How to find your “passion” and what to do when you do

Entrepreneurship isn’t one size fits all

Connor Hennessy
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read

Motivational speakers and business gurus alike, all tell young, eager people the same thing in regards to starting their entrepreneurship journey.

“Follow your passion, and everything else will follow,”

But seriously, what the fuck does that mean? Most people work their whole lives looking for their passion, and the ones who eventually do find it, have no clue what to do when it happens. So, when a crowd full of aspiring entrepreneurs hear those toxic words, “just follow your passion,” a lot of them end up thinking that they have no clue what their passion is.

Yes, some people, even from an early age, will have a clear idea about what their passionate about, what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

But the majority of people, have no fucking clue.

I was one of those people, just started high school, and at every family event, I had relatives who I didn't even know bombard me with,

“So, what do you want to do after school??”

I worked at a dog day care at the time, but for some reason, I didn’t quite think that was the answer they were looking for.

So, the real question is, how do exactly find out what you’re passionate about, and what steps do you take after you do?

Here’s the step by step process that I, and countless others I’ve mentored, have used to figure out what makes them feel alive, and how to pursue it.

Step 1: Write Down Everything You Don’t Like Doing

While it might seem obvious to simply not pursue or do what you physically don’t enjoy doing, you’d be surprised by how often it happens.

So seriously, get out a pen and paper, and write down everything you hate. You know, the stuff that 5 minutes before you have to do, you start getting anxious, looking around the room, for any excuse you can find to not do it.

For me, the list looked something like:

Sitting in one place for more than 5 hours

Math, of any kind

Being bossed around

Trying to fit in with a group

Being told what to write or research

Etc..

Believe it or not, the more you really think about what you hate doing, the more you start to realize what you actually want to be spending your time doing. Which brings us to the next step:

Step 2: Write Down What You Enjoy

While, again, this may seem obvious, it’s surprising how little people actually think about what they enjoy doing. In many scenarios, I’ve been stuck frozen when asked the dreaded questions,

“So, what do you like to do? What are your hobbies?”

So write down everything, really rack your brain, don’t leave anything out, no matter how little or insignificant it may seem at the time.

My list was something like this:

Writing stories

Taking pictures

Scrolling endlessly through aesthetic Instagram, or Twitter pages

Waking up without an alarm

Setting my own schedule for the day

Talking/working with likeminded people

Helping people

Etc..

Ok, so now you have two distinct lists, one going through everything you despise, and one going through everything that doesn’t make your skin crawl at the thought of it. So, where to from here?

Step 3: Try Everything

Knowing what you like/dislike is one thing, but actually applying those, is a whole different step, that most people never make it to. Most people tell themselves that their content with what they’re currently doing, that they don’t take risks and try things.

This is how you find your passion.

Once you know what you enjoy, research everything relating to those. There’s so many places to do this, Reddit was a big help for me, with thousands of super specific subreddits packed with information regarding what ever topic you’re researching.

So what did I do next?

I tried stuff. Most of it didn’t end up working out, but that’s exactly the point.

I reached out to companies online, I wrote articles for them for free, and while I knew I loved writing, being told what to write just didn’t suit me.

I emailed dozens of real estate firms, and asked if I could take pictures of their properties for free.

I reached out to local businesses to run their social media accounts for a few weeks for free, because they so desperately needed help with it. This is where I found my first passion. I knew I loved social media, I knew I liked helping people.

So I researched everything there was to know about social media marketing, and I just tried. And it definitely took a few months, and a lot of trial and error, but I knew I found what I was good at. A few months later, I had my very first business, my own marketing agency.

The thing about trying new things, is that the more you do it, the more you find what you like to do. I expanded from just running social media accounts, to writing real content that actually told a story, not just SEO fluffed bullshit. I was taking quality pictures for them, which improved their traffic.

Everything that I found myself being successful in, all stemmed from first figuring out what I actually enjoy doing, and what I didn’t.

Conclusion

This is not an overnight process, so it shouldn’t be treated like one. Unlike what gurus may tell you, there isn’t a one size fits all, for figuring out how you want to embark on your entrepreneurship journey. Only you can decide the path your life takes, and it all starts with taking a risk.

I hope this article provided some sort of help or insight to you. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a reply here or connect with me on twitter @ConnorjHennessy. Thank you!

Connor Hennessy

Written by

hi I’m Connor. i’m 18, i build companies and grow brands, then write about it. Featured in @Forbes, @BusinessInsider and more.

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