046: You gotta have a PURPOSE to have PASSION! • Passion Design Project

Summary::

Since we are already over 40 episodes in, I wanted to dive deeper into this PASSION word.

I’m your host, Haley Badenhop, and I’m a Lifestyle Designer for Creatives & Adventurers who want to live out their purpose, pursue their passions, and create more freedom!

I’m assuming if you’re listening to this, you’re passionate about your life. You get excited to go out and make changes in the world and you love soaking up knowledge that will show you how. Me too, which is one of the reasons I created this podcast, to begin with!

However, I wanted to dig in on this episode and dispell the idea that Passion is a magical thing/job/life that you have to find in order to proceed with utilizing “your passion” in life. NOPE! Okay, so maybe some of us grow up knowing exactly what we are passionate about, but for the majority of others, we are like, I don’t fricken know what my elusive passion is!!! If that’s you, be relieved. This episode is for you!

I was listening to a man talk today while I was driving and he brought up SUCH a good point. I even wrote it in my notes, which is dangerous but it was that good, he said: “Passion comes from pursuing something you are interested in. Don’t sweat the choice, just throw yourself into it once you do choose.”

In other words, don’t freak out if you aren’t sure what you’re meant to do in life, just pick an interest and roll with it! And when I say roll with it, I don’t mean try it for a week and decide it’s too hard or time-consuming…and it probably won’t work out anyways. No, if it’s an honest interest of yours, give it an honest try with some hardcore word ethic!

And if you’re like, Haley, my problem isn’t not knowing, it’s having too many ideas and changing my mind every week! Okay, today we are ditching that excuse. I’m a serial idea producer too and you know how far having a million ideas got me? Well, probably, backward. Ha! Yes, in the past, I’ve been so overwhelmed by so many ideas that I literally didn’t take more than a couple steps of action on any of them, which got me nowhere fast. Like I spoke to in a previous episode, too many ideas isn’t actually something to be proud of, it’s more of a recipe for stalling.

So listen to me when I say, you don’t have to have it all figured out! I don’t want to hear some excuse like, I’m sure there are better speakers than me so I can’t have a podcast. Um hello, I know there are better speakers than me! But my goal is to reach people who maybe don’t resonate with those perfect speakers. Or maybe you’re thinking, in a couple of years, I’ll be more clear. Will you? What makes you think that? In all honesty, the only way you are going to get clearer on what you really want is to dive in and try out an idea you have.

That’s right. Taking action is really the only way to find your true passion. Paction, we should call it! Did I just turned the tables on what you may have thought for years!? Yup, that’s right. You do not have to have the perfect passion laid out in order to reach your dreams, instead, you gotta take ACTION on an interest and become passionate in the process!

Better yet, I like to describe it as having a purpose for your passion. Passion isn’t some stand-alone object waiting to be called upon, true passion has a purpose. And to expand on that, your purpose is usually something that sets you on fire, whether it’s in a good way or fierce way. I always know when I’m most passionate because it’s about the only time that I’m almost brought to tears. But I didn’t just sit around and wait for those tears or passion to hit me. I took action on things I wanted to influence and change and became more passionate in the process.

Look at a lot of the most passionate people you know. Most likely, they didn’t sit around waiting to think of their passion before doing anything, they were out trying to pursue a purpose they felt strongly about and in the process became an increasingly more passionate person. And once you mix purpose with passion, you’ve got a real recipe for incredible change in the world, and probably, changes for the better in your life.

So today, pick your favorite interest. And then pursue it. If you’re like ummm, let’s see, I love Starbuck’s lattes, it doesn’t mean you’re just destined to be a Barista (you probably aren’t)…would something like sourcing fair-trade coffee beans excite you? Or designing cafes? Or developing better customer service programs for busy places? Or making coffee flavorings at home from scratch interest you? Disclaimer: Please make them healthier!

There are seriously endless options, but I want to see you pursue a strong purpose so that your passionate self can shine! Because that’s what we’re all here for right? To give our best selves, doing our best, most passionate work, each day! I know I won’t have anything less!!

Thanks so much for listening, it means the world to me!! I would love if you’d leave a review on iTunes and tell me what you’re up to in life!

As always, you can find more episodes like this on my website at www.PassionDesignProject.com or subscribe on iTunes to get them delivered to your app.

If you know of a perfect guest for the podcast you can reach me at Haley@PassionDesignProject.com or by finding me on Facebook at Passion Design Project.

We also have a really rad group on Facebook called The Passion Designers and would LOVE to have you join!!