find it useful for incremental improvement. But in my experience, if the mentorship has a transactional nature — meaning you are the only one learning something new — it will eventually fizzle and be less valuable in the long term.
Mentorships with a transformational nature, on the other hand, can help both you and your mentor prepare for a fast-paced future, no matter what career path you want to pursue.
Transformational Mentorship
Transformational mentoring is a term I use to describe a relationship that offers something powerful to both the mentee and the mentor — and it requires an equal amount of work from both. As a mentee, the trick to fully engaging your mentor lies in finding the right person: someone with whom you can build a relaxed, inspiring camaraderie, driven by curiosity as opposed to the binary instructor-student exchange we normally teach. These mentorships can be formed with people senior to yourself or peers of equal stature, as long there is a mutual desire for personal and professional growth.
Consider one of the greatest examples: Albert Einstein and his relationships with Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr. Though they varied in age and experience, they shared a joint fascination with theoretical physics. Their genuine curiosity and honest conversations enabled each of them to make impressive advances in the field in a time similarly affected by fast-paced technologies and innovation. For many years, the three physicists met and corresponded. They didn’t often debate or advance a specific view; they weren’t trying to one-up each other. Instead, they proposed ideas, asked questions, offered thoughts, and supported each other’s seemingly wild notions.
That spirit is key to attracting and maintaining transformational mentor relationships. Here’s how to get started.
Look beyond the obvious places.
It can be challenging to avoid the traditional teacher-student approach to mentorship when your mentor is a leader within your own organization. This is largely due to the difference in your seniority levels. Instead, try looking for potential mentors in ecosystems tangential to your work and your interests.
Start by thinking about your passions, hobbies, and curiosities. Maybe you are a content creator who has always been interested in new developments in the technology sector. Is there someone in this field whose work you particularly admire or who posts ideas on social media that inspire you? Don’t overlook them — even if their job is seemingly unrelated to your own. The people who spark your curiosity are the ones whose journeys, knowledge, and behaviors may serve as a roadmap for all the places your career can go.
Innovators in other fields are particularly good candidates for transformational mentors. When you exchange ideas with one another, you may each discover insights you never considered before, things that inspire both of you to think beyond your immediate purview and better position yourself to take advantage of future trends in your fields. To find these people, leverage your professional network — but push yourself to reach out to entirely new connections as opposed to the most familiar names on LinkedIn.
Remember not to limit yourself to a single individual. As with Einstein, sometimes the process works better with multiple peers. Even if they don’t mesh as a group, you may find each mentor valuable at different times in your growth journey.
Test the waters.
You may find a potential mentor who seems perfect on paper, but they could easily end up being a bad fit once you meet (whether virtually or in person). You need to make sure there is a genuine connection in order for the relationship to bloom, so start small.
Gauge their comfort level to meet for coffee or lunch. Beforehand, do your due diligence by looking into specific topics that may interest them. Check out their social media feeds, podcast interviews, presentations, or any work they have published. Keep in mind that this first chat doesn’t need to be grandiose. (I once connected with a mentor over our love of photography.) Whatever you talk about, you should find ways to add value by brainstorming interesting articles you might share on the topic or considering how you will present your own related interests and perspectives.
During the actual conversation, remember to let those interests drive you — but don’t try to impress your potential mentor. You can convey your credibility and fascination with their work through the questions you ask. To determine if the discussion is mutually valuable, pay attention to their level of engagement and the questions they ask you in return.
Over time, try to move the discussion to issues tied to your career: How might digitization affect the global supply chains? Will rising international tensions diminish global trade? How do knowledge workers want to be managed, and how should we measure their outputs? (Or other questions relevant to the future of your field.) Listen carefully to their opinions, viewpoints, and responses. Do they inspire you? If so, it may be a match.
Be selective.
Your ultimate goal is to build a connection with someone who energizes you and whom you equally engage and influence. Your ideal transformational mentor should be someone who resists providing you with quick answers and prefers engaging you in conversation through which you can both learn and grow. Above all, they should challenge your assumptions and assertions, and help you think critically about the future.
If you can understand their goals and priorities, you might even become an asset to them. Think of this as a relationship currency investment, an intentional investment in others that often yields their gratitude, reciprocity, and willingness to pay your kindness forward.
This spark is the foundation of a truly transformative mentorship.
Don’t limit yourself.
We tend to divide people into two groups: mentors and mentees. But that makes sense only in a reasonably stable world, where past lessons and structures inform the future. Today, novel solutions are at least as valuable as old ones, and everyone can contribute something to solving our greatest and newest problems.
This means mentoring is no longer a one-way street — just as you can teach and influence your mentor as the mentee, you can mentor others. Doing so can help you reflect on your strengths and challenges, as well as share the insights you have gained through your own mentorship. By teaching someone else, you will also learn to clearly express and communicate your ideas, which is essential to your professional growth.
These explorations can take a great deal of time, so make sure you choose people who stimulate your thinking in productive ways. You’ll likely need to pull back from the more transactional work relationships you may have formed to free up time for those who genuinely push you forward — but once you find the right person, it will have been well worth it.
Finally, be patient in your exploration. Set the bar high. This is not just a mentorship; it is a partnership, a collaboration that could very well change the course of your career.
Being fatigued sucks. You stumble through the day, your brain slow, your body aching; you’re tired, you’re groggy, and everything feels awful. Fatigue isn’t just tiredness—it’s a generalized lack of energy and motivation that can sometimes be a symptom of serious issues like depression, anemia, or thyroid problems (which is why chronic, pervasive fatigue definitely warrants a visit to the doctor). In some cases, however, fatigue is simply the result of poor—but fixable!—habits.
When you’ve ruled out any medical issues and developed positive habits but are still struggling with fatigue, it may be time to turn to supplementation. We took a look at the most common causes of fatigue—sleep, stress, and exercise—and put together a list of simple, supplemental fixes to address each one. Check out the list to eliminate fatigue and get back in the game.
Note: The contents of this article are not intended to serve as medical advice. If you have questions about incorporating supplements into your life, it’s always smart to consult a medical professional.
It’s not uncommon to want five more minutes of sleep in the morning (guilty!), but if rolling out of bed feels like torture every single day—or if your love for the afternoon nap is bordering on obsessive—it may be time to add some new supplements to your routines.
Potential Fixes
1. Whole Foods (Iron and Magnesium)
The right foods can go a long way toward managing fatigue. If you’re always low on energy, try increasing the amount of iron and magnesium in your diet. These two minerals don’t just help with energy levels; they’ll also help you maintain healthy blood pressure, keep the blood well oxygenated, and ensure the muscles function properly.
Most people should shoot for 8 to 18 milligrams of iron and 310 to 420 milligrams of magnesium per day. Before shopping for supplements, head to the grocery store: There’s plenty of iron to be found in beans and meat (For example, a cup of white beans has about eight milligrams of iron, and six ounces of beef contains six milligrams.). Magnesium is also found in leafy green vegetables (cooked spinach has 157mg per cup), pumpkin seeds (156mg per ounce), black beans (120mg per cup) and oatmeal (63mg per cup), to name a few. (Just note that vegetarian sources of iron are not absorbed very well unless they’re accompanied by a source of vitamin C—yet another reason to add fruits or vegetables to all your meals !).
2. Melatonin
Too much light in the bedroom can make the body unwilling to sleep or unable to sleep very well. This is thanks tomelatonin, a hormone responsible for sending us off to sleep, which is very sensitive to light. In general, the darker the room, the more melatonin our bodies produce, and the better we sleep . This explains why it’s important to minimize exposure to bright light during the half hour before bedtime .
Before heading to the supplement aisle, try these “natural” fixes to improve melatonin production: Keep the lights low, avoid fluorescent sources like TV screens (Ta-ta, Real Housewives marathons!), and, if you absolutely have to use your computer, try to add a red tint to the screen—red light is more friendly to melatonin synthesis, possibly because of its similarity to the sunset . You can also check out F.lux, a program that can make your computer screen adapt its luminescence to the time of day.
If these changes don’t cut it, melatonin is also available in supplement form . Start experimenting with a low dose of 500 micrograms (0.5 milligrams), then slowly increase your dosage until you find your minimum effective dose. Bonus: Melatonin is pretty cheap; a month’s supply can cost only about five bucks.
While the compound can be found in most foods, a particularly good source is collagen, a protein that forms connective tissue in animals. But if chewing on sinew doesn’t sound particularly appealing, check out your local supplement store.
Theanine is another amino acid that can help with sleep. It’s not sedative; rather, it improves sleep quality and should help you feel more rested in the morning.
The best source of theanine is tea, but there’s a Catch-22: Since most teas also contain caffeine, a steaming cup probably won’t improve sleep quality . White tea tends to have less caffeine than green or black tea, so if you’re a coffee drinker with a high caffeine tolerance, white tea could be a relaxing way to get some theanine before bed. Or just try decaf!
Another way to take theanine is in pill form. The optimal dosage for improving sleep is between 150 to 200 milligrams, taken 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. You can get a month’s supply for a little less than 10 bucks.
Metabolic burnout is a form of fatigue which builds up over a long period of time as a result of chronic stress . Yep, one more reason why stress isn’t good for us! While there are scores of non-pharmaceutical ways to relieve anxiety, from meditation to exercise, there are also some proven stress-fighting supplements.
Potential Fixes
1. L-Tyrosine
L-Tyrosine is an amino acid that can counteract stress before it happens. Yep, you read that right: When taken before an event that’s anticipated to be stressful (say, an exam or big presentation at work), it can head off stress hormones at the pass .
How? Well, when we’re stressed, the body secretes a lot of the neurotransmittersadrenaline and dopamine, which help keep the typical symptoms of stress at bay. But we’ve only got a finite amount of those two chemicals, so when we run out of them, that’s when we experience symptoms of stress like fatigue, sweatiness, and a serious decrease in motivation and attention. No fun, right? That’s why it can be helpful to make sure there’s plenty of L-tyrosine in the blood, since it helps the body produce adrenaline and dopamine and thereby protects us from the effects of stress .
It’s ideal to take 500 to 2,000 milligrams of L-tyrosine an hour before the stressful event is supposed to occur, although some studies have shown that more (up to 10g over the course of a few hours, in divided doses) can be taken without any issues . Ten bucks can buy you enough for at least 50 scary work presentations.
2. Rhodiola Rosea
Rhodiola rosea is another adaptogen, i.e., something that can help desensitize someone to a stressful event before it happens . Derived from an herb that grows in the chillier parts of Northern Europe, Rhodiola is safe and effective at treating metabolic burnout, and there’s some evidence that it’s effective at combating mild depression and improving cognition, to boot .
While researchers aren’t completely sure how the herb works, they do know that it helps maintain proper serotonin levels in the brain, which can affect our moods and hormones—but further research is needed to determine exactly how this adaptogen functions . In any event, Rhodiola is thought to be safe and effective, and can even be taken once a day without any decrease in effectiveness .
A single dose of between 288 to 680 milligrams is effective, but for daily usage, 150mg should do the trick—just make sure the pills are one percent salidroside and three percent rosavins, as this is the formula that’s shown the most benefits in studies . If you plan on taking Rhodiola rosea daily, 10 bucks will get you a month’s supply.
3. L-Ornithine
Chronic stress can result in too much ammonia in the blood, which can cause fatigue and foggy thinking . Taking L-ornithine can help alleviate the fatigue ammonia causes; some studies have also shown that it can help reduce the severity of a hangover (L-ornithine and a strong cup of coffee, anyone?) .
The trouble is that it’s hard to know if fatigue is being caused by high ammonia levels without first getting a blood test, so there’s no guarantee that L-ornithine will help the issue. But if you’ve tried everything (or if you’d like a backup hangover cure!), two to six grams of L-ornithine hydrochloride is the standard dose . A month’s supply will run you about 20 bucks.
We’re not talking about the well-earned muscle fatigue that sets in after a few sets of an exercise. Here, we’re referring to the involuntary reduction in workout intensity and motivation that can set in after 45 minutes of heavy lifting, running, or competitive sports. While it may be tempting to turn to pre-workout stimulants, many of them are a double-edged sword: While some can reliably increase energy and performance, habitual use can lead to reliance and some—like 1,3-DMAA—can lead to high blood pressure . Here are a few safer and non-stimulatory alternatives for keeping up with longer (45 minutes or more) workouts.
Potential Fixes
1. Creatine
Creatine is a dietary supplement that’s well known for its ability to increase muscle size, but it’s also effective at reducing fatigue and promoting effective energy usage. It works primarily by creating a large store of creatine phosphate in the body, which replenishes ATP—a molecule that stores and provides energy to the body.
By promoting the usage of creatine phosphate, the body’s cells can better preserve glucose for later use, essentially staving off fatigue .
While creatine’s safety has been the subject of some controversy, for the most part it’s deemed safe for long-term use by those without pre-existing health conditions.
Why? Well, one of the factors that leads to fatigue during exercise is extra serotonin in the brain, which is caused by an increase in L-tryptophan, another amino acid . BCAAs compete with L-tryptophan and prevent its uptake into the blood, thereby preventing the fatiguing effects of serotonin . Like creatine, they have the added benefit of increasing muscle size and strength. The price is a bit steep: a month’s supply can run you up to 40 dollars. A typical daily dose of BCAAs varies depending on bodyweight, but is around 20 grams of the three amino acids combined, taken 1-3 times throughout the day.
3. ALCAR
Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) is a type of L-carnitine, an amino acid that’s great at preventing fatigue during intense exercise. This is because carnitine is can enhance the rate at which oxygen is delivered to muscles and help prevent the build-up of lactic acid, which may causemuscle soreness .
Supplementing with Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) can also provide acognitive boost—that is, it can help users think more clearly by increasing energy availability in the brain .
A month’s supply, assuming a daily dose of 1,000 milligrams, will cost you about 10 bucks.
4. Glucose
On the other end of the stimulant spectrum is the body’s primary energy source: Glucose. Whip up a simple solution of water (it doesn’t matter how much) and 20 to 40 grams of glucose and sip it during your 45-minute (or longer) workout to keep a small stream of glucose in the blood and enjoy a subtle (but still noticeable) increase in performance. As a bonus, it may increase muscle synthesis over the long term (and if you really want bigger muscles, try spiking your glucose drink with some BCAAs) . Glucose is often sold at supplement stores as “dextrose,” and you can buy a pound for around two dollars.
The Takeaway
If you feel like your life is being hampered by fatigue, supplements shouldn’t be the first step. It’s most important to analyze your stress management skills, nutrition, and sleeping habits—with the help of a medical professional, if necessary—and then make the appropriate lifestyle changes (Doing so is probably also cheaper than supplementation!). But if you’ve eliminated unhealthy habits, ruled out underlying disorders, and are still struggling with fatigue, then these supplements may be effective in helping you get back up on the horse so you can keep on truckin’.
Memory is an integral part of being human. Remembering past experiences can help predict what will happen in the future if you alter your behavior accordingly. Some philosophers have actually gone as far as to say memory is the mark of being human. Memories not only serve to shape identity and define who a person is, but they are also a key factor in the ability to learn and process new information.
The nature of human memory has puzzled philosophers for a long time, and its function remained mostly a mystery until the past century. With new breakthroughs in neuroscience and psychiatry, scientists continue to learn more and more about how memories are formed, consolidated, and recalled. However, many questions still remain unanswered.
For humans, memories can be incredibly valuable. Many people may want to remember certain moments for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, forgetting seems to be the common fate of most memories, and with incidences of Alzheimer’s on the rise, memories seem all the more vulnerable to forgetfulness. As we learn more about the nature and loss of memory, a question arises. Can we purposely make memories last forever?
Unfortunately, most things cannot last forever. Everything is subject to change and decay over time. Memories are destined to fade, and the brains we use to recall them will eventually shut down completely.
Although you cannot make memories last forever, there are many things you can do to improve memory storage and recollection, and hopefully your most important memories will last a lifetime.
Here are nine ways to create and hold onto vivid, long-lasting memories:
1. GET IN TOUCH WITH EMOTIONS
If you want to remember something, get emotional. Scientific evidence shows emotional arousal is directly connected to memory consolidation and endurance. The adrenal hormones released during emotional arousal regulate the consolidation of memory. Both human and animal studies have revealed that stress-induced activation of the amygdala (the brain’s emotional processing center) and its interactions with other regions of the brain involved in processing memory play an important role in guaranteeing emotionally significant experiences are remembered.
Infographic by Hannah Johnson. Click image to enlarge.
An excellent example of how this process works is the phenomenon referred to as flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memories are extremely detailed and vivid memories that are typically retained for a lifetime. These memories are usually of important historical events or personal life events.
For example, most Americans who were alive in the 1960s can still recall exactly where they were when they heard the news of the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, although they likely have little or no recollection of what they were doing the day before or after those events.
Flashbulb memories reveal how the emotional content of an event can improve both the strength and endurance of the memory of it. Unpleasant experiences such as car accidents, the death of a loved one, acts of violence, and other traumas are generally remembered better than the events of a routine day. However, research indicates unpleasant memories do fade faster than positive memories, meaning strong and positive emotional experiences are the most likely to become embedded in long-term memory.
Still, studies have shown even mild emotions are associated with more vivid and long-lasting memories than those of neutral experiences. Research has also revealed having an emotionally arousing experience after learning something new helps to consolidate the memory of what was learned prior to the experience.
2. PAY ATTENTION AND ENGAGE ALL SENSES
The quality of memories is directly dependent on how attentive you were at the time they were formed. Be as alert as possible when experiencing something you want to remember with great clarity, vividness, and detail. Memory is a sensory experience, so engage all five senses both during the event and afterward when you recall it. The more attentive and engaged you are, the more you are likely to remember later.
3. MAKE AS MANY ASSOCIATIONS AS POSSIBLE
Memory is not confined to any particular place in the brain, but is instead a brain-wide process. Every memory is the result of a changed set of neural connections in the brain. It is a re-creation of past experiences through a synchronous firing of neurons that were involved in the original experience.
Because memories are both formed and recalled through associations, the more associations you make, the better your recall ability is likely to be. This is why many people use mnemonic devices and mental maps when studying information.
4. RECALL THE EXPERIENCE AND SHARE WITH OTHERS
A lasting memory is not simply created at the time of the experience. Memories are actually formed after the experience and continue to be consolidated and changed each time an event is remembered. Therefore, the more you recall it, the more likely you are to remember it.
An article published in Parents in May 2009 provided information and suggestions on how to make memories last for preschoolers. The article explained how language plays an important role in memory and how our memories are stored and accessed through words. As kids learn to verbalize, they are able to form more lasting memories, which is why older children and adults are typically unable to recall events that occurred during infancy.
You can use this awareness to your advantage and choose to verbally recall your memories by sharing them with others. Storytelling helps to reconsolidate memories. The more repetition the better, so don’t pass up a chance to reminisce with your loved ones.
5. USE SENSORY CUES
Cues can be an effective method of evoking memories. Have you ever noticed how certain smells can immediately take you back years, often even as far as childhood? Perhaps the smell of cinnamon reminds you of your grandmother’s house or a chalk scent reminds you of your third grade classroom.
Music also tends to be a strong cue for people. Hearing an old song on the radio can immediately send someone into a nostalgic daydream. Be mindful of potential cues and associations during the experience you wish to remember and use those later to help improve your recall.
6. EXERCISE AND EAT HEALTHFULLY
Having a strong memory is directly dependent on the health and vitality of your brain. Exercise increases oxygen to the brain and helps release stress. Chronic stress can destroy brain cells and damage the hippocampus, a region of the brain that helps form new memories and retrieve old ones.
Eating a balanced diet with healthy foods known to aid the brain can also protect your memory. Choose foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids such as salmon or flaxseed. Berries are also known to improve memory function as well as green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach. Green tea and Ginkgo Biloba may also boost memory power.
7. MEDITATE
Meditation can help increase the ability to concentrate, focus, learn, store, and retain memories. Meditation has been shown to increase the thickness of the cerebral cortex and encourages more connections between brain cells, which ultimately helps increase memory. Positive results can often be seen with a simple 5-10 minute daily meditation regimen.
8. SLEEP ON IT
The quality of memories is directly dependent on how attentive you were at the time they were formed. Be as alert as possible when experiencing something you want to remember with great clarity, vividness, and detail.
Memory processing and consolidation occur during sleep. Both human and animal studies have shown sleeping after learning helps improve memory recall and is vital for memory consolidation. Cognitive impairments in both declarative and non-declarative memories have been found after sleep loss, fragmented sleep, and disturbed sleep.
Practicing good sleep hygiene may be able to improve the endurance of memories. Getting routine restful sleep each night can be an effortless way to improve memory storage and recall.
9. KEEP A RECORD
Because memories are so vulnerable, if you truly want to remember something, it may be best to keep a record.
Journaling can be an excellent way to record experiences and help consolidate and reconsolidate memories. Keeping a diary not only provides you with the details of the experience, but it also gives you a chance to reflect on your emotional reactions to the event you are recalling.
Photos can also be a quick way to capture memories and induce vivid recall when viewing them. Videos can provide the closest possible recurrence of the event. With smartphones in most pockets, recording memories has never been easier.
But if you find yourself—in the absence of a recording device—experiencing something you don’t want to forget, try to engage your senses and pay attention to what you already have in the environment to grasp onto that memory.
Living for the passion of living means to live each day to the fullest, to be fully present in the moment, and to experience all that life has to offer with joy and excitement. It means to follow your heart and pursue your dreams, even if they seem out of reach. It means to be grateful for the good things in your life, and to learn from the challenges.
Here are some tips on how to live for the passion of living:
Find your passion. What are you passionate about? What makes you feel alive? Once you know what your passion is, start pursuing it with all your heart.
Don’t be afraid to take risks. If you want to live a passionate life, you’ll need to be willing to take risks. This doesn’t mean you have to be reckless, but it does mean you need to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and try new things.
Be present in the moment. One of the best ways to live a passionate life is to be present in the moment. This means being aware of your surroundings and your feelings, and not letting your mind wander to the past or the future.
Be grateful. Gratitude is a powerful emotion that can help you appreciate the good things in your life. Make a habit of taking time each day to be grateful for what you have.
Learn from your challenges. No one’s life is perfect, and there will be challenges along the way. But the important thing is to learn from your challenges and grow from them.
Set goals and work towards them. Having something to strive for will give you a sense of purpose and direction.
Surround yourself with positive people. The people you spend time with have a big impact on your outlook on life.
Take care of yourself. Eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep will give you the energy and vitality you need to live a passionate life.
Spend time in nature. Being in nature can help you relax, de-stress, and connect with your inner self.
Do things that make you happy. Make time for the things that bring you joy, whether it’s spending time with loved ones, pursuing your hobbies, or simply relaxing.
If you want to be successful and produce extraordinary results in life, you must live your life with passion and purpose. However, passion and purpose are two overrated principles most people buy into.
While it is true that passion and purpose are important in our life, they are not the Holy Grail to success. They are just part of the equation. You need more than just passion and purpose if you want to achieve outstanding results in your life.
However, that does not mean passion and purpose are not vital. Most of the time, it is our passion that drives us into taking action and doing our best. And it is our purpose that makes us feel like life is worth living and that we are going in the right direction.
In this article, you will discover the secrets of how to live life with passion and purpose that most people longed for.
Searching For Your Passion And Purpose
Most people have no idea what their passion and purpose are. They have no idea what they love doing and they do not know what they wanted to achieve in their lives.
Ever wonder why most people are not living extraordinary life right now?
If you have no idea what you want out of your life, you will never accomplish it. And if you don’t know what you are passionate about, you will live a boring life and you will never perform at your best.
Here are 3 ways how you can discover your passion and purpose:
1. The Shotgun Method
First, I call this the ‘shotgun method’. This method is best when you have no idea about what you want to do or where your passion is in life.
And just like a shotgun, you shoot with scatter bullets. You widen your perspective and you try out everything. Since you have no idea what you love doing or what you want to accomplish in life, you might just try everything and see what comes up.
How can you tell if something tastes good? The answer is simple, you eat it and you taste it. The same concept applies here.
When you have no idea where your passion is, try out everything and see what sticks.
When I first started this blog, I’m testing to see if blogging is my passion. I blog almost every day. And after a few months down the road, I still feel passionate about it. Hence, the more I blog, the more passionate I feel.
So you can apply the same principle to find out what you’re passionate about.
You can always start small. Like me, you can start a blog and talk about it.
Or you can record a video and put it up on YouTube. Create a Facebook fan page. And you can also get involved with other related activities. Attend a seminar and see if you like the idea of standing on stage and giving a speech to share your thoughts.
By the way, if you would like to start a YouTube channel, make sure to use Youtube Video Maker to help you with your video content. These days, there are a lot of software and tools available to help you create videos online and make your YouTube journey a bliss.
There are hundreds of ways you can try out things.
The key is to keep moving forward. Take some form of action and keep firing your shotgun. You want to keep throwing mud at the wall and see what sticks.
So keep shooting and keep moving forward until you know what is right for you.
2. Ask Deep Self-Discovery Questions
The second method to discover your passion and purpose is through asking self-discovery questions.
Questions are powerful because they make us think. Of course, not all questions have the same power.
If you want to get the right answer, you must ask the right question.
And don’t just answer the questions inside your head. Don’t just think about the answers, you have to ink them. You want to write them down.
When you write down your thoughts, you can return to them in the future. When you put down your thoughts into words, you make them tangible and you can see them more clearly from a bigger picture.
You are simply telling yourself that what you do is important and that is why you are writing them down. You will be more committed when you put your thoughts into words.
So are you ready to do some writing? Get your success journal ready and answer these 10 questions below. Remember, write down the answers.
If everything goes smoothly, your favorite day will be like…
If you have only 3 months to live your life, how would you live these 3 months?
List down 10 things/events that make you feel happy and satisfied.
List down your 5 hobbies. And if you have time, and money is not an issue, what is the one hobby that you will do?
What is the ONE thing that you think you have a competitive edge that you can do much better than others?
The above 5 questions are meant to spark your thoughts and help you discover your purpose in life.
If you want more, you can go through this article here and do the 30 self-discovery questions.
The following 5 questions will be directed to discover your passion in life.
If Bill Gates, one of the richest men on planet Earth decides to give you $1 billion, what would you do with that money? How would it change your life? What will you do differently? How will you spend your day?
What are your 3 favorite topics to discuss? When you talk to people, what do you like to talk about the most?
Who is your favorite guru? It can be anyone from Michael Jordan, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, Nelson Mandela, or even your father or your kindergarten teacher.
If your favorite guru can spend a year coaching you and teach you one thing that you can become extraordinary, what skill or which area you’d love to choose?
What legacy do you want to leave behind? When you’re old, what would you love to tell your children?
Up to this point, you should at least have some ideas about what you are passionate about. If you don’t, go through this article and go for more.
Some of these questions are powerful and can be very thought-provoking. All you need is to treat this exercise as seriously as possible.
If you truly want to discover your passion and purpose in life, do this exercise. Don’t just read through the text. If you just do the reading, nothing is going to change. Write down the answer and see if it opens your mind.
3. The 7 Levels Deep WHY
This is one of the most powerful techniques to discover your real WHY and your purpose for what you want to do.
This technique is simple to do but to get the best result, do it with someone else. You can do this with your spouse, your colleague, your partner, or friends, or for the best result, do it with your mentor.
When you do this exercise with someone you respect, the result comes faster and you will discover your real deep purpose in why you want to achieve what you want in life.
All you need to do is to get someone to ask you the “why” questions 7 times.
For example, if you want to be financially free, get your partner to ask you why. “Why do you want to be financially free?”
Then you will get to answer, say, “I want to be financially free so that I will never have to worry about money and I can drive a better car.”
And then your partner will ask the why question again, “Why is it important that you want to drive a better car?”
The exercise goes down to 7 levels deep. Your partner has to ask you the why question 7 times.
And trust me, in the beginning, it will be easy. Your answer will be logical and it comes from your head. As you go deeper, you will start to feel it from within and answer from your heart.
You will feel emotional, and most of the time, the deeper it goes, the harder it is for your words to come out of your mouth. The reason is that you will speak from your heart, not from your head.
I have done this exercise before and I considered it one of the most profound techniques to discover your ultimate purpose behind what you want.
Of course, you and your partner who does this exercise must be committed and treat this as seriously as possible.
Now you have learned the 3 techniques on how to discover your passion and purpose in life, let’s talk about living them.
Living Life With Passion And Purpose
Living life with passion and purpose can be difficult. Passion is like fuel to power your car. Your passion is the energy that powers your dreams. And when you are living a passionate life, you are living a purposeful life.
The problem is that we are too busy with our everyday work and we tend to forget about our dreams, passion, and purpose in life.
Furthermore, most people listen too much to what others have told them. They follow the crowd and do whatever everybody is doing. And they wonder why life is boring because they are not living life on their own terms.
Here are 7 tips on how to live life with passion and purpose:
1. Make Your Life More Meaningful
Are you living a meaningful life? Is your life all about checking updates on social media? Is your life all about work and chasing to pay bills? Is your life boring and directionless?
People don’t feel purposeful and they are not living with passion when they don’t the life that they desire. Hence, you must create meaning in your life.
You have to define your ideal life, live it, and make it meaningful.
If something is not meaningful to you or if it is not important to you, you will never bother about it. Think about it, if a bicycle is not important to you, do you think you will own one or take care of it if you have one?
Not likely. The same goes for money, lovers, friendships, and everything in your life. When something is not important (not meaningful) to you, you will never bother about it.
People who say that money is not important, usually don’t have much of it. People who say that life is meaningless, usually live a boring and directionless life.
So, make your life meaningful. How? Use the self-discovery questions above to discover your ideal life and how you want to live it.
When your life is meaningful, you will tend to be more purposeful and go through your days with a passion.
2. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
You should stop comparing yourself to others. How others live their life has nothing to do with you. Most people try to compare themselves with their colleagues and friends. They want to know who is doing much better, who is earning more, and who is driving a better car.
Don’t! Stop comparing yourself with others. You can be poor and at the bottom of your career right now. However, that does not mean that you will be at the bottom forever.
Jack Ma, one of China’s richest men and the founder of Alibaba, once applied for a job at KFC and got rejected. If he was to compare himself with others, he would feel like a big failure. Luckily he didn’t. He chose to focus on what was possible and move on with his life.
You should do the same. Don’t compare yourself to other people. It will only make you feel miserable if you are not ‘there’ yet.
Plus, there’s nothing much to compare about, really. Someone who drives a better car does not mean that he is doing much better than you. It’s just a plain comparison and a material possession, nothing much.
Choose to believe in yourself. Where you are right now is just where it is right now. Things will change and you will change. You will never be where you are right now forever. You will move up the ladder and accomplish a better result.
It is just not your time yet. So stop comparing yourself with others, and move on with your own life.
3. Practice Journaling
There are plenty of benefits you can get from journaling. Not only that it can boost your creativity, but journaling also helps strengthen your self-discipline and able to evoke mindfulness.
Research has shown that people who experience a state of mindfulness tend to be more present in the moment and they have a better edge at actively directing their thoughts.
In other words, journaling helps to connect you and your deeper self. Take it as a practice that is able to remind yourself about what you want and how you did in life.
If you want to make your life purposeful, try meditation. And like journaling, meditation brings a lot of great benefits to your life.
Albert Einstein once said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, and he is absolutely right.
When you meditate, you are practicing how to actively direct your thoughts. You are cultivating the power of visualization.
You can visualize how you want your life to be like and what you want to accomplish in the future. And because our minds cannot differentiate the real from the fake, you will feel the energy flowing in you and act as if what you see in your head is real.
Thoughts are things. Whatever you want to achieve, you must first see it in your mind’s eye and then manifest it in the real world.
And meditation helps a lot in achieving this.
5. Enjoy The Moment
Live in the present. Your thoughts are not you. So, stop worrying too much about your future or being concerned too much about your past. What matters most right now, is this present moment.
If you watch the movie, Kung Fu Panda, there is a quote I like a lot.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present.”
Most people are too concerned with what has happened and what will be happening. That is why they are not living in the present.
They worry about their unpaid bills. They worry if the traffic is jammed. They worry about what if they can’t make it. And more.
When you have too much of worries in you, you will never live with passion and purpose.
Please understand that you cannot control everything in life. The only thing that you can control is yourself – your thoughts. So do just that.
I strongly suggest you read this article from Psychology Today about living in the present to learn more on this subject.
6. Work On Your Goals
One of the best ways to live a purposeful life is to work on your goals. Studies have shown that people feel the most satisfied and fulfilled when they are working toward a worthy ideal.
If you want to feel happy and satisfied, do something that will move you forward. This is especially true if the goal you are chasing is aligned with your purpose.
Try to go through a weekend without any purpose or anything to do. You will quickly feel bored, mundane, and directionless.
On the other hand, if you go through your weekend knowing what you should do, and what you want to accomplish and you actually act on it, you will feel purposeful and accomplished.
We often cannot separate living a purposeful life from the things that we want in life. When we are working toward our dreams, we are fulfilling our purpose.
This is why taking action and acting on our goals is important.
In fact, most people don’t feel purposeful because they are not doing anything about the things that they want in life.
Just work on your goals and by the end of the day, you will feel your life is worthy of living.
7. Contribute, Share, and Help Others
Another key to living a purposeful and passionate life is through contribution. It is almost the same as working toward your goals, you will feel accomplished and fulfilled.
It does not matter how much you contribute as long as you do it. You can donate if you have extra money. Or you can volunteer if you have additional time.
What if you don’t have the time and money to do all these? Simple, just be kind and helpful.
Help someone whose hands are full to open the door. Hold the lift for strangers. Smile and greet people you don’t know. Always be helpful and make people’s lives better.
When you do this random act of kindness, it makes you feel good too.
It makes you feel that your life is worth living and you are living on purpose and with passion. People who live life without passion will never act this way.
Trust me, helping other people who are in need is one of the greatest accomplishments in life. Thus, help more and give more.
Conclusion
You don’t have to put your life to the test to live it with purpose and passion. Follow the suggestions and tips given above to find out more.
Living your life with a clear purpose and passion is what everyone wants. However, this is not a one-time process. Your purpose and passion may change. So keep finding and don’t settle.
