This is a common problem that people face in finding their passion or purpose. I am going to talk about an easy two-step process to find your passion.
Step 1: identify what you are naturally good at.
Steve Jobs was naturally good at making things simple. Elon Musk is naturally good at being an engineer.
Please note that while answering this question for yourself the answer can’t be that “I am naturally good at baseball, basketball, etc”. If that is where your answer is going then look deeper.
But how do you find what you are naturally good at?
Step 1.1: Simply observe what you spend time doing.
Write daily in detail about things that you are spending time on. For instance, I wrote yesterday “spent time comparing stocks and their PE ratio”
Then over say a month, when you analyze you will see both what you are naturally good at and the challenges in those areas.
For me the analysis was I spend time meditating, writing blog posts, sculpting my body, web product development, etc.
Step 1.2: Look deeper
Pick each area and note the why?
For example, say you are naturally good at cooking but the underlying skill will be that you are naturally good at figuring out how things are going to combine and what results they create.
For me. The why for Mediation was? I am inclined towards the search for a calmer mind. Why Web product development? means that I like making complex things simple and the nature of products I build are complex and difficult so I need engineering challenges as well.
Note: not all areas you spend time on are your passions if they won’t have a good “Why”. People are forced into some jobs and activities but you can look at what aspect of that work you excel at.
Often your friends and colleagues are a good source to ask what they think makes you unique.
By now you should have found what you are naturally good at and also what your passions are.
Step 2: Find areas that need your natural skill, and passion.
Phones, laptops, and music players are complex, so Steve Jobs chose that market to apply his natural skill of making things simple.
Electric cars, solar panels, and rockets require a lot of engineering so Elon Musk chose that market to apply his natural skills and love of engineering.
In my case, I am naturally good at making complex things simple. Stock research and analyzing a company is very complex, I plan to apply my skills to make this complex process simpler.
At this point your detailed observations will tell you the unsolved problems in the area you picked. For me, it was no easy way to compare stocks, and too much information, and opinions.
To conclude, to find your passion, discover what you are naturally good at by observing what you do each day. Then try to find which market needs your skills the most. And then just commit yourself to solving problems in that market by doing what you are naturally good at.
By the way, this is called finding product founder market fit.
In my next post, I am going to give practical advice on how to innovate in the area you committed to devote your next 10 years to, stay tuned …