Want to Know Your Purpose? Try the Sticky Test

The thought of having a passion is exciting.

You’ll feel alive and useful. You’ll be eager to act and grow. You’ll love your life.

Sounds good. What’s more, it’s true.

But that doesn’t make finding your passion any easier. We might all agree that it’s an exciting idea, but few people know their purpose.

They–you–need the sticky test.

Waiting for the Bug to Bite

Here’s the problem: people treat passion like a cold; they wait for it to catch them.

Wait around long enough and you’ll stumble upon ‘your’ thing.

People do it all the time, but does it make sense?

You can’t wait for the answer. That’s not how it works. You have to do something. You need the sticky test.

(I know, second time I mentioned it without telling you what it is! Your patience has paid off. It’s up next. : )

The Test

The answer, as with most things like this, is simple.

The only way to find out what interests you–or what lights you on fire–is to try it. You have to put yourself in the mix of things and see which ideas…wait for it…stick.

(I told you it was simple.)

You have to do things, a lot of them, and see how you respond. It’s the only way to know for sure what your path is.

You can sit and think for years, trying to mentally work through your talents and strengths and values, trying to match them to activities and interests. (And still be completely wrong about what connects with you.)

Or you can get up, join in, and do stuff. Then see how it goes.

I Knew It

I know what you’re thinking. You wanted some amazing insight or grand discovery. But I have a question: if the solution is so simple, why aren’t you doing it?

Why aren’t you constantly trying new things?

Why aren’t you writing or blogging or dancing or drawing or racing or climbing or teaching or reading or crafting or painting or playing or speaking or leading or helping or singing?

If you are, congrats. Ignore me and keep going.

If you’re not, why?

Better yet, when are you going to start?

The Bottom Line

We’ll only know what we’re passionate about when we try it and see how it makes us think and feel.

You can’t guess. You can’t just think. You definitely can’t wait.

You have to jump in the waters of many lakes.
Cal Newport of Study Hacks recently wrote a post about this topic for the popular blog Zen Habits. His thoughts sum things up perfectly:

In other words, discovering passion requires a dedication to unstructured exploration. You have to leave large swathes of free time in your schedule (a technique I call underscheduling), and fill this time with the exploration of things that might be interesting. Of equal importance, when something catches your attention you must leverage your free time to aggressively follow up.

As Caldwell’s research reveals, true passion can’t be forced. You can participate in personality tests and self-reflection exercises
until you drop from exhaustion, but it’s unstructured exploration coupled with aggressive follow-ups that most consistently leads people to a life-consuming interest.

Do a lot. See what sticks.