5 Signs You Aren’t Doing What You Love

And how to find your passion.

You’ll do better if you have a passion for something in which you have aptitude. If Warren Buffet had gone into ballet, no one would of heard of him.

— Charles Munger

How do people find their passion so quickly? They realize it sooner.

You know your passion deep down because you know what you’re talented at. But it takes time for you to convince yourself that’s actually your passion.

Let me explain.

I knew my passion before I hit ten years old.

I wrote so much that the kids in my class would come up to me and ask how I did it. Essays were my specialty. Not to mention I always took pride in my straight A streak in English class.

Now I’m twenty years old and I’ve just figured out that writing is my passion. But what happened during that ten-year gap?

Here are 5 signs that you aren’t doing what you love:

1. There has to be a physical incentive for you to do it. Whether it’s money or a new car, a physical incentive is something that won’t make you happy in the real world. Passion can’t be measured by physical items.
2. You’re only doing it to appease someone else. Other people aren’t supposed to like your passion because everyone is passionate about something different. Life is too short to let other people live through your accomplishments.
3. You aren’t obsessed with what you’re doing. If you don’t have the constant urge to do that thing every day for the rest of your life. If you don’t love the process from step one to step infinite. If the word “fun” doesn’t cross your mind when you do it, this isn’t for you.
4. You’re begging for someone to show you the easy way to do it. If you’re passionate about something, taking the easy way out isn’t fun. You want to be on a long journey because you want to see what’s in store for you next. You’re patient.
5. You think you’re too good for the craft. When people don’t see success right away, they automatically blame the craft, not themselves. It bothers them that they aren’t flourishing as much as they think, so they quit at the first glance, thinking they’re better than the craft. They’re not. If you don’t respect the craft, it’s not for you.

Here’s what to do instead:

Practice your humility.

You have a passion, but it will take time to cultivate it into a skill. Right now, you suck. You suck really bad.

I’m not trying to beat you down, but it’s the only way you can find your passion quicker. You can’t act like you’re some hot shit that can take the world by storm at everything you do.

If you’re really passionate about something, you know you suck but you don’t care because you love to do it anyways.

The more humble you are, the more you do it for yourself, the more obsessed you become trying to get better, the more you want to study the craft, and the more you learn to love it.

To Recap:

Five signs you aren’t doing what you love are:

• There has to be a physical incentive for you to do it.
• You’re only doing it to appease someone else.
• You aren’t obsessed with what you’re doing.
• You’re begging for someone to show you the easy way to do it.
• You think you’re too good for the craft.

These signs start to fade and your mind becomes clear once you practice your humility by embracing the fact that you suck right now.

As Ryan Holiday once said:

Ego is a wicked sister of success.