Find Your Passion - Toastmasters Speech

Many of you must have heard that do what you love and you will not have to work another day in your life. There is no lack of people advising to follow your passion and it sounds great too. First time I was introduced to this idea was when I was 8-9, actually it was not for me but for my much older cousin. I still remember the day vaguely, we were in my aunt house and drinking tea (not me, I was made to drink milk at that age). They were contemplating whether my cousin should choose a career in medical or engineering. She was advised to follow her passion and then asked is her passion in engineering or medical (given 2 options)

Nevertheless I was extremely happy that I learned about a secret key that will setup my life for success. But now the difficult part came which nobody discussed during that tea meeting. I did not know what my passion was and where to look for. I was told you cannot figure out passion just by thinking what your passion is, you need to try out things before you know what you like. I was like – yes that makes sense.

Some told me passion is something you like to do a lot, some said passion is something you cannot live without, some said you will automatically know when you find it. Now I was set on a long and tiresome journey to find my passion. At that young age I almost came to a conclusion that I really like food and maybe eating is my passion. But then I thought naah that does not sound cool, and it was more of a body requirement. I was not alone in finding my passion, my parents tried to introduce me to a variety of activities to find my passion. (dance lessons, guitar, painting, soccer etc). I used to suck in painting and dancing and guitar. So I was left with soccer, and I started to like it. Used to go daily, did not miss a training session, But after 6-7 months my interest was fading, my game was not improving, major reason was that all of soccer greatest players at that time were short, It was a general consensus that the shorter the height the lower your centre of mass and better balance while dribbling. That may or may not be true but my mind gave me an excuse why I was not improving and that it was alright. I used to go but did not push myself enough to improve my game instead I had developed a new interest – which actually needed very less effort. With some of my like minded friends after our practice we used to stay to watch the girls team play. I started to bunk more of my games to just sit and watch the girls play. To my defence we used to watch them in an appreciating sense. I was smart enough to conclude watching women can not be a passion.

After that I have had a lot of different passion - all of which died early, from poetry, being a writer, a movie critique n many more. At one time, I used to go to theaters alone with a pen and a notepad. I have had some strange looks, people just could not digest the idea that anyone can come to a theater alone. It is actually alright, no shame in that. But there was nothing I could continue more than a few months.

After a few failure I decided to try a different approach in finding my passion, a more calculative approach. I thought why not use a checkmark based quantitative method to find my passion. It is a pretty good method and anyone can try it. Asked yourself three questions: 

1) You like doing a certain activity today, but will you like doing it for the next 5-10 years ?

2) If money was out of the equation, would you still do it for free?

3) Is this more enjoyable that other activities you do?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then congratulations but you still have not figured out your passion.

The problem is passion is not a plan, it is a feeling, and feelings pass. Even there is research that in 4 years humans attraction tends to change for their love partners, so how can we remain attracted to a certain activity all our life. Going back to our search for passion, I still have not find my passion and don't think I ever will. Now before you start throwing stuff at me, let me tell you something that happened a few years back. I was introduced to badminton many times during my child hood. I could play it well but never liked

the game.

I played it again during my masters studies in college. I have a friend who really is a good badminton player, which I did not know before. I never liked the game but I was never a bad player. So I thought maybe I can beat him or at least give a good fight. The first time I played I lost badly (more than 17 points in a 20 point game). That really hurt my ego and I decided no matter what I will beat him one day. I started to play the game every other day with a goal to get better, sometimes 4-5 hours without rest. I started putting in effort - push my muscle to jump higher for better smash, always keeping my body in momentum. Googled some techniques. I improved quickly, and the same game which I never liked, I stared to enjoy. Though I still cannot beat my friend but now I come close. It is rightly said -

Success fuels passion more than passion fuels success. So what actually happened ?

I believe there is a threshold in all activities, you have to clear a certain level to start enjoying it. It is true for anything, any activity physical or mental. Even a subject like math, though it is very difficult to have passion for pure sciences. We learn math to score or just because it is the stepping stone for other subjects. A passionate mathematician will try to understand why anything divided by 0 is undefined and not infinity OR why a factorial of 0 is 1. Once a person clear that threshold only then a subject like math can become so interesting to eventually go for a PHD or a doctorate in it. The idea is to go deep in that respective activity.

This threshold is like starting a water turbine, to start it we need a strong force but once it is in motion, the momentum keeps it rotating even with a little force. So next time you want to try something, try it with full effort and clear that threshold and you will develop something that can be called as passion. Passion is not a job, a sport, or a hobby. It is the full force of your attention and energy that you give to whatever is right in front of you. And if you're so busy looking for this passion, you could miss opportunities that can change your life.