A large part of our life is usually taken up by work so our happiness depends a great deal on whether our job satisfies us or not. In far too many cases people really dislike their jobs. They have to drag themselves out of bed and then spend a minimum of 8 hours doing something they don't enjoy. They can't wait to go home.

Does this sound like you or are you one of the lucky ones that have a job that you love?

I guess it's safe to say that it is crucially important to find the work you love as it has such an impact on your life!

How to discover your passion and find the job you love?

But that may be easier said than done. Many times you do not know what you love and if you do, you may be wondering how that particular thing is possibly going to make you any money. You may feel trapped in your job as you need the salary and can't see a way of changing without losing (part of) your income.

My experience

I was once in that position.

I was very good in summing up all the things that I did not want (no office politics, no boss telling me what to do, no boring repetitive tasks, no ugly office) or blaming others for my misfortune (bad economy (hence no jobs) terrible boss, not being given opportunities, not being taken seriously) but not so good in exactly identifying what I wanted to do and how I had the power to get it.

20 years ago I was in a job that I didn't like that much, so when my husband was offered the opportunity to work overseas I was happy to take on that adventure.

Although we were meant to go to Indonesia, we ended up in Australia. So there I was in strange country and no idea what to do.

Not one for doing nothing I applied for jobs again in the field that I had worked in The Netherlands which was marketing. That didn't last long as I had an incompetent boss and was tired of following orders from people I did not respect. I also had the strong urge to do something creative. Something tangible that had more meaning.

But what?

A great book to find out who you are and what you are good at

Then someone recommended the book What colour is your parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles. At first I was a little disheartened by this book as it seemed to be about how to find work and how to deal with rejection. One of the reasons the book starts out with the topic of how to find a job though, is to make it clear that this process is going to be very hard if you do not have a passion or the talent for the job you are applying for.  In interviews and in letters it will be so much easier to communicate why you are so good for the job and how you can benefit the company if you yourself truly believe in it.

Remember how I talked before on how important it is to find your why?

Some very thorough self-analysis

After discovering the book, I started going through all the exercizes to discover what I could possibly be doing and this is what I recommend you do as well.

You will want to discover something that you have a real passion for and that will give your the opportunity to make some decent money.

Here are some of the things that you are going to need to ask yourself:

• What are your favorite activities?
• What were your favorite subjects at school?
• What are your favorite skills?
• What kind of people do you like to work with?
• What do others always ask your advice on?
• What is one subject you can't stop talking about?
• What do you want to achieve in life?
• How many hours do you want to work?
• How important is location independance for you?

The book goes into a lot of detail in analyzing these things.

This is not a book that you can quickly read. You will need to do A LOT of exercises. But even if you don't find all the answers immediately, at least you will have a lot clearer picture on what is important for you in life and you will probably feel inspired and confident that you are able to set your own path and take responsibility for your decisions and actions.

Instead of this book you can also simply do this thorough analysis yourself. I've highlighted a few of the most important questions and processes in my free workshop How to turn your skills and passions into a business you love, which I highly recommend you go through. It comes with a workbook that will already help you get much clarity.

How I succeeded in doing what I love

For me it has been many years ago that I did this and it was the start of me going into a different direction. I discovered that I wanted to do something more creative. I wanted to really create something tangible and run my own business.

Since then I have gone through a similar process multiple times whenever I felt it was time for a new direction or if I needed to get really clear on my (business) vision. You can read more of my story here.

Your turn!

If you are still trying to discover your passion and find the work you love, then give the exercize a try. Answer the above questions or request access to the workshop and download the workbook to discover your passion and / or business idea!

Is there anything that helped you discover your passion? Perhaps any exercizes you did or books you read? Let me know!