The M.A.P. Maker

Take a free-range approach to your internal voices

If you're anything like most people, you have multiple voices in your head competing all at once for space. Some of them you like, so you welcome them out in the open. Others you want to keep hidden away. Not only do you not want others to see them, you don't even want to acknowledge them yourself. 

For example, let's say that your self-image is overall one of a positive, can-do type of person. The glass is half-full - and thank god there's room in the other half for oxygen, because you need that to breathe!

So one of the voices in your head that you let out regularly is your positive-thinking voice. That's the way you like to see yourself, so you let that voice out into the open as often as possible. 

But you might also have an inner pessimist. It tells you what you can't do, and what's not possible. It is driven by fear of what might happen, and wants to avoid it at all costs. You don't want that to be part of your repertoire,  so you proceed to ignore it. 

Why let the negative voices out into the open?

Why would you want to let the voices you don't like as much have their say? Here are three really good reasons:

You just might learn something.

If you persist in pretending that internal pessimist doesn't exist, you miss out on a golden opportunity to learn something that might help you create the life you want. Used judiciously, that pessimist can call attention to potential pitfalls before you experience them. It can help you navigate sometimes treacherous landscape and minimize the pain. 

They won't go away just because you pretend they don't exist. 

In fact, they might just get stronger. It's the old pressure cooker thing. Stuffing it down and not giving it any release creates more pressure.

Not only that, when you ignore something, it's effectively invisible. And when something is invisible to you, you are helpless to do anything about it. Letting it out in the open helps you keep track of what's really going on. 

Sometimes they take control unless you give them focused time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are voices that run roughshod over the life you're living. Take an over-active internal critic, for example. It might be such a habitual voice that you scarcely notice it's not actually you. 

Giving it focused free-range time lets you listen objectively to what it has to say. You can both learn from its valid points (sometimes rephrasing them first into less toxic phrasing) and identify the aspects that aren't valid so you can counter them. 

How to go free-range

Taking a free-range approach to your chorus of internal voices isn't about letting them run amok willy nilly, hither and yon. In the US, the definition of free-range for poultry isn't a bird that lives outside. It's a bird that has access to the outside at least part of the time (and yes, I know that opens a whole different can of worms that is outside the scope of this blog). So it doesn't necessarily spend its whole life roaming free.  

It's the same with those less-savory internal voices. You don't want them to have the run of your brain, but you don't want to shove them into little boxes and stuff them down in the cellar either. 

Here are some ways you might take a free-range approach. 

Journaling

Start by taking stock of what those voices are. Do you have a an internal critic? A pessimist? Make a page in your journal just for that list. You can keep adding to it over time as you identify more. 

Pick a voice, and give it space to run (but only a defined space - it doesn't get to take over the show). Let it say what it wants to say. Get those thoughts out of your head and down onto paper. 

Then start asking questions, like:

• Is this valid?
• Is this 100% accurate?
• Are there any different ways to look at this?
• What flawed assumptions is this voice making?
• What can I learn from this voice?
• Where is the kernel of truth that I can use to improve / increase my chances for success / etc.?

Talking with a trusted friend

Another good way to give those inner voices some free-range space is to find someone in your life you can be honest with. Ask them to simply listen, not judge, argue with, or try to fix what those voices have to say. 

Once you get it out there, then you can start talking about the specifics (use the questions listed above as a starting point). Having someone else in the picture is a great way to get a more objective perspective. 

Coaching

You can take the external discussion up a notch by working with a coach like me. This is someone whose focus is helping you sort through things, find clarity, and adjust your choices and actions accordingly. 

Therapy

Sometimes the source of those voices goes deeper than a coach would be qualified to help you with (for example, if you needed to delve into childhood issues). In those cases, working with a therapist can be invaluable. 

Ultimately, whether or not you decide to take a free-range approach with those voices you're not so fond of, they're there. And that means that, in some way, they're having an impact on your life.

Deciding to consciously, purposefully let them into the open will both help you make sure they're not sitting behind the steering wheel without your realizing it, and give you the opportunity to tap into whatever valid, helpful insights they might actually have. 

--

If you liked this post, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed.

 --

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

Permission to live a (partially) crappy life

One of my beefs with the whole self-help industry is how unrealistic it is. It feeds people the notion that not only can everything be better, everything SHOULD be better. And if it's not, something's wrong. 

Would it be great to have things be all-fabulous, all the time? Sure. Is it realistic? Ummmmm...nope. And yet self-help gurus right and left pounce on any ounce of non-fabulousness in your life and inflate it to become an ISSUE that must be DEALT WITH. 

Pardon me for saying so, but bullshit. 

Here's the reality. Life isn't 100% sunshine and daisies. Sometimes life is a backed up sewage system the requires you to haul out the roto-rooter and have a stinky experience. And for you to expect anything different is to set yourself up to be unhappy.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we should just sit back and wallow in it when life isn't working. I'm simply suggesting that there's no need to add to the pain by making our situation "wrong." 

Sometimes change needs to be made in your external circumstances, but sometimes the change that is really needed is an internal one. For example, if you buy the notion that you should somehow achieve 100% happiness, then you're setting yourself up for friction when your life inevitably falls short of that. 

When that happens, you have two choices. Either continue banging your head against the wall and feeling the pain, or adjust your unrealistic expectations. 

Obviously I'm not against self-help and personal development. It's where I make my living, and I have seen hugely positive changes as a result of personal development efforts, both in my own life and the lives of others. 

But I am against any way of seeing the world that doesn't let you be human. And part of being human is being flawed. It's feeling pain. It's showing up imperfectly. It's feeling the friction. 

So if you are having a crappy day, or a crappy month, or a crappy year, that's OK. Yes, take steps to make the changes you need to make, but don't pour fuel on the fire of that discomfort by comparing yourself to that self-help ideal.

You'll come up short. Every. Stinkin'. Time. 

--

If you liked this post, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed.

 --

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

The only right answer is the one that works for you

I'm writing the script right now for an audio focused on ways to develop a positive focus, so I'm up to my eyeballs in thinking about crafting a positive attitude.

Taking a break from the writing, I happened to read Fabeku Fatunmise's superb post about just letting yourself hang out in the middle of, as he describes it, "the suck." Not trying to force yourself into a better mood or a more positive focus, but just being where you are. 

His post was sparked by the pressure he realized five different clients were all feeling:

They’ve each had a lot of suck happen this year.

And every single one of them was feeling this pressure to wrap up the ack into some neat little package before saying toodles to 2010.

Like they had to remix the suck and turn it into something positive. All of a sudden. On command.

Looking for the silver lining.
Finding the gift in the hard.
Being grateful for what they learned.

And not only that, but they had to do it before 11:59 pm on December 31st.

That, fab taters, is what I’d call a double dip of bullshit, served in a crap cone and topped with extra suck sprinkles.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I'm not a fan of painting life with a happysappy face. (For example, see What you can learn from my @#!%& foul mood.) So as I read his post, I nodded vigorously in agreement. 

At the same time, I also wanted to say, "Yeah, but..." Because sometimes the things that he is railing against really are what you need. There are times when shifting your perspective and putting on those rose-colored glasses is just the ticket to get you out of wallowing in suck. 

Sometimes, as he points out, trying to force yourself to be where you're not only adds to the misery. Because not only are you in a crappy space, you're kicking yourself because you're not being successful at leaving the suck behind. 

But other times the reason the suck feels as bad as it does is because you choose to hang out and wallow in it. You choose to feed it. You choose to let it define your experience. 

So which is the right answer? The one that works for you. And that might be different at any given point in time. There's no neat, tidy, one-size-fits-all recipe. 

Perhaps the best thing you can do is experiment and see what works. Next time you're in the middle of "the suck," try shifting your focus to seeing the silver lining, or finding the gift, or some other positive perspective-inducing approach. If it helps, perfect! You've found what works. 

But if instead you find the tension starting to rise, that's a good sign that you might need to hop off the positive train for a bit and just let yourself be where you are. 

The only right answer is the one that works for you. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst 

Does it matter what other people think of you?

How much do you care what other people think about you? And what kind of impact is that having on your life? 

There's a lovely quote - variously attributed to a variety of people - that goes, "What other people think about you is none of your business." 

When Paulo Cuelho posted that on his Facebook page and 37,000 people liked it, the entrepreneur in Jonathan Fields balked. As he explains in his blog post, from an entrepreneurial perspective, it is his business what people think of him. 

His post got me thinking about whether or not it's important what other people think of us. And typical me, rather than yes or no, I ultimately decided the answer was yes AND no. 

Why it matters what people think of you

Very little of consequence is accomplished completely on your own. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a potential employee in the job search, or a volunteer putting on a fundraising event, you need other people's buy-in to help you succeed. So in those cases, it's absolutely relevant what other people think of you. 

Hopefully, what you choose to do in your life is close enough to who you are that taking other people's perception of you into consideration doesn't require you to compromise yourself. 

Why it doesn't matter what people think of you

I love cranking up the music in my car and driving down the road singing at the top of my lungs. But when the urge strikes me, I refrain from doing it more often than I would like to admit. Why? Because I'm worried about what the people in the cars around me might think. 

When you look at it objectively, that's ludicrous. What possible negative impact can it have on my life if people I don't know, who I will likely never see again, think I'm a bit odd? 

And yet we do things like that all the time. We make decisions that restrict what we do and how we choose to show up. We limit ourselves based on opinions that have no real relevance. Worse yet, we judge ourselves based on those opinions. 

The importance is situational

Perhaps the best way of looking at it is on a situational basis. If it’s a situation where you can make a case that someone’s opinion of you has a direct impact on a goal you’re trying to achieve or a situation you’re trying to create, then what others think of you IS your business.

But, like my singing in my car, the vast majority of things in life AREN’T directly tied to that. And so we waste energy and needlessly limit ourselves by worrying about perceptions of us that have no relevance or impact on who we are or the life we live. 

Maybe a better quote would be, “What other people think of you is none of your business (unless it is).” And it's up to you to learn the difference. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

Vulnerability is the secret sauce

At the heart of my work is the idea of authenticity. It is even woven through the definition of passion that lays the foundation for the process I developed to help people find careers that light them up: "Passion is the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do."

But authenticity isn't just all the warm, fuzzy, energizing things. It means showing up fully in your life, warts and all. And that means allowing yourself to be real. 

Lately (as you may have noticed in some of my recent posts), I've been giving a lot of thought to living with that 360-degree authenticity. So when Joe McCarthy gave me a heads up on this superb TEDx talk by Brene Brown about the importance of vulnerability (she sees it as the key to joy, creativity, belonging and love), it struck a chord. (Joe has a summary of the talk on his blog).

This talk is worth watching, possibly multiple times.   

If you can't allow yourself to be vulnerable, you're putting up a wall. And when you put up a wall, it blocks everything out, not just the things you don't want to experience/feel/be. 

Joe commented about the video in response to my post yesterday, Stop resisting change and ask these questions. He thought the questions there would be helpful in his effort to practice greater courage, vulnerability and authenticity in his life. 

That in turn prompted some related questions to pop into my head:

• Where do I feel vulnerable?
• How do I hide my vulnerability?
• What is the cost of hiding my vulnerability?
• What am I afraid would happen if I let my vulnerability show?
• What would realistically happen if I let my vulnerability show?
• What is one doable way I could dip my toe into letting my vulnerability out in the open?

Vulnerability is the secret sauce to a rich, fulfilling life. What can you do to take a step in that direction?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

What you can learn from my @#!%& foul mood

Warning: This post contains adult language. If the F-bomb offends you, you might be happier reading some of my other posts. 

I'm in an incredibly foul mood this morning. I'm pissed off at myself. I'm pissed off at the world. As I was making my coffee this morning, I felt like throwing my mug in a tantrum. I wanted to stomp my feet and yell and scream and beat the shit out of a pillow (I settled for starting this blog post instead). 

It's not a mood about any one particular thing. It's a number of challenges and worries that have been building over time. Ironically, it was my quest for "inner peace" that tipped me over the edge. This morning when I sat down to meditate, I rebelled. "Fuck you!" I screamed internally. "I'm not Mr. Fucking Spiritual Guy! I don't have it in me. Fucking forget it!"  Whew!

Why am I sharing this? Largely because I'm uncomfortable with the smiley happy image that my tendency to focus primarily on the positive in these blog posts creates. And I'm uncomfortable with that image for two reasons. 

First, I'm excruciatingly aware that I have my share of foibles and faults. I have my rough edges. I have elements of who I am and who I have been that I'm not happy with. In other words, I'm human. And the exclusively smiley happy guy isn't an image I want to have to try to live up to. 

But more importantly, I think my foul mood contains the seed of an important message for you. Because the smiley, happy, change the world guy isn't fake. The guy who feels like he just won a million dollars when someone says, "Wow, that really helped me," and who feels drawn to focusing on the positive and the potential, is real. He's 100% authentic. He's a big piece of who I am. But he's not ALL of who I am. 

I'm also the guy who swears like a sailor at the inner peace he's chasing. I'm the guy who wants to take it all out on an innocent coffee mug (OK, so I'm also the guy who had enough restraint not to, but you get the idea). 

Reading blogs and books from writers promoting positive personal development, it's easy to mistake the message for the person. And when you start to mix the two up, it's easy to start saying, "Well, I'm not as positive/mellow/enlightened/whatever as that person." And as soon as you do that, you start seeing that other person as a caricature. And you can never live up to the example set by a caricature. 

The reality is, people are people. Some are more naturally positive than others. Some are more naturally resilient than others. But nobody "has it all together." 

I have news for you. If you try to live up to the positive image painted in most personal development literature, you're doomed. 

Does personal development literature offer some great ideas to aspire to? Absolutely! Does it offer some paths to create a deeper, richer, more fulfilling life? You bet! Is it realistic to expect your life to look like a personal development book? 

...Ummm, no. 

You'll hit stormy seas. You'll question just about everything. You'll hit walls. You'll disappoint yourself. You'll fall flat on your face. You'll get angry. You'll feel like you don't have what it takes to be _____. You'll feel completely unenlightened. 

The question isn't whether or not you'll experience those things. Because you will. The question is what you do when you do experience them. Do you let them define your life, or do you step back, take a deep breath, and find a more positive track again? 

Don't let the foibles and flaws that come with the human experience fool you into thinking that you don't have what it takes to live a rich, meaningful, fulfilling life. Don't give them more weight than they deserve. 

Accept that you aren't - and can't be - the main character in a self-help book. Accept that sometimes you swear like a sailor at your quest for inner peace. Take the opportunity to learn and grow to the degree that you can, and then move back into the light. 

For the record, my mood has improved immensely since the beginning of this post. Thanks for taking part in my therapy session. ;-)

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

 

Newsflash! I'm not perfect! (And neither are you)

During the first year of my Passion Catalyst work, at a time when I was making about a third of what I needed to survive and was in a constant state of high stress, a client made the comment, "One of these days I'm going to be as together as you are." 

"Oh, honey," I thought, laughing internally, "if you only knew." Her perception of me was clearly out of line with my reality. 

One of my pet peeves about the "self-help guru" set is the degree to which so many of them project an image of having it completely together. But behind the scenes, I have yet to meet someone who isn't actually human. 

By "human," I mean someone who is imperfect. Someone who has doubts and fears, or who sometimes feels like they don't know what the hell they're doing. Someone who has made mistakes in their life - sometimes big ones. Someone who is living with regrets. Someone who doesn't have all the answers, or even any of them, it sometimes seems.

In short, they're all just like everybody else. And it's not just the self-help set. The same goes for anybody we see as "having it all together." They're all human. 

And yes, that definitely includes me. I sometimes feel more flawed and imperfect and vulnerable than I really care to. I fall on my face. I don't take the steps I know I need to take. I sometimes feel like a fraud. I get depressed. I have made decisions I deeply regret. I get stuck in unproductive (or even counter-productive) ruts and can't seem to find my way out. The list goes on.

And none of that is at odds with what I tend to focus on here. I am also inspired by the focus of my work. I feel completely energized at the idea of making the world a better place. I see opportunity and possibilities everywhere I turn. I feel a deep sense of love and compassion. I get a rush from seeing someone's life change for the better because of what I'm doing in my career. I have ideas coming out my ears for how people can both energize their lives and make a difference they care about. 

What's the point of all this? That none of us are perfect. That we all have flaws. We all have fears. We all feel patently unequipped on occasion to pursue our dreams. We all have our "dark sides." And that's OK.

Because I focus primarily on the positive in what I write, it can create a false picture of who I am. Your (or anyone's) path to passion is unlikely to be smooth and trouble-free. If all I give you is the glossy, polished picture, then it's easy for you to say, "Oh, well, I'm not like that. I have these fears and doubts and troubles." 

So it feels important to stop on occasion and say, "Ummm, no. I'm completely human, warts and all."

You don't have to have it all together to create a career and a life that energizes and inspires you. You just have to be willing to take a deep breath, reach out for help when you need it, and take the next step. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion Catalyst lesson #4 - You are your own best expert

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

One of the first things I tell new clients is, "I don't have the faintest idea what's best for you." I follow that up with, "What I do have is an unshakable belief that you do!"

Over nine years of watching clients go from confusion to clarity, not once has the answer to what is right for them come from an outside source. They may feel like they don't have the answer at first, but what's really happening is that the answer is simply obscured. It's there; it's just covered up. And our focus is on uncovering it. Think Indiana Jones hacking through the jungle to find the treasure covered in overgrowth. 

What is the number one reason people's self-expertise is obscured? Focus. 

More to the point, they have an over-developed focus on external factors, and under-developed focus on that internal self-expertise. And that isn't a reflection on them. When I hear people get down on themselves because "I'm __ years old and I still don't know what kind of career I would really love," I always respond with one question: "Why would you?"

Think about it. We live in a culture that celebrates action and achievement. But self-awareness? When was the last time you saw an Introspection 101 class? So when our environment focuses our attention on that external aspect, if we happen to stumble into a career we love it's really more luck than anything. 

Want to build your self-expertise? Keep these three pieces of the puzzle in mind:

1. Develop the self-expertise
2. Compile the self-expertise
3. Use the self-expertise

Develop the self-expertise

I think of developing that self-expertise as an excavation process. The answers are there, but they're going to require a little digging. One great place to start is the Passion Factor exploration I mentioned in lesson learned #1 (in a nutshell, identify the common themes present when you feel energized by first asking what you love doing, and then asking why). 

There are a lot of great books with a lot of great approaches to self-exploration (I'm fond of my own e-book, The Occupational Adventure Guide). And that's where your self-expertise starts. Get to know what makes you tick so you can consciously make it part of your decisions. Otherwise it's all guesswork, and that is ineffective at best.

Compile the self-expertise

Another huge mistake I see people making is doing all this self-exploration work and then just letting most of the insights float away. Maybe a percentage of the insights they gained stick with them, but the rest disappear again. Why? It's hard to keep something in your head when your attention is elsewhere. So as they go about the day-to-day business of life, those insights start to drop off the radar screen.

To make the most of the self-expertise you are gaining, compile the key things you learn along the way. Think of it as creating a reference guide to what makes you tick. Instead of leaving it on pages and pages and pages of a journal, for example, summarize the key points on one page for an at-a-glance view of what you have discovered. 

You can create various categories for it, for example:

• What energizes me
• Ways I get in my own way
• Questions to frequently ask
• Dangers to be aware of

Not only will this give you a useable reference guide as you make decisions going into the future, it will also serve as an ongoing reminder. The question I always ask my clients is, "How much of this will you remember in five years when you haven't been intensely focused on it week in and week out?" Your self-expertise is only as robust as what you can remember. 

Use the self-expertise

Self-expertise is great, but it's little more than glorified navel-gazing if you don't do something with it. The great thing about compiling your insights in one place is that now you have a tool you can use as you move forward. 

For example, in my work with clients I have them make a list of the underlying themes that tend to be present when they're on fire (which we identified by exploring what they love doing and why). Putting those in one place creates what I describe as an internal compass. It's a distillation of where the energy comes from that they can use to both generate ideas and evaluate options. It takes the guesswork out of the process. 

If you do lots of great self-exploration, but then it stays buried in a file in a drawer, the odds are good that you will only harness a fraction of its value. Make the most out of the time and effort you have invested by summarizing the insights you gain in an easily digestible format. Then make a habit of referring to it frequently. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Passion Catalyst lesson #2 - Authenticity creates confidence

This is a series of lessons learned from my nine years as a Passion Catalyst. 

For the first ten years of my career, I worked madly to try to make a success out of being who I wasn't. Simply put, I was on the wrong path. I was doing work that ultimately didn't fit who I was. And it showed.

One of the effects of wearing that mask was a constant feeling that I was missing something, that I needed to work harder to gain that extra edge. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was missing something - me! 

I wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but trying to be someone else had a negative effect on my confidence. I was always a bit off balance, trying fit into the faux self I thought my career required.

I started my Passion Catalyst work by literally putting a framework around what I had been doing naturally, accidentally for years. There is no mask to it - what you see is pretty much what you get. Who I get to be day in and day out is deeply aligned with who I am. And that has made a world of difference in my confidence about the work I do.

One of the things I often say is, "You can never be anyone else half as well as you can be you." My clients come to me because they want to create a career that lights them up. And what that really means is finding a career path that lets them be who they are. 

When you're trying to be who you're not (which, sadly, is the case for a big chunk of the people out there in the work world), it creates a tension that saps your energy away. It's like driving a car with tires severely out of alignment. You're constantly having to put effort into keeping pointed straight ahead. 

Being who you are, on the other hand, is easy! There is no friction, and no energy drain. You don't have to worry about the car driving off the road. And just that one thing - knowing you can just show up naturally and not worry about keeping the mask on - can have a significant impact on the confidence you feel about your work. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Most people's concept of passion is limiting: Lessons from 9 years as a Passion Catalyst - #1

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

If I asked you what your passion is, what would you say? Most people would give some kind of answer like travel, or cooking, or software programming, or writing, or helping kids, or any of a bazillion things that people feel passionate about.

And while none of those answers would be wrong, they would only represent a limited snapshot of where that feeling of passion could come from. 

As I see it, what we see as our passions are really only vehicles that allow us to experience what I call our Passion Factors - the underlying themes that tend to be present when we feel energized and inspired. And that fact gives us exponentially more opportunity to find work we love than most people realize.  

Definition of passion

To explain what I mean by that, I'll start with my definition of passion: "The energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do." It's being who you are, and doing what you're naturally drawn to. It is, for example, the difference between wearing the soul-sucking mask of my previous career as a marketer and being unabashedly myself in - and unabashedly energized by - the work I do now (nothing inherently wrong with marketing as a career, it was just wrong for me). 

Find your Passion Factors

If that definition of passion makes sense, the big question is, "How do I consciously, purposefully 'bring more of ME into what I do?'" How do you apply that in the real world?

My short answer is this: Find your Passion Factors, then find ways to incorporate them into your career path. To identify your Passion Factors, ask, "What lights me up?" Then ask, "Why?" Reverse engineer the things you love doing - work or play - to identify the underlying reasons why you love them. 

As you do that, you will start to see recurring reasons why, even in things you love that seem completely unrelated (for example, a key reason why I love both my Passion Catalyst coaching and travel photography is a sense of exploration and discovery, which is a theme that shows up again and again for me). 

What will let you experience those Passion Factors?

When you have identified your Passion Factors, you can ask, "What kinds of careers are out there that will allow me to experience these?" And far from being limited to one path, there are probably numerous paths that would let you experience those Passion Factors. That's what I mean when I say that the things you are passionate about are really simply vehicles that let you experience those underlying themes.

And when you shift your perspective from "what is my passion" to "what will allow me to experience those Passion Factors," it blows the doors wide open with potential directions that will let you feel energized by the work you do. 

Think both big picture and small picture

You can use your understanding of your Passion Factors at the big picture level (what career path should I follow?) and the small picture level (how can I experience more of these Passion Factors in the work I'm doing right now?). 

If you want to expand the passion potential in your career, it all starts with awareness. Identify your Passion Factors, then step-by-step, choice-by-choice, start incorporating them into your future. 

[Want to read all the lessons learned? Here's a compilation (at the bottom).]

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst