Often a great way to find your passion is to begin by first seeking work that makes a difference and provides a sense of purpose and meaning.
When you’re confused about what your life passion may be, and you don’t know what excites you or fills you with enthusiasm, you can find your way to the work you love by doing something that deeply moves or inspires you.
Ultimately, doing something that makes a difference AND that you feel passionate about is the optimal outcome. It is the recipe for a fulfilling and satisfying life.
How does meaningful work lead you to your life passion? Because the feelings these kind of jobs afford are more substantial and powerful than the fleeting pleasure of more ego-driven passion pursuits.
These feelings drive us to engage more fully and to explore the depths of our experience and how it impacts others, until we are lost in passion — and our meaningful work becomes the work “we can’t not do.”
A job that makes a difference doesn’t necessarily have to be your day job, although that’s the ideal scenario since you spend so much time there.
But you can also pursue meaningful work outside of your day job through volunteer work or side gigs. In fact, sometimes this is the best way to start so you can get a feel for the work and how powerful it is for you.
It helps you prioritize your life goals and values, and as I mentioned, it can lead you to your life passion.
So how do you decide what is meaningful?
Jobs that make a difference may do one or more of the following:
- Serves or helps other people
- Inspires others to a higher call
- Supports or furthers a cause
- Betters a community, organization, city, or the world
- Prevents harm to people, animals, or nature
- Provides comfort or relief
- Raises money or awareness
- Teaches individuals or groups
- Supports and furthers the arts, history, and culture
- Supports or funds a political movement or campaign
- Contributes time, talents, or funds to a religious or spiritual community or goal
But from a personal, individual perspective, a job that makes a difference is a pursuit that moves you, that makes you feel you’re part of something larger than yourself.
It’s work that fulfills you on a soul level and provides a sense of purpose. We don’t tend to find ourselves in a meaningful job or volunteer pursuit by accident.
We have to intentionally find what is meaningful to us and then seek out an equivalent need in the world.
