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You are lost, stuck and don’t know what to do

If you are reading this article, it is more than likely you are on a journey to becoming a better you. A constant desire to improve. To fulfil your potential. To become the hero you see inside of yourself.

There will be points in that journey where you will feel lost, stuck and don’t know what to do.

You need to change your mindset. You will need to change your perspective. You will need to stop pressurising and beating yourself up.

What are the main reasons that contribute to this?

Other peoples standards

In the self-help world you keep hearing the same questions.

What is your passion?

What is your purpose?

You then beat yourself up for not knowing the answers.

You don’t start out knowing all the answers to life. Life is the journey of asking the questions and spending the rest of your life figuring out the answers.

You feel lost, stuck and don’t know what to do because you don’t have the answers to these questions.

I feel the same thing. If I just knew my passion. If I just knew my purpose. I could make an impact in the world. Could somebody just tell me what my passion is please? Could someone just tell me what my purpose is please?

What can we do to find our passion and our purpose?

Experiences

If you don’t know what you are good at or what you enjoy, you haven’t tried enough things. You haven’t tasted enough dishes.

To find out what you enjoy and what you are good at, you have to go out and try things. You have to treat life as an experiment.

Be open to new things without being attached to the outcome.

Be self-aware.

Watch your own feelings. Your own reactions to what you try.

Once you find some interests, some hobbies, some talents, some strengths then follow them. If you feel like something might be a good fit for you, then see where they lead.

Try them out. See how they fit.

If you think you might be a runner then try running. If you think you might be a writer then try writing. If you always fancied trying yoga then try yoga. See where these threads lead.

Try it for a little bit then see if it sticks.

If it doesn’t stick, don’t be hard on yourself. Let it go and move on.

But for those you stick with, they might just become your passion.

Patience

Once you put a little time into experimenting, you should find what you are good at and what you enjoy. With a little bit more time you can become passionate about them.

They become your passion.

With a bit more time, they may even become your purpose.

But to put time and effort in requires time, energy and perseverance. It requires grit.

Let me give you an example.

I have a friend who was terrified of public speaking. He went to Toastmasters to overcome his fear. He needed it, as he was becoming a teacher.  Once overcoming the fear, he became pretty good at public speaking. 

He found a passion.

Then he concentrated his efforts in giving effective feedback. Feedback to those who were overcoming fears or just wanted to get better at public speaking. Coaching them to do what he had done.

Then he found his purpose.

Once you find your passion and stick with it. Then you help others. Then you might just find your purpose.

If you feel stuck, you are probably too early in the process.

It takes time to find your passion.

It takes even longer to find your purpose.

Takeaways

If you are on a journey to become the best version of yourself, you don’t have to have all the answers straight away. Society will tell you that you should have the answers. Ignore them. The journey is taking the time to find out the answers.

Feel free to experiment. Try things out. See what you are good at and what you enjoy. Taste the full menu of what life has to offer.

Follow what feels right. Chase the dream. If you are patient, you might find your passion. A little bit longer, then You might just find your purpose.

Footnotes

The inspiration for this post came from the following.

Tim Denning article:

https://link.medium.com/8ijslT4Ac4

Gary Vee video:

https://youtu.be/WL2zLECEDlY

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