How Do I Find My Purpose?

[Joshua Navarro]

Hi guys, I'm 18 and I want to get on the road of entrepreneurship.. But I don't know where to start.
I don't want to be stuck in the slowlane my whole life.

I know in order to create a business I must provide something to the world.
But I don't know what I could provide..

I want to find something that I am passionate about doing.

Should I try to find something I'm passionate about doing?
or do something I don't really enjoy in order to do something I'm passionate about?

I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times but any advice would really help.

 

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[Aidan]

Have you read the book?

 

[Kingmaker]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site:thefastlaneforum.com+passion

 

[SSimz]

 

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[csalvato]

Your passion doesn't choose you. You choose your passion.

Find something that you can get obsessive about and do it. You don't have to like it, but you need to be OBSESSED with it.

For me, it's generating self-sustaining business systems from scratch. I don't care what I sell anymore so long as I (1) provide value, (2) make people happy and (3) can build business systems.

 

[csalvato]

MJ says it much better than I did here.

 

[blackhat]

MJ says it well in his video. Also, @randomnumber314 wrote a great post on passion.

Look at how enthusiastic any successful person is about the company they run. It's not that they love building computer, or they love selling people napkins. It's that they love building an empire. That is the passion people speak about in business.

For some reason people hear someone with success say stuff like "I wake up at 5:30 and read the newspaper while I ride the exercise bike. Then at 6:30 I have a fruit smoothie and head to the office" and take this as literal advice to do those activities. Stop. Don't. You're trying to replicate their routine that brings them success. Take the underlying implications as the advice.

The common theme you hear from successful people is to work hard, keep working, and learn to love what you're doing (working hard). Think about Job's words in this video,

I was lucky, I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
He ends that bit with

We had just released our finest creation the Macintosh a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.
He's not saying he started building computer and loved it. No! He says we founded Apple, we grew apple for 10 years. We had 4,000 employees. We had just launched our best creation yet. I got fired! I was still building an amazing company...

He loved taking Apple from two people in a garage to $2b in sales and 4,000 employees. That's what he loved doing. He built an empire on an idea. The idea that he could find an untapped desire in the market and build a solution to fill that desire with the best possible hardware in the world.

That's what he did when he returned to Apple. He took his struggling empire that had deflated due to dry unimaginative management, and made it one of the best companies in the world by rebuilding the empire to give the market things it didn't know it wanted.

You gotta love the grind. You have to have passion for the niche your business is in--not a passion for the work itself, or even the product--but a passion for providing things so valuable to people that they will wait in line to get them. Sure Jobs liked his iPads, but he probably LOVED the market response and the way his empire strengthened off the back of his thesis: Make great things. Never settle. Be different.

This got a bit wordy, but the ultimate point is that it doesn't matter what you sell, it matters how you sell it. It matters that you love the process of creating, marketing, and fulfilling. <-- that, by the way, is the process we talk about. Create, market, fulfill. Once you create something and someone says, "wow, here's my money I want that," you'll be in love with the process too.

 

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[socaldude]

Fastlane passion is more of a "transmuted" passion rather than one that is directly a part of the value equation. Passionate about skills sets, process, seeing customer feedback etc.

I don't think anybody at age 18 knew exactly what they wanted to do.

The person you are going to be at age 25 vs 18 is gonna be night versus day.

If i was your age again I would travel, read a lot, and try to gain as much experiences(good or bad) as possible. Just live life.

 

[Andy Black]

Be passionate about solving a problem.

Solve lots of problems, and your purpose will find you.

I find this video particularly inspiring.

 

[dirk.wert.3]

One does not find his purpose he creates it ~me

 

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[Andy Black]

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain

 

[tafy]

Find something that you can get obsessive about and do it. You don't have to like it, but you need to be OBSESSED with it.

Yes this, but you need to enjoy doing what your doing.

Csalvato loves building funnels, systems etc and he is obsessed with it and probably loves doing it (or he wouldn't be crazy about it)

You dont have love the subject but love what your doing, I am obsessed with my business much like Csalvato, every minute goes into thinking about it. My life is the business and I love it, when people are watching tv im working on it. Ok I do stop to watch Game of Thrones...

Thing about being 18 is you have no credibility (cant raise money) no experience (hard to find niches in business) and no money.

Dont be scared of working, a lot of young people get confused with the idea of being in the slowlane. You need the slowlane when your young as you have no experience or money to do anything else. I would try my hardest to work for a tech startup.

 

[100k]

What makes you angry?

What do you wish was different?

Religion? Politics? Government? Poverty ? Racism? Sexism ? Homo phobia? Animal Abuse?

That's probably where your purpose lies.

 

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[Digamma]

What makes you angry?

What do you wish was different?

Religion? Politics? Government? Poverty ? Racism? Sexism ? Homo phobia? Animal Abuse?

That's probably where your purpose lies.

Go opiate yourself with the rest of the masses! Yay!

 

[RBefort]

One does not find his purpose he creates it ~me

Haha pretty sure that's been said in plenty of books I've read.

As for the answer, I have yet to figure out mine...but sitting at home thinking about it hasn't helped me, either

 

[dirk.wert.3]

Haha pretty sure that's been said in plenty of books I've read.

As for the answer, I have yet to figure out mine...but sitting at home thinking about it hasn't helped me, either

I'm sure it has been but I doubt that most people could understand what that means.

If your purpose was something that you can just find then you're placing your value quite low. People can live their whole life and not know what their purpose was until the day they die.
So yes you can live on someone else's lane be it fast or slow maybe you'll find your purpose ( you might just get lucky). A real fastlaner paves his own road he doesn't wait for that lucky break through. Your purpose is for you to decide.(feel like I'm preaching.)

 

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[masterneme]

There is a coaching exercise that might be helpful, "just" answer this question and you'll have your purpose:

What it is that you do that you're very passionate about, AND you're extremely good at, AND can make you a living, AND it benefits people in some way?

 

[MasterOfMyFate]

I'm also 18 and I was also looking for my passion or calling. I've come to realise that for me it was just an excuse to not do something. Doing anything is better than waiting for your passion to hit you in the face.

The consensus seems to be that if it is your passion it will be easy, which i think is why "follow your passion" is so common.

I'm currently reading "So Good They Can't Ignore you". It's about following your passion, or more accurately not following your passion. Haven't finished it yet but I would recommend it.

General idea is that most people don't just have a passion they follow and everything works out perfectly. More accurately, people grow passionate about something as they work on it more and more (eg: steve jobs)

 

[Deleted20833]

I always give the metaphor of trying to figure out your favorite dessert

If I handed you a 100 desserts, how would you know which one was the best one for you?

You wouldn't just look at them

You would grab a bite or two and see how they "taste"

Then you would separate what you like from what you hate
and then chose from the small group of desserts you like that
you will choose to eat frequently

So any ideas you have, I would suggest you go out there and
try them out to get a "taste" to see if you'd really like it

Pick a potential passion and do that one thing for 8 hours a day
and see how you feel after a week of doing it...if you still like
it then continue

If you don't feel like doing it anymore - quit and try some other
passion

That's how I did it, I tried everything from being a DJ to being
a clothing designer

 

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[healthstatus]

 

[Roli]

Hi guys, I'm 18 and I want to get on the road of entrepreneurship.. But I don't know where to start.
I don't want to be stuck in the slowlane my whole life.

I know in order to create a business I must provide something to the world.
But I don't know what I could provide..

I want to find something that I am passionate about doing.

Should I try to find something I'm passionate about doing?
or do something I don't really enjoy in order to do something I'm passionate about?

I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times but any advice would really help.

Read more books, watch less TV, stay away from mindless internet sites like Buzzfeed and Facebook. Wake up early, meditate, exercise, start writing down ideas that pop into your head in the notebook (real or electronic) that you are going to start carrying around everywhere with you.

Keep visiting sites like this one, start sourcing courses for stuff you might be interested in, use social media for networking and building contacts, not for watching cat videos.

Then one day; probably while taking a shower or a walk BOOM your happiest thought will come flooding into your mind like a raging river bursting a dam, flooding your brain; drowning out all other thoughts. Hopefully by then all the action you've taken to improve yourself will translate into action to implement your idea, otherwise the idea will be worthless.

You may fail, in fact you probably will, but as MJ says failure is the sweat of success, so you'll get back up and do it all over again, do this steadily for the next few years and you'll either be in or well on your way to, the fastlane.

As far as passion is concerned you'll get passionate about anything you're good at and/or you genuinely enjoy, I'm passionate about the kids game Connect 4, I can beat anyone in the world and I'll put serious amounts of money on series of game. Problem is nobody is mental enough to share that passion, therefore if I followed that passion it wouldn't do squat for me.

I'm passionate about golf, but I'm never going to be a golfer, I'm passionate about quantum physics but I'll (probably) never publish a breakthrough theory. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Screw passion, people often mistake passion for enthusiasm which you have done in your post.

If I paid you $500 an hour for flicking beans into a tin cup for 8 hours a day you would muster extreme enthusiasm for the job and even though it was mindless repetitive work, you'd get enthusiastic about it because each day you'd be clearing 4 grand. Heck you'd even start telling your friends about this sweet gig you've got for flicking beans into a cup. They in turn would also get enthusiastic about it, begging you to get them a job in the bean flicking industry seeing as you were well on your way to being Chief Bean Flicker and you were already clearing $1,000,000 p/a

But of course you would never ever truly be passionate about flicking beans into a cup, because passion is linked to limbicly (is that a word?) charged emotions such as love, hate, anger, empathy. Take the money away and your sense of achievement would evaporate instantly and thoughts along the lines of "what the F*ck am I doing?" Would be swirling around in your brain.

Passions are for hobbies and interests and for the rare few that are good enough to elevate that hobby to a job that pays millions. For the rest of us we have to use enthusiasm to keep us going, money is a good way to be enthusiastic but there are other ways and that is your (rather enviable) journey to begin.

Buenos Suerte

 

[jlwilliams]

........

I know in order to create a business I must provide something to the world.
But I don't know what I could provide..

I want to find something that I am passionate about doing.

Should I try to find something I'm passionate about doing?
or do something I don't really enjoy in order to do something I'm passionate about?

......

Trying to figure out what you could provide is a worthy question. If it was easy, everyone would know where they fit in the universe and the fact is many (if not most) people go through a lifetime without ever figuring that out. So don't worry that you don't know yet.

A good place to look that has been mentioned and written about by lots of people is to start looking for stuff you want but can't find. What isn't available or isn't as awesome as it should be? Lots of stuff is the way it is because that's the way it is; but it should be better. Looking for those places where an easier, more efficient or just plain cooler way to go should be is like prospecting for gold nuggets in a river. They are there. They aren't easy to find, but when you find one you have struck gold.

When you find a figurative gold nugget, you will know then that these nuggets are what you are passionate about. Don't put the cart before the horse. If you try to figure out where your passion is and then look for gold there, you will wander lost in the proverbial wilderness. Find something that provides value and you will feel the passion.

Jobs are a good place to look for these inefficiencies. I know that MJ had some (rightly) less than flattering things to say about Robert Kiosaki's (sp?) Rich Dad Poor Dad book; but there was one thing in that book that was really worthwhile to a young person. Don't take a job for the paycheck, take a job that teaches you something you want to know. In the author's case he worked for IBM when they had the best sales training program in the country, then he went into the service to learn leadership. Not out of patriotism, not the thrills; for the leadership training that Marine OCS could give him. Likewise, MJ got the idea for his company that innovated the way limo services ran by working a job. Point being, getting a job is only slowlane if you look at it as a way to earn money. If you look at it as a way to learn, and choose a job that teaches you what you want to know; then a job is a stepping stone.

In summary: You need to look for stuff that isn't what it should be and figure out how to make it rock. You will find those things in the word but only if you look for them. You won't find them on Facebook. Jobs aren't where you want to end up but they are part of the process. Look for jobs that will teach you something you want to know, and engage in the process. When you find something that has potential and you have the vision to see it and the will to act; you will have your first business.

Go forth and kick a$$.

 

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[Tristan2k0]

Read more books, watch less TV, stay away from mindless internet sites like Buzzfeed and Facebook. Wake up early, meditate, exercise, start writing down ideas that pop into your head in the notebook (real or electronic) that you are going to start carrying around everywhere with you.

Keep visiting sites like this one, start sourcing courses for stuff you might be interested in, use social media for networking and building contacts, not for watching cat videos.

Then one day; probably while taking a shower or a walk BOOM your happiest thought will come flooding into your mind like a raging river bursting a dam, flooding your brain; drowning out all other thoughts. Hopefully by then all the action you've taken to improve yourself will translate into action to implement your idea, otherwise the idea will be worthless.

You may fail, in fact you probably will, but as MJ says failure is the sweat of success, so you'll get back up and do it all over again, do this steadily for the next few years and you'll either be in or well on your way to, the fastlane.

As far as passion is concerned you'll get passionate about anything you're good at and/or you genuinely enjoy, I'm passionate about the kids game Connect 4, I can beat anyone in the world and I'll put serious amounts of money on series of game. Problem is nobody is mental enough to share that passion, therefore if I followed that passion it wouldn't do squat for me.

I'm passionate about golf, but I'm never going to be a golfer, I'm passionate about quantum physics but I'll (probably) never publish a breakthrough theory. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Screw passion, people often mistake passion for enthusiasm which you have done in your post.

If I paid you $500 an hour for flicking beans into a tin cup for 8 hours a day you would muster extreme enthusiasm for the job and even though it was mindless repetitive work, you'd get enthusiastic about it because each day you'd be clearing 4 grand. Heck you'd even start telling your friends about this sweet gig you've got for flicking beans into a cup. They in turn would also get enthusiastic about it, begging you to get them a job in the bean flicking industry seeing as you were well on your way to being Chief Bean Flicker and you were already clearing $1,000,000 p/a

But of course you would never ever truly be passionate about flicking beans into a cup, because passion is linked to limbicly (is that a word?) charged emotions such as love, hate, anger, empathy. Take the money away and your sense of achievement would evaporate instantly and thoughts along the lines of "what the F*ck am I doing?" Would be swirling around in your brain.

Passions are for hobbies and interests and for the rare few that are good enough to elevate that hobby to a job that pays millions. For the rest of us we have to use enthusiasm to keep us going, money is a good way to be enthusiastic but there are other ways and that is your (rather enviable) journey to begin.

Buenos Suerte

I've been reading this forum vigorously, and this post has applied more to me than almost anything else. Thank you sir [emoji2]

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Tobore]

What you focus on expands... Being passionate abt something isn't like choosing a niche for me

People start by finding their passion or calling first. While this is the conventional way, I think otherwise.

First, find who you are, your personality, likes, dislikes - your identity.

I like being adventurous. So I know my passion lies within mysterious, adventurous and puzzling stuffs...

I wouldn't focus on golf. I don't find it adventurous. I could fall with love scuba diving before the week ends...

focus on one thing that fits your identity, if it's it, you'd know. If it isn't, you'd know.

 

[Boo Blizzi]

I always give the metaphor of trying to figure out your favorite dessert

If I handed you a 100 desserts, how would you know which one was the best one for you?

You wouldn't just look at them

You would grab a bite or two and see how they "taste"

Then you would separate what you like from what you hate
and then chose from the small group of desserts you like that
you will choose to eat frequently

So any ideas you have, I would suggest you go out there and
try them out to get a "taste" to see if you'd really like it

Pick a potential passion and do that one thing for 8 hours a day
and see how you feel after a week of doing it...if you still like
it then continue

If you don't feel like doing it anymore - quit and try some other
passion

That's how I did it, I tried everything from being a DJ to being
a clothing designer

I was gonna say none of the replies I read were really practical for finding your passion. They mostly said "start doing anything, even stuff you dont like until something clicks." But the post I quoted is appropriate and actionable for a person looking to find their passion because he is using the analogy of desserts (which are enjoyable and pleasant) much like you would want your passion to be. He is advocating trying out all your enjoyable and pleasant dreams, until you find the one that resonates with you.

And if you are stuck on figuring which dream to pursue first, I would like to add this exercise: Sit back and imagine what your ultimate life would look like. Dream as big as you dare then find the prices for the stuff you want and put it all in a spread sheet. Add up the total yearly cost to buy your toys and maintain that lifestyle then divide by 12... you now have a monthly financial target. Go back to your dreams and see which one has the best chances of making you that kind of money and start with that one. Ideally, it is the one where you could serve the most amount of people.

 

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[HiGHPeR]

Some advice:

Do what you love - and it will never feel like "work".

 

[Tristan2k0]

What do you guys believe are the best skills to learn and study up on at 18?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[smarty]

There is no purpose, stop looking for it.

Don't believe me? Ask a child and he will confirm...

 

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[Aidan]

Some advice:

Do what you love - and it will never feel like "work".

This advice definitely won't help anyone reach the fastlane though. There is a large difference between 'doing what you love', and 'loving what you do'.

e.g. Instead of making music hoping to be a rock star (do what you love), why not use your knowledge as a musician to fill a need, and invent something that the music industry desperately needs. You would be both filling a need, and creating a business based around a subject you love (ending up loving what you do).

• Edit: I would also like to add that demand also plays a part in loving what you do. Just because you find a niche in a field of interest that needs filled, doesn't mean there is enough demand in that market to make a business out of it. (Remember CENTS)

 

[Roli]

I've been reading this forum vigorously, and this post has applied more to me than almost anything else. Thank you sir [emoji2]

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

My pleasure; it was as much for me as you. I'm just happy to hear someone so young thinking about the right things; way to go man