Designing a Passionate Life

What's Preventing You from Living Your Passions?

Designing a passionate life starts by making a conscious choice to live your passions. It seems to me that we can get so caught up in life and our daily activities that we forget to check in with ourselves and take inventory about where we are at in our lives and if we are really happy and passionate about what we are doing. The routine sets in, we get comfortable and we either don't think about checking in or we are too afraid to check in. What would happen if you aren't living your passions? That can be an overwhelming and scary thought.

Consequences
Performing some self inventory about where you are at in your life, can save a lot of pain and heartache in the long run. It can be very scary to think about what you are passionate about. I have talked with people who are afraid to look at this. Their reasoning is that they may find out that they do not have any passion in their lives and that would make them feel bad and then they would have to do something about it. This brings in the dreaded fear of change. Being comfortable in your routine is a strong reason to stay exactly where you are. However, you are not living to your full potential and it will bleed over into all areas of your life.

You won't have the energy for your family and friends, your family will ask you why you're not fun anymore, life feels flat, boring, and at times hard. Sometimes it can affect your physical and mental health.

Solutions
Start by deciding to explore what you are passionate about.
Get the support of your family and friends.
Get the support of like minded people.
Take my teleseminar course on identifying your passions.
Hire a coach to assist you.
Sign up for my free Passion Deficit Disorder Report (PDD) and find out what you can do about it.

You Don't Have to Give Up Your Day Job - Yet!

Designing a passionate life that involves a career change doesn't necessarily mean that you have to give up your day job, at least not yet. Some people who decide to follow their passions and make a career change believe that it is all or nothing, they have to give up their day job right now. In some cases, this works and if you are able to do this, then by all means quit your day job and follow your passions.

Some people are not ready to take this leap and you don't have to. It is your life and you can design it however you like. After you are clear about your passions, you set your intentions and take action towards living those passions. You may think that the target date for switching to a new career which you are passionate about is too far into the future. The reality is that the time is going to pass and if you don't take action now, then you will never move closer to living your passions.

During the process of becoming clear about your passions and taking actions to move closer to those passions you can enjoy your day job. At first glance you may think that there is absolutely nothing in your current job that has any appeal to you at all. Take another look and ask yourself:

What was it that attracted me to this job in the first place?
Have I attained mastery and as a result I'm bored now? If so, how can I bring in a new aspect to this job to make it fun while I work towards my transition?
What energizes me in this job? How can I get more of it?
How can I have more of me show up in my day job?
How can putting more of myself into my day job assist me in my transition to working in a career I'm passionate about?

If you infuse your day job with new found energy, it will overflow into the actions you take towards living your passions. You will be energized by both. By resisting your day job, you allow it to drain your energy and you have nothing left to give to your passions. See if you can make peace with your day job, explore the possibilities and put a plan in place to transition to living your passions.

I wonder what would happen if you started taking action towards living passionately. Sign up for my free Passion Deficit Disorder (PDD) report and see what you can do about it.

Being of Service

Designing a passionate life includes being of service. You can decide what service looks like to you. The traditional view of service is to volunteer with a community organization. This is a great way to be of service and there are many worthwhile organizations that desperately need volunteers. I suggest that you look for an organization that is going to energize you, not drain your energy.

There are other ways to be of service as well, and I don't want you to discount those ways. Perhaps you are the Mom on the block who creates a space for the neighborhood kids to play, or the Dad who loves to coach the kids' soccer team. Maybe you're the friend everyone goes to for support because you are a really good listener. Take a look at your life and list the ways that you are already of service to others. It's important for you to recognize the ways that you already serve others and embrace it.

If you would like to volunteer for an organization, you may want to do ask yourself the following questions so that you are clear about what you want and don't want from a volunteer organization.

What do I really love to do that I could share with others?
What types of people energize me?
What energizes me? (activities, animals, plants, people)
How much time per week am I willing to volunteer?
What skills do I have that I love to use and could transfer to a volunteer job?
What causes am I passionate about?
What type of people do I want to surround myself with?
What inside of me wants to be expressed in a bigger way in the world?

Volunteering is a great way to gain clarity about your passions. You can try a passion out and see how it feels. I wonder what would happen if you identified and aligned with your passions and started living passionately. Sign up for my free Passion Deficit Disorder (PDD) report and see what you can do about it.

 

How Do You Make Decisions?

Designing a passionate life includes making decisions every minute of every day, and day after day. Yikes, when I say it like that, it can sound overwhelming. Or you can see each decision as a small step that moves you towards living your passions. Do you know how you make decisions?

When you understand how you make decisions the process will become easier for you. I know people who struggle with making decisions. Even the smallest of decisions takes major effort on their part. In some ways, I think this is a sign of our culture. We are bombarded with hundreds of choices in a day. Much of it is due to the flow of information into our lives, how we live with technology, and all of the opportunities that are available to us.

Some people may have problems making decisions because they weren't ever taught how to make a decision, or they are afraid to make a decision because it might be the wrong one. It's no wonder that some people can go into overwhelm and freeze at making any decision what so ever.

The first step in understanding your decision making process is to understand your values. We all make decisions based on our values. Understanding what your values are is the first step in understanding your decision making process.

For example, if you have two key values of accomplishment and family and you work for a company who has asked you to take on a highly visible project that will require you to work 60 hours a week for a year, your values will conflict. At this point, you can determine which of your values is more important to you, accomplishment or family. What are your values? What is the priority of those values?

The next thing that you can do to learn about how you make decisions is to make a list of all of the decisions that you have made in the last 6 months that moved you farther away from living your passions and then list the ones that moved you closer to living your passions.

For the decisions that moved you away from your passions ask yourself:
What patterns do you see? What are the similarities for the decisions that moved you farther away from living your passions? What blocked you? What is the theme for those decisions? 

For the decisions that moved you closer to your passions ask yourself:
What are the similarities for the decisions that moved you closer to living your passions? What is the common denominator for the decisions that moved you closer to living your passions? What was the theme for these decisions? After you discover the patterns that move you forward, repeat them.

For the patterns that move you away from living your passions, determine your blocks and simply notice when they come up during your next decision making process and work through those blocks before you make a decision.

What is holding you back from living a passionate life? Make that first decision now and sign up for my free PDD report and see what you can do to start living passionately now.

Warning Signs of Clutter: How to Create Space

Designing a passionate life includes clearing your space by eliminating clutter to allow for your new passions to come into your life. When I refer to space, I'm referring to both mental and physical space and they go hand in hand. You will benefit by clearing both your mental or physical space. You can start by answering the following questions to see if you have clutter in your life.

It has been proven that our mind keeps track of every physical thing in our lives. Even all of those stacks of papers, projects, emails, files, and books that you are going to 'get to' someday. Most of us have a lot of stuff and when you think stop and think about it, your mind is expending a lot of energy keeping track of these things. Then add in all of thoughts that we have in a day and it's no wonder our minds feel cluttered.

Your Mental Space
Answer these questions:

• Do you have a hard time focusing on one thing at a time?
• Do you feel stuck?
• Do you feel overwhelmed?
• Do you feel like you can't move forward?
• Do you feel like your creativity is gone?

Your Physical Space
Answer these questions:

• Do you hang onto magazines, books, or catalogs because you think you will read them later?
• Do you have a junk drawer filled with things that you think you may need in the future but can't remember what's in it?
• Do you have a pile of projects that you will do "someday"?
• Do you have piles of mail that you haven't gone through?
• Do you have piles of unfiled papers?
• Do you have hundreds or maybe thousands of emails in your Inbox?
• Do you have hundreds of files on your hard drive?
• Do you have any areas of your home where you pile your stuff?

If you answered yes to eight or more of these questions then you have significant clutter in your life. It's time to take action. Notice the area around where you are sitting right now. Is there some area of the room that is cluttered? Perhaps there are stacks of magazines, newspapers, or unread mail. Take a look at it and notice how your body feels when you look at it. How long have you been saying you are going to go through those piles and get rid of what you don't need? Where do you feel it in your body? What goes through your mind when you look at the clutter? What do you say to yourself?

Where you feel it in your body will be different for everyone. Simply notice it and use it as a signal to you that clutter is consuming your energy. More than likely you say negative things to yourself about not clearing away those piles. This negative self-talk drains your energy and pretty much ensures that you won't clear the clutter. It is a self perpetuating cycle.

Action Items
Pick one area of your home that is cluttered, perhaps a bookcase, a closet, a file cabinet, or your desk and take one hour to clear this area. Challenge yourself to throw out more things than you are comfortable with. Come up with a question to ask yourself when you are evaluating whether or not to throw things out.

Possible questions could be: When is the last time I had the desire to read this? When is the last time I had the desire to do this project? What am I saving this for?

I would say to error on throwing rather than keeping. When you are through with your clearing and if you end up with 70% of the same stuff, you didn't throw out enough. Ask yourself a deeper question. Perhaps, what am I afraid will happen if I throw this out? What emotions or memories are attached to this item? If something has sentimental value but you will never use it, take a picture of the item and create a memories album and save the memory there.

For one week, take an hour a day and clear out clutter. Notice how you feel physically and mentally when you are done. Answer the mental and physical space questions again. If you feel a positive difference then it may be time to de-clutter an entire room.

Make space for the passions you want in your life. Start living passionately now. Sign up for my free passion deficit disorder (PDD) report and find out how to get started.