How Do I Find My “Passion” When I’m Not a Passionate Person?
By Susan Harrington MA Ed, CPC

When searching for your next career or life direction, you may have heard or wondered about finding your purpose or finding your “passion”. As a coach, this conversation comes up frequently when working with people who are seeking a more fulfilling and satisfying career and life. But what does is really mean and how do you find it if you’re not what one would classify as a “passionate” person in the first place? Some of the more emotional, feeling personality types have no problem sensing or knowing in their “gut” when they have a passion for a particular direction or interest. But what if you are a high analytical, non-emotive personality type – how does passion display itself, what might be some indicators for you?

Having passion for something doesn’t have to be like an ideal out of some Hollywood movie, it can and often is more subtle and quiet and personal. Using the word “passion” implies drama and emotion, but it doesn’t have to.

You don’t have to be a highly emotive person to discover your passion. Some of the more analytical people I have worked with use their own internal “checklist” to guide their intellect in decisions, and don’t even expect to ask themselves how they feel about a choice. But it can be helpful to have some sensitivity and awareness of how you respond to a particular interest, idea or activity when you are engaged in it. Look for some of the following signs that might indicate a sense of “passion” when you are more of a high analytical, non-emotional, “not-a-passionate” personality type:

Does the interest, idea, or activity …

- Hold your interest for a longer period of time than you would normally expect?

- Enter your thoughts regularly even when you are not actively involved in it? Do you have a hard time NOT thinking about it when you are away from it?

- Generate thoughts and ideas that “build on each other ”i.e. one thought leads to another, leads to another in a creative expanding way?

- Make you think a lot about positive “what if” situations related to the interest, idea or activity?

- Cause you to feel sensations in your body like faster heart beat, a sense of elation, hyper-focused, an elevated level of creative thought, feelings of excitement and enthusiasm about the interest, idea or activity?

If you answer ”yes” to several of these questions regarding your interest, idea or activity, it might be a good indicator that you have found something that you have a so-called “passion” for. When looking for your next direction, these signs may help you narrow down your choices to find the one that is most fulfilling for you. They may indicate your passion, even if you don’t consider yourself a passionate type of person. Try noticing them and see what happens!

© Susan Harrington All rights reserved.
www.susanharrington.com.