It’s exciting to start a new year! It seems like there are so many possibilities! So many new dreams to accomplish! It can especially seem like the time to finally look into how to turn your passion into a profitable business so you can leave your 9-5, and start living the life you WANT!
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My journey was pretty different before I figured out my true passion
This was me a couple of years ago. I had worked so hard to a job as a medical editor. I had finished medical school and was working at a 9-5 while I was studying for my licensing exams.
But the problem was that I couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
I kept thinking, “Is this it? Is this what all my hard work was for? Two weeks’ vacation and following the orders of someone else? Binging Netflix every night, trying to catch up over the weekends, but feeling like there is never enough time before Monday comes swinging back around.”
No matter how I turned it, I found myself reading Psychology Today, MindBodyGreen, and reading self-help books on my second laptop with a privacy screen while at work.
I dreamed of doing something more, of making an impact in the world – way past that little open-concept cubicle I had.
Doubting whether I truly wanted to continue down a path toward residency, I began to think medicine wasn’t for me anymore.
But the problem was that I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do instead.
I had spent so long on the medicine path that I couldn’t fathom what else was even possible.
It all reached a boiling point when I woke up one day and couldn’t put any clothes on.
Binge-eating and gaining over 25 pounds due to misery, I developed anxiety and spent most nights lying awake, unable to sleep.
I made a decision right then and there, that things would change…I would make them change.
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First, I needed to figure out which passion to turn to profit
Before I could turn my passion into a profitable business, the first part was figuring out what actually was my passion.
I did so many exercises to figure it out. Read tons of books. I went to therapy.
Over all this time, these are the 3 exercises that made the biggest difference to me.
They made me cry. I was reminded of who I am. They reminded me of my dreams before society told me what was possible.
These are some of the best exercises that my clients do when they’re also in phase one of building their business: finding what their true passion is.
How to do these exercises:
These exercises require you to look into yourself and be honest with yourself. No one is going to see what you write. No one will judge you or your answers.
So don’t hold yourself back.
Write whatever comes to mind from your heart, no matter how surprising it may be to you or how “impossible” it may seem right now.
This is what you can do to help yourself so you write from the heart and realize your true passion:
Do it when you don’t have any distractions. So maybe you’re alone at home or just in a quiet room in the house.
It can help if you tell your housemates to give you a bit of time without interrupting. Otherwise, make the time to be by yourself at home.
Then get comfy. This doesn’t have to mean sweatpants and a hoodie.
It’s whatever you feel comfortable and yourself in. So for example, I’m not a sweatpants and hoodie kind of girl. I feel most comfortable in my ivory lounge pants and a loose white dress shirt.
Then get into a comfortable position. Again, this is whatever it means for you. Maybe it’s in your favourite rocking chair or your place on the couch or propped up with a couple of pillows on your bed under a mountain of covers.
Then with your paper and pencil in front of you, take a couple deep breaths, smile, and get started in figuring out which passion to turn into a profitable business.
Finding which passion to turn to a profitable business – 3 life-changing exercises
Exercise one: 7-year-old you
Think back to when you were 7 years old.
Think about what she is doing, where is she, what is she thinking, what are her dreams, and what is she like.
Really immerse yourself back into that 7-year-old you and think about these answers.
Are you living right now in a way that 7-year-old would be proud of and I’m honoring her with the way I’m living right now?
If I were to go back right now and tell her what you are doing, would she be happy?
If she wouldn’t, what do you think she would be happy to hear you were doing?
I chose a 7-year-old because a 7-year-old is old enough to know what makes her happy, but young enough that she hasn’t ingrained all the societal expectations and “shoulds” that are keeping us stuck in our lane now as adults.
When I did this exercise, I cried.
I remembered that 7-year-old girl and she was so happy. She was always dancing, always laughing. So full of dreams, so full of hope and energy.
But as an adult, I was the exact opposite. This broke my heart a little bit. I desired to go back and hug that little girl, but, more than anything, I longed to be hugged by her. I wanted her to hug me so could remember who I used to be.
This exercise made me determined to honor that girl and made me realize that I want to do something that would make me genuinely happy. True, dancing like no one is watching happy.
My 7-year-old self deserved it.
Exercise two: 10 000 hours of fun
What was something you loved doing and spent hours doing BEFORE you started thinking about what you “SHOULD” be doing?
This is that stuff that you did during childhood that you loved doing. You didn’t need anybody to tell you to do it. You just did it because you loved. What that was?
Why am I saying 10,000 hours – what’s this 10,000 hours number? It’s 10,000 hours because the research has shown that that’s the number of hours of practice that it takes to reach genius level quality of doing anything.
For me, for example, when I was doing this exercise before I started coaching is, I thought to myself, “What were my 10,000 hours?” What came up was writing and reading self-help books.
I started reading self-help/self-development/self-improvement books really young.
The reason we’re talking about childhood and not when you were a teenager is because this is when you genuinely did things because you loved them and not because you thought you should be doing them or you thought, “I can make a successful career out of this or you thought this is a good way to make that. 80K per year.”
Exercise 3: What makes you cry?
This is one of my favourites. When I was watching the Masterclass by Sara Blakely, this is one of the questions she recommended for when you wanted to create a business.
What is the problem in the world or in the community that makes you get emotional?
The reason we do this is because this shows what is deeply, deeply important to you. Something that moves you so much that it moves you to tears.
This shows if there is something that you want to make an impact in the world by doing.
When I did this exercise, I saw that what makes me cry is injustice in the world and when women have been taught to play small.
Women who are extraordinary, but don’t see it because they have been taught to be the good girl their whole lives – to be quiet, but not too quiet, never loud though; never offend anyone; make everyone comfortable; to be a good mother, good wife, good daughter; that that means sacrificing their own happiness for others; to not be too flirty, but also not to be a prude.
Basically to mold themselves into a tight box that in the process has them lose themselves.
Because I was one of these women at one point, it infuriates me when I women sells herself short.
This showed me that my passion is to help these women rebecome their true selves.
To let that goddess inside them ROAR and SOAR!
To leave the confines of a 9-5, and make a living doing their passion!
What about you – what makes you cry?
Do I need to do all three exercises?
Each of these exercises serves a purpose and shows us a part of ourselves that we forgot.
The first exercise showed me how happy I used to be and reminded me that I want to be this again.
The second exercise showed me that I already have so much knowledge in writing and self-development.
The first exercise focused my skills to a direction – helping women make their passion into a reality business!
Put together, they give you which passion you could turn into a profitable business!
Key point:
We live in an incredible time in history.
It has never been easier for a woman to break free of all expectations placed ON her and follow only her expectations of herself.
With all the available resources online, it has never been easier to turn your passion into a profitable business.
And it all starts with figuring out what your passion is.
Happy journalling GODDESS!
