I usually find a passion by taking up new hobbies.

How do you know you won't love something if you never give it a try?

I have a few passions which all seem to roll into one: lucid dreaming, writing, blogging and meditation.

I also love fitness, bodyweight exercises to be more specific.

I also love IM, but only when I'm writing about my passions.

My advice would be to try new hobbies. Maybe read a few hobby books on Kindle and see what ones take your fancy.

There's plenty of room in my niche if you want to join .

Hmmm, where do I start? I can't tell you for sure how to find your passion even though there are several self help books out there which could point you in the right direction. So I guess I'll just move on to the second part of your question.

I've always known I wanted to write stories. I was writing stories for my younger ones when I was 6 years old - in pencil and with chalk . But I didn't follow my passion when I picked a major, I went to law school instead.

When I started with IM, I did it because my family needed the income. We were in a foreign country where my husband was a student and we were not allowed to work. So since I'd been blogging for fun already, I looked to the internet for how to make a living. I started writing IM related stuff and boy, I was bored stiff!

Well, to cut the already long story short, I'm now writing fiction and I have the honor of being paid to do something I would have done for free anyway. I am passionate about creating stories and weaving plots and well, writing. So I suppose that is my passion.

On second thoughts, I would say if you find something you don't mind doing for free and you really love doing that thing, that is most likely your passion.

Thanks for starting this thread, just posting has been refreshing.

How many do you want ? Sounds like a great passion right there, a question back at you, do you believe strongly that you can achieve this goal ?

Or is it that you see this as a maybe option or a unreachable dream ? when you want something bad enough it will become all time consuming and possible and when that happens its like a fire in your belly that nothing can extinguish.

Your passion seems fine to me and if thats what you really want, turn up the burners and probably not let other distractions climb into the way.

Many people sell their dreams as they get older, they start with I want a sea side home, then that whittles away over the years to a compromise or smaller dream.

If you really do want that sea side home, take the brakes of and work until there is no tomorrow and you put that key in the front door of your new home.

I have many different passions in life (btw, JoeyXOTO great post my man) and I'll share one of them with you and how I found it.

Roughly a decade ago a friend of mine came to me devasted about his divorce that he was going through. He had been married over 12 years and really thought he was going to grow old with his wife, but it didn't turn out that way. So we hung out more often than normal and I tried my best to help him get over his break up.

Well after about a year he came to me and asked me to help get him get back into the "dating game". Though he had a very limiting belief. At the ripe old age of 37 years he thought he was too "old" to do this. I told him this was nonsense and that I knew people twice his age who were dating successfully.

Well, he noticed that I was quite a prolific dater at the time and asked me to write him a short outline on what he could do to get back into the dating world.

"No problem," I said, "I'll have something for you tomorrow."

That night I started writing and after a few hours I realized I ended up with really big outline that was over a dozen pages long in small font. When I handed it to him his eyes grew wide and he said, "Thanks!"

That next day I ran into him and he said that I should write a book, that what I wrote what simply outstanding. "Now, now...." I said, "You have to follow the advice first before you can even begin to go down that road."

For the next few weeks, I saw my buddy Ken go out and start to meet people. And within a few months dated a few gals and eventually found his second wife. When I saw how happy my friend was and how he had made a ton of positive changes in his life, I knew I had discovered a new passion.......giving dating advice to people who needed it.

I decided to refine my craft, but that's a story for another day. And to this day I'm still giving advice, mostly to men, about their dating issues. And that 12 page report has evolved into a 400 page e-book.

RoD

This process is different for everyone, but if someone comes to me with this question I advise them to be "proactive", meaning that passions don't always fall in your lap and that you should seek them out.

It's important to read, explore, go out and meet new people, and above all, have new experiences. One of the best things I ever did was take a mini-vacation in a nice, but modest hotel with no computer and jot down things that I was interested in and spend some time really thinking about this.

RoD

I believe once you get a happiness sensation from doing something beside sex and food, you just know it and say "This is my hobby!"
I spend hours playing computer game, but still in good shape, hobby will never tire you out.
I also spend a lot of time running, there is a sense of achievement each time I break my own record.
I've been a gamer since college, and the reason is simple, once I lose a game and rematch, next match .. I won so I can make fun my loser friend.
Running ... I do it because I like Usain Bolt, His life story is amazing.

The only way to "find" a passion is to take every chance you get at doing something you've never done before. If you never try you'll never know.

/Izerman

You need to find the thing you like to do most, and then do it better than anybody else is. Regardless of what it is, you're going to be successful in life.

First I figure out what motivates me..

Usually the best way to find your passion is to ask yourself this question: If I had to do something for the rest of my life whether I got paid for it or not, what would that be?

The answer is your passion and it's usually something that you naturally do.
You can always pray about it too and God will direct your path.

My passion is lying in the bed next to me.

IM, a game indeed. Passion, interest, or a means to an end? It's the focus that counts. Its just easier to focus on a passion.... In my opinion.

Passion is something people just kind of stumble into. You don't plan passion. It finds you.

I understand where you're coming from: I neither have no platonic dream pushing me forth through the daily grind. It doesn't bother me much though.

You see, I'm a VERY goal-orientated person: I cannot stand doing things "just because". That's why I grow bored pretty quickly from most hobbies: I just cannot justify to keep on doing stuff just because it's "kinda nice". For example, after the 3rd weekend driving 100km out of town into the county side, I promptly quit my former nature photography hobby. I couldn't help myself wondering: "how long can I justify doing this stuff, regardless of whether I may think it's nice or not, if it serves no specific purpose?".

The funny thing is that I've always told myself that I would like to retire young, but the truth is that I know for a fact that I would get bored out of my nipples within a few week into retirement. Like I said, I just find pointless to do stuff that has no specific purpose.

Conclusion: now a days I simply don't worry too much about find my life-defining passion. Instead, I do my daily stuff and try to enjoy the ride along the way rather than obsessing about any hypothetically-enlightening destination.

My passion came to me as a child - writing. I love it. As soon as I'm done one piece of writing, I want to do another one. It depends on the topic, though. It has to be something I'm familiar with and actually enjoy. Or it has to entail educating people on what I know about a given topic or a topic I can quickly and effectively research.

Other than that, my passion is to try new things. While this is a great way to enjoy variety, it seldom results in finding something I'd like to continue doing. When I get bored with it, I wait until I stumble onto something else, which I might chase around for awhile.

I didn't pursue my writing career until I was in my late 30s. And then, it was out of desperation when my job at the time had become painfully boring.

I found that new career by going through my school records. It quickly became evident that my strongest subjects were writing, spelling, English literature and art. From this discovery, I went to college to perfect my writing skill.

Maybe you need to do something similar. Go back to a time when you did enjoy things. What were those things? Can you revive them? Look through college course listings and see if something clicks. It doesn't mean you have to go to college as I did, but it'll give you somewhere to start.

Most of the time, our passions are evident in our younger years. There's a good chance that whatever you liked then, you still like today. We do tend to wander away from our passions as we move into different stages of life.

As someone said above, look for things that perk your interest and give them a try. You're sure to find something that causes a spark.

If you really don't find anything, maybe you're depressed. Nothing will trigger excitement if you are.

Sylvia

It's something only you can find.

You can find it by asking yourselves a few simple questions...

Like "What do I enjoy doing"

"When am I the most happiest"

And even more importantly..

"What do I hate doing"

"When am I the least happy"

Dude, you keep saying it.

Your passion is the beach.

That's what you love. That's what you want. What you need is a way to turn being at the beach into something that makes you money, without ruining the passion you have for it. You like photography? I bet you could take great pictures at the beach. You like writing? I bet you could write on your laptop at the beach. If all else fails, get a hot dog cart or something.

Personally, my passion is solving hard problems and telling other people what to do. Seriously, it sounds like some sort of joke, but that's why I loved project management. I would sit around in meetings figuring out what needed to be done about some problem or other, then go tell other people to do it. I love that magical moment where all the stuff comes together and you see your team building something awesome, and then you drop it into production and watch the problem go away.

I don't do that anymore. I haven't figured out how to do that effectively on my own yet. I'll get there. But along the way, I'm enjoying the ride.

Taken from LifeHack:

How can you find what you’re passionate about? Here are some suggestions:

Is there something you already love doing? Do you have a hobby, or something you loved doing as a child, but never considered it as a possibility? Whether it’s reading comic books, collecting something, making something, creating or building, there is probably a way you could do it for a living. Open a comic book shop, or create a comic book site online. If there’s already something you love doing, you’re ahead of the game. Now you just need to research the possibilities of making money from it.

What do you spend hours reading about? For myself, when I get passionate about something, I’ll read about it for hours on end. I’ll buy books and magazines. I’ll spend days on the Internet finding out more. There may be a few possibilities here for you … and all of them are possible career paths. Don’t close your mind to these topics. Look into them.

Brainstorm. Nothing comes to mind right away? Well, get out a sheet of paper, and start writing down ideas. Anything that comes to mind, write it down. Look around your house, on your computer, on your bookshelf, for inspirations, and just write them down. There are no bad ideas at this stage. Write everything down, and evaluate them later.

Ask around, and surf for possibilities. Ask other people for ideas. See what others have discovered as their passions. Look all over the Internet for ideas. The more possibilities you find, the more likely your chances of finding your true passion.

Don’t quit your job just yet. If you find your calling, your passion, don’t just turn in your resignation tomorrow. It’s best to stay in your job while you’re researching the possibilities. If you can do your passion as a side job, and build up the income for a few months or a year, that’s even better. It gives you a chance to build up some savings (and if you’re going into business for yourself, you’ll need that cash reserve), while practicing the skills you need. See below for more.

Give it a try first. It’s best to actually test your new idea before jumping into it as a career. Do it as a hobby or side job at first, so that you can see if it’s really your true calling. You may be passionate about it for a few days, but where the rubber meets the road is whether you’re passionate about it for at least a few months. If you pass this test, you have probably found it.

Do as much research as possible. Know as much about your passion as possible. If this has been a passion for awhile, you may have already been doing this. At any rate, do even more research. Read every website possible on the topic, and buy the best books available. Find other people, either in your area or on the Internet, who do what you want to do for a living, and quiz them about the profession. How much do they make? What training and education did they need? What skills are necessary? How did they get their start? What recommendations do they have. Often you’ll find that people are more than willing to give advice.

Practice, and practice, and practice some more. Don’t go into it with amateur skill level. If you want to make money — to be a professional — you need to have professional skills. Get very good at your future career and you will make money at it. Practice for hours on end. If it’s something you love, the practice should be something you want to do.

Never quit trying. Can’t find your passion at first? Give up after a few days and you’re sure to fail. Keep trying, for months on end if necessary, and you’ll find it eventually. Thought you found your passion but you got tired of it? No problem! Start over again and find a new passion. There may be more than one passion in your lifetime, so explore all the possibilities. Found your passion but haven’t been successful making a living at it? Don’t give up. Keep trying, and try again, until you succeed. Success doesn’t come easy, so giving up early is a sure way to fail. Keep trying, and you’ll get there.

I think, at least for me, passions change with age.

When I was very young my passion was whatever I needed to do to get to spend as much time as possible with my grandfather. He was a cool old man that could tell the greatest stories.

Along about 11 or 12 years old my passion turned to those , all of a sudden, sweet smelling little hillbilly girls at school.

About 16 it turned to partying hard, way too hard, and my choice of women grew somewhat wilder in the process.

At 19 I met my passion and it came in the form of a sweet little thing that gave me the choice of her or the hard lifestyle I thought I was enjoying. At 22 she gave me a true passion. A little girl that I was determined would have anything she ever wanted in life.

I went full force into a full time real world business. At 30 years old I branched out into the online business world as a hobby to me but making an income many would consider full time in it's self. Another son and two nephews I have full custody of kept the fire to be all I could be in business and a dad burning.

That little girl married her passion about 6 months ago. Her passion came in the form of a boy that has a passion for protecting his country. This led to her moving to Washington State two days ago. My passion for those two days has been acting tough for the family and not getting caught crying when no one is looking.

My real world business has too many roots. It ties me down to the point of not being able to do what I want .. when I want. The money doesn't mean everything now .. freedom does.

My new passion is to take everything I have learned in the last 14 years about online marketing and put it into a membership site. To be able to help people and give myself a business that allows freedom. A business that can be run at home or on the beach .... or maybe in Washington state for a few days every few months.

Dude, instead of focusing on building an IM business so you can have the money to do what you want to do, how about creating a photography business or a writing business and your IM skills would be complimentary to that and help you build that business.

I am sure you can see the difference between the two.

Also, when someone has larger goals, and a vision of what they want, and is working hard, but still feels like they aren't getting anywhere and are spinning their wheels, it's usually because there is a disconnect between what they want, their higher vision and goals, and what they are currently doing.

What I would recommend is for you to check out a book called "Making it Work" by David Allen.

It is mainly about Productivity and Getting Things Done.

But in Making it all work, he talks about what he calls the Perspective Levels. And what he does is walks you through each of these levels helping you make sure that the small, everyday actions and projects that you are doing, are inline with your short term goals, which are in line with your larger goals, and those are all inline with your principles and vision of how you want your life to be.

I practice what he teaches in his books and when I start feeling the same thing that you are, it's easy to find which area I need to work on, or even just reflect on, to help bring clarity back into why I am doing what I do.

I don't know if what I wrote sounds new agey? but if you check out the book it's definately not new-agey at all.

In fact his first book "Getting Things Done" is all about productivity and so is the second. But the second links how you get things done and being productive with your larger longer term goals and visions.

I think it will really help you out, so check it out.

If you could have any beautiful woman in the world... and you was living in Beverly Hills... this wouldn't motivate you? Imagine if you had a girl like Sofia Vergara... she wouldn't motivate you to wake up happy everyday?

Lol i dont know about you, but if i had a girl and a rich community like that... i'd be waking up everyday happy just to see my girl and my position in life.

...my opinion anyway.

Keep experiencing new things and you'll eventually find something you're passionate about.

I think the process of finding passion is very natural. The environment and your experiences tells you what you want to do. If I were in Syria right now, all my passion would be moving to another country. If someone lived very poor life in the past, all his passion would be making as much money as possible. No matter what kind of job.

Im really new to all this but I believe most people can get passionate about helping others, maybe you could focus on offering people a ton of value without expecting anything in return, in the long run this will probably make you a lot of money too

For me, passion is a lot of things.

1. It is something that you're excited to do when you wake up in the morning
2. It is something that pushes you to keep on moving even if your body is tired
3. It is something that taps your unique talents or abilities
4. It is something that contributes to the world
5. It satisfies more than your ego or your want to have more but it gives you a deeper sense of purpose
6. It gives you joy in the process and not the results - doing the process makes you happy and contented and alive.

I know my definition of passion is somewhat different from other people. I have been in this business for way too long that to chase after happiness in making money is no longer appealing to me. For me, money is just a tool but what matters is how you create your product, how you exercise your creativity and how you use your talent to contribute to the world. That is the only thing that can make you happy. Well, that's what made me happy.

Good luck on that search.

Aira

Finding your passion might be overrated.

Do Like Steve Jobs Did: Don't Follow Your Passion | Fast Company

I'm not sure if I find my passions, or if they find me...

Keeping yourself open to new things goes a long way.

I'm passionate on blogging

My passion is making movies (my site in sig) and entertaining people.

I took it up as a hobby after high school and had no aspirations to make a living from it at first. However, a few important influences in my life were able to convince me to start pushing towards making it my goal rather than slaving away in a cubicle, making someone else rich.

I make my full time living off IM now, but I'm only making enough to *not* work a full time job. I'm already scaling things up and once I start making more money, I plan to get a full time studio and crew.

Sometimes it takes a while to find your passion. Making movies was only a hobby I started when I was 17 and decided to make it my full time goal at 26. I'm 31 now and couldn't be happier.

I think one finds what they are passionate about by trying and reading about/researching A LOT of different things and then just keeping track of what resonates and what one FEELS passionate about.

[DELETED]

I think you find your passion by doing! It may start as something you do to just pass the time. However, if you find great comfort and inspiration in it, it could become a passion that could generate a lot of income.

I have a lot of passions ... interior design, crocheting, gardening, researching, shopping, etc. I enjoy reading and writing. For many years I considered them to be passions but have come to find them to be less enjoyable in recent years.

I guess passions come and go ... like love!

Iris