Find Your Passion? How About Find Your Personal Mission?

One of the subjects we’ve talked about in detail in the podcast is this topic of finding your passion. Some say that once you find and follow your passion, you’ll have it made in the shade.

Well, according to Mike Rowe and Jordan Harbinger, that’s simply not the case. In their experience, they’ve come to realize that those who find passion in their work are just as happy as those who follow their passion – if not more so.

So, if the answer is not following your passion (which author Mark Nathan discusses in detail in his book The Delusion of Passion), what’s the secret? How can someone follow the advice “If you love what you do for work, you’ll never work a day in your life.”?

This is a question that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time… and here’s what I’ve found out.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

In entrepreneurial education, many educators/experts say that to be known for our work, we need to know how to find our sweet spot. What can we do that others don’t do nearly as well?

Honestly, to me, this seems kind of vague.

So here’s what I think they mean. I figure it means we need to do a proper inventory work on ourselves.  Once we have that info, then it’s much easier to figure out what separates us from our competition and/or possible partners. In fact, if we don’t do this inventory, we’ll never know if we’re trying to be someone we’re not.

In recent years, I know I’ve made that mistake. That’s why I’ve bounced from idea to idea. And, I now realize that this is because I’ve been basing my success off of the ideas of others! Meaning, if a guest on Pat Flynn’s show talked about doing having success doing a certain thing, then I’d go try that. If it sounded like something in my wheelhouse, I’d try it. And then, as I’m learning and experimenting with a certain type of business, I’d be comparing myself to people who were already making a killing doing it.

Funny enough, comparing ourselves to others on social media (which our brains like to do) makes it even harder to be ourselves!

It was a drag.

However, once I did find my sweet spot, it was easy for me to realize what I should be doing… and life just became that much easier. That’s when I came up with my free resource, Uncover Your Personal Mission. I wanted to make sure that others wouldn’t spin their wheels trying to find something that would make their entrepreneurial career.

The Ikigai

After I published my resource, I ran across the the Ikigai. It is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being.” The word “ikigai” is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile. The word translated to English roughly means “thing that you live for” or “the reason for which you wake up in the morning.”

At first I thought it was a different model altogether. But as I thought about it, I realized my guide corresponds directly with what the Ikigai illustrates.

3 P’s of a Personal Mission vs the Ikigai Model

While they might use some of the same words for different sections, what I found out about developing a personal mission lines up pretty close to this model. 

• Your Passion (Why?) lines up with the Ikigai’s “What do you Love?” section.
• Your Purpose (What?) lines up with the Ikigai’s “What does the World Need?” section.
• Your Process (How?) lines up with the Ikigai’s “What you’re good at.” section.

The only thing I didn’t include as being part of a personal mission is the “What can you be paid for?” section. Why didn’t I include it in the personal mission guide? For one, I feel that culture already puts attention on this part anyway. Also, you have to know the other 3 sections before you can pick something to do and get compensated for. Sure, I understand why it’s in the Ikigai model, but I believe it makes more sense if someone’s personal mission is what someone would do even if they didn’t get paid for it. Remember, there’s a lot of unhappy people who built a career on doing work they can get paid for. Chances are, the world told them they were good at it and that’s why they chose that path… which is better than just choosing a path simply because it pays well.

Action Steps

So this idea of finding your personal mission is a bit of a conceptual exercise. I realize that. However, I truly believe that the more of the 3 P’s you’re aware of, then the easier the Profit part will be. In fact, Andy and I talked about this in great detail with Tommy Breedlove.

So be sure to check out that interview.

Also, if you haven’t yet, check out the Uncover Your Personal Mission guide. Do the exercises in there and then we can figure out what your income avenue should be.