2008 May | Be Passiotive!

I slowly opened my eyes to the rays of morning sunshine slipping through the window. “What now?”

I looked outside the window, the skies were blue and there was a soft breeze blowing on my face. It looked like a wonderful day. But for some reason, I felt so heavy as I dragged my feet to the bathroom to get ready for work.

It was like I was operating on auto-pilot as I took a shower, brushed my teeth and got dressed. For me, it was just the beginning of another dragging day.

“What am I doing with my life? Why am I here?”

Have you ever gone through that time when every waking day was such a drag? You feel tired even before your work has begun. Nothing seems to go right and all you want is just to get through the day.

I used to go through my days aimlessly. I allowed myself to fall into a routine and thought I’d just go wherever life takes me.

But what I didn’t realize was I was missing out on having an amazing and wonderful life.

Once I started believing that I was meant for something greater than an automatic work robot, I realized that I needed to determine why I was here.

What was I put on Earth to do?

One day I received a message from a friend that I kept in my phone’s inbox for years. It was one of those random things that turned out to be an important spark for me to realize my life’s purpose. The message read:

“You always say the right things, you always inspire me. You are my angel.”

I had an “aha!” moment. I realized that one of my purposes in life is to inspire people. I am passionate about positivity and self-growth. And whenever my friends come to me for advice, I always try to rub off some of my passion and positivity on them.

But more than just inspiring people, I want to empower them to be the best versions of themselves and to live their best life ever.

One of the best life purpose exercises I came across was the one made by Arnold Patent published in Jack Canfield’s book Success Principles.

Patent’s life purpose exercise is composed of just four steps:
1. List down two of your unique personal qualities.
2. List down two ways you can express those qualities.
3. List down how you envision a perfect world is like.
4. Combine your answers to form your mission statement.

With the help of this exercise, I crafted my life purpose:

To use my passion and positivity to inspire and to empower people to passionately pursue their dreams, to live loving and positive lives, to enjoy success and to experience true happiness.

Why is having a purpose important?

Having a life purpose is important because it will serve as a guide for your actions.

Whenever you do something, ask yourself if it is in accordance with your purpose. This will help you to see your direction more clearly. Everything you do will have a reason and you’ll find that your days become more meaningful.

Waking up with a purpose also helps to energize you because a new day signals another chance for you to fulfill what you were meant to do and to become what you were meant to be.

What is your purpose?

Remember that each one of us has a purpose.

I have a purpose.

(Repeat that statement to yourself. Shout it out if you want.)

Embrace this fact and know that you are a unique human being endowed with talents and skills that will fulfill what you are meant to do and be.

Once you’ve found your passion, how do you begin?

When you’ve figured out what your passion is, you will tend to go in two directions: either you feel so fired up and raring to get moving or you feel so overwhelmed and your fear of starting a big thing leads to procrastination.

Lucky you if you took the first direction.

As for me, I got overwhelmed.

I mentioned before that this blog is part of my efforts to pursue my passion. But just when I was starting to think of all the great possibilities this blog held for me, I felt like I was flooded with so many ideas that I drowned into procrastination.

For weeks, I was content with staying under the water, scared to see what I needed to do or who I needed to be.

But I knew I couldn’t stay there for long if I wanted to get somewhere, so I pushed myself up and got my head out of the water.

Where do I begin?

Going on any journey begins with one step and if you persist to take the following steps after that, you will soon get to your destination.

Step 1: Set a specific goal that fulfills your passion.

You can start with a small goal or you can set a big goal, whatever it is, make it very specific. This will help you to chart the next steps and to focus your efforts.

For example, if you are very passionate about writing, instead of saying “I want to be a writer,” think about what kind of writer you want to be, what you’d like to write or where you want your writing to be published.

What excites you? Is it being a lifestyle magazine writer, a fiction writer, or a blogger? Do you want to publish an article in a local newspaper, accomplish a best-selling novel about whirlwind romance or blog for a channel of a big blog network?

You have to be decisive about what you want.

I’m pretty sure those little critics in your head will start to say “Who are you to even dream that?” “That’s impossible!” “You can’t do it.” Mute them right away. Better yet, throw them out the window.

You know what the truth is:

You are somebody and you can dream anything.

Your dream is possible.

You can do it.

Step 2: Break it down really small.

When you’ve specified your goal, it’s time to draw up an action plan. Make a list of the tasks you need to do to accomplish your goal.

If you’re a self-confessed procrastinator, break down your tasks really, really small. Oftentimes, we put off doing things when they seem too big for us. But when we start with small tasks first, they build up one over the other until the whole task is accomplished.

Taking off from the example above, let’s say your specific goal is you want to be a lifestyle magazine writer, your set of tasks could be:

Search for tips on writing lifestyle magazine articles.
Read tips on writing lifestlye magazine articles.
Make a list of topics for possible magazine articles.
Pick a topic for a possible magazine article.
Write an outline for your chosen topic.
Write the article.
Review and proofread the article.
Search for magazines that accept contributions.
Call the magazine’s publishing company and ask for submission requirements.
Accomplish submission requirements.
Submit your work.

Just do one thing at a time then when you’ve worked your way through your list, start over.

Step 3: Make time.

Now you know what to do, make time to do it.

Remember this is your dream and this is just as important as any paying job you are engaged in.

Oftentimes, we convince ourselves that we are too busy to do this or we don’t have time. But the fact is, we’re just hiding behind our busy-ness because we’re scared to start what could possibly be a big thing.

Dump the “I don’t have time” excuse. You have plenty of time if you decide to manage it wisely. Whether it’s waking up earlier in the morning, setting aside your lunch break or sleeping later at night, you can find time to do the things that matter to you.

Set a realistic time frame for yourself. Don’t boldly proclaim “I’ll write this article in one day” and beat yourself up when you don’t finish it.

Make an honest assessment of your skills and determine how much time you’ll really need. Some tasks will naturally take longer than others. Once you’ve set your time frame, do your damn best to stick to it.

You might see all those successful people and marvel at their wonderful lives. If you’re wondering how they got there, one of the things they did was to make time to do what it takes to be there.

If you’re wondering why they’re up there and you’re still stuck here, it’s because you chose to just watch them.

Stop watching other people live their dreams and start living your own!

Prepare to face two enemies

When you start gaining momentum in pursuing your passion, you have to prepare to face two enemies: procrastination and rejection.

Procrastination hits everyone every time, but you don’t need to be it’s victim.

When you find yourself procrastinating, return to your list of tasks and do just one thing.

Remember, do just one thing.

When you’ve finished that one task, bask in the feeling of accomplishment and use that to rev up your momentum.

As for rejection, don’t take it personally.

When we get rejected, we tend to spiral down into the self-pity pit and think “I’m not good enough” thoughts. Stop right there!

Accept the fact that you cannot satisfy every one’s needs and there will be times when you don’t fit the bill. That doesn’t mean that your talent amounts to nothing. It just means you haven’t found the right match or the right market for your skill. Just keep on trying.

When your work is criticized, listen only to what is constructive, take what will help you improve your craft and discard all the rest. Then try again.

Just take it one step at a time

Step 1: Set a specific goal that fulfills your passion. It’s okay to start small.

Step 2: Break it down really small and list down all the tasks you need to do to achieve your goal.

Step 3: Make time to accomplish your tasks and make sure that the time frame you set is realistic for you.

When pursuing your passion, remember that it’s like taking the stairs, just take it one step at a time and you’ll find yourself at the top soon enough.