ou may have seen the pie charts that show the realm of what you know, vs what you know you don’t know, vs (the largest area) of what you don’t know you don’t know. For most of us our passions are an itch within ourselves waiting to find a home. The problem is that this itch has a higher degree of probability resting within the space of what you don’t know you don’t know.
Personal finance expert Stefanie O’Connell explains in her 19th lesson of 30 Lessons Learned by 30:
The prevailing myth of passion suggests that it arrives in some magical burst of inspiration, but in reality, passion is uncovered through action, exploration and work.
Bottom line is passion more about something discovered than simply being known. Thus, if you sit around wondering why you are not passionate about what you are doing in life — that is the problem, stop sitting around! It also means you do not need to quit your day job to find your passion. Quit it when your passion becomes obvious and the road ahead opens in such a way that you have no choice but to travel forward.
Be aggressive in private, be robust in your public work. You will sleep well at night. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
In my random walkings I have been a probie for a day FDNY Academy Randalls Island, New York. I was a roadie for a day for The Who. I have also done a few walk-on roles for TV series. All of these were exploring things I knew very little to nothing about thus there was no way to connect the dots going forward that would bring me to being a partner in a rapidly growing film business that I now love dearly being a part of. Without that exploration the life I have today simply would not exist and, for me, that is a sad and scary thought to have because I am so happy and grateful for where I am in my life and the people I work with.
If you are not in that happy place, or perhaps still want more out of life, look under the rocks you find in places you never explored before to start finding the possibilities of a new life. Passion is the place where the word ‘work’ goes away and is replaced with wanting to get up everyday to do more because of the fulfillment it brings.
(Originally posted on Medium)