Transcription
Two years ago, I was in the middle of University, and I found myself on the internet scouring the web for an answer as to what my passion was. I was researching and researching for hours, expecting to find some sort of magical formula that would tell me what I loved that I could get paid for while sustaining a career that fulfilled me and made me happy. I found nothing, and I was left to my own devices.
Then, a year later, I was finishing full-time education, and I was terrified. Fast forward to right now; now I found something that I'm good at, passionate about; it's full of purpose, it helps people around the world, it pays me generously, and it grants me all of my dream opportunities. And this is how I did it.
As always, here are the video chapters. And don't forget, I have a whole podcast where you can listen to all of my YouTube videos in audio format. And did you know I have a second YouTube channel? It's linked in the description. You can get a whole BTS of my life, what I do in my spare time, what my routines look like. So if you're interested, check it out.
Lastly, this video has kindly been sponsored by Shopify, who had a very large role in helping me discover my passion and get me to the place I am now. But we'll talk about them a little bit later. For now, let's get into it.
Chapter One: Myths about the process of finding your passion and purpose, and why you won't find it if you do the following things.
You are not going to find your passion if you have little life experience. If you are 20 right now, or if you're a teenager, and you are constantly putting this pressure on yourself to have everything figured out, please stop. You barely know yourself yet, let alone the entire world. 100%, you can start young, but the process has to involve you trying out new things all of the time.
Yes, I'm 22, and I found what I'm supposed to be doing, and it gives me purpose. But I started YouTube when I was 14. I tried being an Instagrammer at 15 years old. I set up a fashion blog when I was 16 years old. I set up my first e-commerce business when I was 17 years old. And then I tried TikTok when I was 19 years old. And then I eventually went back to YouTube and set up my second channel, this one, when I was 20 years old. And even that took another two years of trying to be consistent for it to finally take off and for me to realize what I'm actually meant to be doing. So now I'm about to turn 23, and I know what I'm meant to be doing for this decade, but it took eight years of discovery and life experience first. I'm not saying that your journey has to take that long, but please stop expecting it to happen overnight.
Like I said at the beginning of the video, one of my biggest mistakes was just going on Google and just expecting to find the magic formula as to what I'm supposed to do with my life. It's not going to work. You have to go out into the world and try a bunch of different things for yourself. One of my favorite facts is that Kim Kardashian didn't start making serious money or establishing the personal brand that she has now until she was 26 years old. So trust me, you have time.
Another reason as to why you won't find your passion is that your problem is that you don't do anything. You sit around all day scrolling on social media, complaining about the fact that you have no real interests or hobbies. Of course you don't, because you're not making any time to go out and try things, or book classes, or learn skills. When are you actually being intentional with your time to try and explore potential hobbies and interests? They're not going to come to you. 100%, I would not be where I am today if I was not bored enough in the first place to experiment with a bunch of features on my computer to learn how to video edit when I was 12 years old, to learn what SEO was and setting up a website was when I was 16 years old. And all of those skills and all of that experience eventually got me here.
You go online, and you see all of these people achieving big, big things, and you think there's something wrong with your life. But the thing is, the majority of you would have been raised on devices, so you're used to consuming other people's content and other people's lives while they're actually out there living it, rather than going out and trying to create your own. Or if you're not doing that, you're probably just focused on taking life day by day, trying to get through school, trying to get through your exams, just trying to get through the 9-to-5 working week to make it to the weekend. And that's all you do; you survive. It's only when you start making time to actually live and to explore your potential interests will you really find your purpose.
You also won't find it if your lifestyle isn't healthy. And this is when your routine revolves around low-vibrational habits that give you that instant dopamine hit that, as humans, we shouldn't even have. This includes, you know, spending hours scrolling on TikTok, excessive alcohol, drugs, you name it. When you constantly indulge in these bad habits—let's use scrolling on your phone all day as an example—you get that constant dopamine hit, and then you have no drive to work for anything because you got what you're looking for right now. Your attention span is low, you have no patience, and you've achieved that sort of sense of accomplishment feeling that would normally come from working years on your goals. But that's what real passion is; it's about committing your time and energy consistently to a project that you want to see succeed, and it consistently failing, but you still keep pouring all of your energy and time into it because you believe in it, and in the end, it succeeds. And that's when you get your dopamine hit.
So if you are someone who already plays instruments, sports, or is working on a business, then you are more well-equipped to go out and find your passion because you can be more disciplined with your time. But if you stay attached to low-vibrational habits just because they feel comfortable and they feel good, then you are not prepared to live a real life, and you will instantly think, "Oh, this is too hard," and you will give up the second the first hurdle comes at you. And this links into the next fact, which is that it's not going to be easy.
So many people assume, "You know, I find my passion and purpose, and then I'm going to get up at 6:00 a.m. every single day, super easy, and I'm just going to love what I do all the time." Just know there are always so many elements that you're going to dislike, that are going to be hard, that are going to leave you feeling stressed, going to make you compromise sleep. I experience procrastination and tiredness and the urge to give up a lot of the time. Passion is not the absence of adversity; it's the ability to be disciplined enough to embrace the adversity, knowing that you're doing what lights you up inside. Because at the end of the day, purpose is simply another word for happiness; you are chasing what truly fulfills you.
Another fact is that your passions can be created over time. I used to have this false belief that we are born with our passion and purpose, and like we should know it. And that's why two years ago I felt so confused, and I thought maybe if I read some articles, I'd figure it out. No. Two years ago, I had no idea that I wanted to come on the internet and give advice and talk about my life experiences and share lessons. And that leads me onto the next step, which is you need to prioritize what you're good at and leave all the pressure about finding your passion behind. That way, you will find the actual answer a lot quicker. You need to understand yourself so deeply and understand in your head what qualities mean the most for you. For me, it was creativity. I couldn't work a job that didn't have that in it. And when I was like nine years old, I swore to myself that I would never work for another person. I'm so introverted; I love the idea of being able to work for myself, and I was going to make that happen no matter what. And that meant the journey of finding my passion and purpose was so much easier because I was narrowing it down. For you, your qualities could be to be able to travel the world, to help people, to work around different kinds of people, to have a modern workplace. So map out what your passion and purpose looks like and feels like, rather than pressurizing yourself to figure out what it actually is.
And this leads us to Chapter Number Two: The real strategy to actually finding your purpose and planning it all out.
The first point is self-analysis and research. Self-analysis is so simple and easy, and it's the first step to this entire process. Where do you like to spend your money? How do you like to dress? Where do you want to travel? Why do you envision yourself living? What books catch your attention? What do you find yourself researching all of the time? What do you wish you could learn about? What skills do you wish you had? What is your ideal working week routine and your ideal weekend routine?
So, for example, when I was doing self-analysis years back, one of my things that I just absolutely loved was fashion. I applied to countless fashion internships and part-time jobs, and for some reason, it consistently failed; nothing was working out. And it was really the universe just redirecting me on the path that I was meant to be on because I also enjoyed—aside from fashion—was video and editing and creation and being in front of a camera. And I loved self-help. I only—and to this day still only—read self-help books and like movies that talk about it and research it for hours on end for the last decade. And so that's the one that's stuck. But as I said before, I love fashion. I also wanted to be a dancer at some point. You just have to explore all of these different avenues, and you will find the one that's actually meant for you.
A great way to practice self-analysis and uncover all of these answers is by journaling about it. So here are a few journal prompts that you can use:
What would I spend the rest of my life doing if money was no object?
What do I want to be able to say I achieved when I'm 80 years old?
What is my ideal morning routine?
If I had $1 million that could only be spent on other people and the world, not myself, how would I spend it?
What would you do? What do you think needs to be done?
What kind of lifestyle do I want to live?
Am I a lone wolf or am I a collaborator?
The next part of the strategy, defining your mission, is my favorite, and it's doing a personality test. I swear to God, this is so underrated. Ever since I discovered this, it changed my life. I have put every single person in my life onto this. So you're going to go to a website called 16personalities.com. For those of you who are wondering, my personality type is an INFJ. That is actually the rarest personality type in the world; less than 3% of the population have it. Let me know if you have it, and then we're twinsies.
I want you to go on to the website and complete the test, and you have to be brutally honest with your answers, okay, so you can get an accurate result. Now, the crazy thing about this is when you get your result, you also get a report that basically describes you down to a T. It will tell you your strengths, your likes, your weaknesses, um, who you're going to be compatible with in a relationship, what you're like as a romantic partner, and your career path. My career path as an INFJ, so much of it said I'm supposed to go into counseling or be a therapist. And I remember reading this like four years ago, like, "I don't see that, like what? No, I'm a creative, and like, I don't, I can't do that." My personality test knew what I was meant to be doing and the path that I was meant to be on before I even did. And thanks to doing that and reading it, I was more open to this path. Essentially, it's going to help you fully understand yourself, things that you might not even have been consciously aware of, and it's going to help you narrow down what you should try out.
The next part of the strategy to finding your passion is implementing something called Ikigai. I remember Google Imaging this when I was a teenager and thinking, "How do I achieve this?" I just happened to… What do you love? I love video creation; I have for the last 10 years. What do I think the world needs? Self-development, self-help, someone to guide them onto the path that they're meant to be on. That's what my videos do. What can I be paid for? Through my brand deals, through YouTube; I get paid for this, and I get to do it full-time. What am I good at? I've always been so good at being creative and editing videos and putting a good plan and script together. Ikigai is essentially the Japanese answer to long-term fulfillment and happiness. So look at the graph and go through each section and answer it, okay? What? Write a literal list of all of the things you love and all of the things you think the world needs because the answer is not just going to be one, but you can narrow it down. And when you do this process, I'm just saying, leave the question "What you can be paid for" last.
Another way to gain more certainty about what your passion should be is to align it to the six human needs. Your passion is not just simply a job that will gain you money and happiness, but it really needs to align with each of these values in order to gain long-term fulfillment. So when you're narrowing your list down, go through each of these values and make sure a part of them aligns with what you want to do.
Next way to find your passion is through inner child and older self-work. I love this. When I connect with my inner child, I can remember so vividly my thoughts and my dreams for where she wanted to be at this point. Ever since I was very young, I always wanted to be somewhat in the public eye, and I have achieved that through doing YouTube and being on social media. But I like to balance that by imagining my older self in my head, and it's like, "Okay, when I'm about to retire or when I'm settled down and I have a house and I'm married, what do I want my life to look like? What do I want to say that I have achieved by that point?" When you're talking to your inner child and honoring their desires when creating your passion, you're making sure you're not straying away from things that you actually enjoyed just for the sake of being realistic, which is what a lot of people do. But when you talk to your older self, you're holding yourself accountable in order to create a life that's actually going to suit you and make sure that you're not settling. So many people hold themselves back just because they think that their dream is not realistic. And if you fall into that category, a great way to get over that is to start studying your idols. Every single time that I am hesitant to do something or I'm lacking confidence to go and meet a certain person or go to a networking event, something that's going to benefit my career but I'm not quite there yet, I think of my idols, and I think, "What would this person do?" Instantly, I align with that goal and that mission again because, as I said before, at the end of the day, everything you admire is simply another part of you just waiting to be unlocked.
And lastly, for this chapter, the biggest and most essential step is getting out of your comfort zone and practicing trial and error. Like we said at the beginning of the video, it's about forming that list of all of your potential interests and also going out and making the time to explore things and then committing time to each of those interests to find out what is actually going to stick because it might not be the first thing; it might not be the second; it might take you a year of trying a bunch of different things to finally put all of the pieces together and think, "Oh, I tried certain things from that thing and that thing and that thing, and I liked these qualities, and I didn't like these qualities," and then you can kind of match it together and figure out what is the thing that is truly aligned to you.
And that takes us on to Chapter Number Three: Now we have all of the information on how to find our passion and what not to do; let's apply these points to our daily life so that we know the correct habits to be able to get on the journey much faster.
Step one is to schedule time for new tasks. Now we already know that trying and failing is much better than endless planning, and I applied this principle when I was building my current dream career and when I set up my e-commerce jewelry business. Like I said before, fashion always meant a lot to me, and I wanted to be able to set up a business in that space. I just finished University; I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I wanted to take power back into my own hands and create my own reality. So I thought, "Let me set up a jewelry business," and I used Shopify to do it, and it was the perfect way to go because, for those of you who don't know, Shopify is an easy-to-use, all-in-one e-commerce platform for literally anyone, regardless of your technical ability and experience with building websites. You can use it. Truly, the only reason I started this business was because I was implementing the strategy that we just discussed, which is getting out of your comfort zone and doing endless trial and error. And to my surprise, starting this business changed so much for me and helped me learn so much about the journey that I meant to go on. I did my jewelry business for around six months, and it was a huge success; it completely sold out; we restocked a few times, and it taught me so much about what it means to be a business owner. And now the site is closed for a while before it relaunches into something much bigger and better, which I can't say yet. But I wouldn't know to do this had I not jumped into it when I had zero knowledge and zero experience because if I fail sooner, I get to live my dream life much faster.
Using entrepreneurship to fuel your passion is a great way to achieve Ikigai because you get paid for it; you can set up an online business which is just about your interests and what you love; you can decide to donate a percentage of the profits to a charitable organization that means a lot to you, and that way you're helping others. So you should do your future self a favor and sign up to Shopify today using the link in my description so that you can get further on your journey to discovering your passion and purpose.
A few other daily habits that you need to implement in order to get further along this journey include mindset. So we're talking about building your self-discipline, your self-belief, your confidence, your productivity. And I have separate videos going in depth on all of the above, so brush up on that skill set. Another way is reading books. The most wealthy and successful always talk about the importance of reading books because even if you learn one thing from it, that one piece of information could change your entire life. Get used to the process of consuming useful content and building on your knowledge.
Another habit you should start doing is to start placing yourself in new environments. So networking events and internships, and even if they sound hard, I'm talking online courses, like free online courses that you can do from your bed; that is you placing yourself in a new environment full of new knowledge for yourself to absorb, which might just inspire you to take the next action on your journey.
The next habit is to use social media to learn, not scroll. A few years ago, when I was still figuring out my passion, I wanted to focus on fashion, like I said before. So I would spend hours on YouTube, online, reading articles, reading blogs, watching tutorials on how people got into the fashion industry, what a day in their life of working in a fashion office was like. Then, when I was exploring another interest, which was becoming a model, I learned everything about the requirements to become one, what a typical day in their life looked like. I would watch TikToks about people's journeys of how they got to be a successful model. And this is what I mean; social media is such a powerful tool. TikTok and Instagram, they're just like other search engines, just like Google; use them to educate yourself and push yourself further.
And the last habit for this chapter is to create something once a week, and you need to get so serious about this. I mean, when you're planning out your week in your calendar, and if you're not already doing that, start doing that. What are you doing every single week? Schedule one hour where you are going to create. When I was in the middle of my exams and my life was so busy and I needed a break to make sure I wouldn't burn myself out, I wouldn't go on watch TV, and I wouldn't go on my phone because I found that it wasn't a productive break. Instead, I would get a whole canvas out, and I would start painting any random picture. I am not an experienced artist; I was doing it purely for joy and purely to see if this was a particular avenue that I could take on after uni was done. In my summers between uni, I would make little films; I even started DJing at one point, you guys. I have tried and failed at so many things to get here.
And that brings us to the last chapter: Your homework, so you can hold yourself accountable.
Your first step is to go to 16personalities.com and do that personality test, and then come back to this video and comment down below what your personality type is because I would love to know.
Homework task number two is I want you to then use that knowledge to start journaling. You can use the journal prompts from the beginning of this video; just start writing about yourself, things that you're interested in, and complete that self-analysis.
Homework task number three is go and watch my abundance mindset video. I uploaded it last week, and essentially, if you do everything in this video but you still have that little voice in your head that's like, "You're not going to be able to do it; you can't make money off this; what if you feel like this; this is too risky," you need that video. That is an example of a scarcity mindset, and it will f*** you over in every single area of your life, no matter how hard you work.
And the last homework task is to actually schedule time to do something that scares you, whether it's once a week or once a month, completely up to you. October just started; make it a priority to go to a networking event this month. I want you to go on to Google and search "networking events near me." If you need to get your confidence up, I want you this week to schedule a photo shoot with a photographer; DM them on Instagram. So you're looking to grow your portfolio; it's as easy as that. Because listen, sitting around wondering why you don't have your dream life while you're scrolling on your phone, watching other people live theirs, is not a cute look.
And that brings us to the end of this video. I hope you guys enjoyed it and learned something new. If you did, comment down below and let me know; that's how I continuously try to make these videos better. I also want to say a big thank you to everybody who has been doing their homework; I see the DMs you send me. Don't forget I also have a Discord where you guys can all talk to each other and make friends with each other, find opportunities; it's linked below in the description. Thanks so much for watching, guys. I appreciate you, and I will see you in the next one. [Music] Bye.