Many of us, particularly women, have spent most of our adult life on a quest to find our passion.
We want something – one thing – that we can do day after day that brings us lifelong joy.
I think the reason we’re looking for our passion is because once we’ve found it, we think we’ll finally be able to live a fulfilling life that serves *us* (for once).
What’s the hidden message there?
We’re tired of shaping our lives around how we serve everyone else, especially if it comes without recognition, appreciation and at a reduced pay scale.
As an entrepreneur, you may be passionate about your work, but is it your “passion”.
Or maybe you are following your passion. You love what you do but lately it’s been draining. (Aren’t passions supposed to fuel you, so what’s up with that?)
As natural givers, women tend to bend over backwards to please their clients and very often (always?) over-give.
Now there’s nothing wrong with going the extra mile provided you’re not doing anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, resentful or exhausted. Are you any of those?
What if you’re also a wife and/or mother?
You’re no-doubt bending over backward and over-giving to your spouse and kiddies too, juggling appointments, activities, meals and family obligations.
This is a sure road to burn-out paved with many and varied levels of resentment.
“I just need to find my passion,” you say to yourself, “then I’ll be happy.”
I know how you feel. I was on a similar quest.
I wanted to find something that would stick. Something I could make a business out of that I would love doing every day.
That’s when I realized something:
We confuse finding our passion with finding our purpose.
They are two very different things.
Your passion is WHAT you do.
Your purpose is WHY you do your passion, and everything else for that matter.
Your purpose is the fuel that powers your passion.
Your passion is merely how you bring your purpose to life.
You can have many passions throughout your life, but you only ever have ONE purpose.
My passions have included developing a not-for-profit program for school kids, pottery, various environmental endeavours, writing, photography, travel.
While I’m still passionate about some of those, others have come and gone.
My passions were the things I did that allowed my purpose to flourish. That’s why they felt fulfilling as I did them.
It wasn’t the passion that was fulfilling; it was because what I was doing and how I was doing it aligned with my purpose.
Once I discovered my purpose, I could see how I had brought it to each of my passions. And I could see why, when sometimes things didn’t work out as I had wanted, it was because they didn’t support my purpose.
Your passion can change. Your purpose remains.
So how do you find your purpose?
Your purpose comes from who you are at your core.
It’s the value you bring to others – how you make them feel.
It’s how you show up when you’re at your best.
It’s the reason people are drawn to you.
It’s what gets you out of bed each morning (whether you know it or not).
It’s the ‘secret sauce’ that’s uniquely yours.
When you know your purpose, you finally get clear on what you bring to the world and what you need to be at your best.
Your purpose FEEDS your passions.
It becomes the filter through which you run opportunities because if they align with your purpose, you have a great experience. If they don’t, it’s a struggle. (Think about those nightmare clients.)
It also gives you the guidance to make changes. For instance, you can say, “This is a great opportunity, but I need more of abc and less of xyz,” because you know the ingredients you need to support yourself in order for this to work well. This way you’re ensuring the experience aligns with your needs.
The tricky part is that you can’t find your purpose for yourself.
It’s invisible to you because it’s an integral part of who you are.
The good news is, it is find-able.
In order to find it, you need a guide who knows what they’re looking for and who cares enough to help you nail it. I would love to be that for you.
My purpose is to encourage people to believe in themselves so we own our value and what we have to offer to the world.
It’s how I show up with everyone, and always have.
I believe you can’t fully believe in yourself and own your value until you know your purpose. I know this to be true from my own personal experience.
While I knew I loved writing and had created a copywriting business, it wasn’t until I found my purpose that the final pieces fell into place and my passion was really ignited.
My purpose drives my passion which is to help you create a business you love because it aligns with who you are.
I’m passionate about helping you create a fulfilling business because I believe that the more women who are self-empowered entrepreneurs (who believe in themselves and own their value), the better the world will be. That’s what will help close the gap on gender and social inequality.
When you build a business where your purpose is the foundation and what you need to show up as your best self is the structure, you create a fulfilling business because your work is not based on trying to serve everyone else’s needs. It’s based on what YOU need to bring your best to them which in turn makes their experience richer.
Creating a purpose-driven business continually fuels your passion because it aligns with who you are at your core. Your business is fulfilling, and so is your life.
Is your current business purpose-driven or service-driven?
How can you make your business align more with your purpose?
Share your ideas below.
Want help finding your purpose, a.k.a. your WHY? I’d love support you.
Let’s chat. Book a 30-minute no-obligation call here.