In the previous column, we learned that realizing our full creative potential required finding the passion and purpose that motivate us to work hard, and that fuel our creativity. But how can we find our passion, and our purpose in life? This is not easy, but it is worthwhile, because it can make the difference between success and failure. As John Ruskin said, “When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” Here are four ways to discover the passion and purpose you need to direct your talents.

Get out of bed

“Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure — that of being Salvador Dalí,” said the Spanish artist. How do you feel when you get out of bed in the morning? Drained and still tired? Or rested and excited about the new day?

In Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests a way to help you discover your passion. When you go to bed, think about the next day. Think of something that will be worth waking up for, an activity or event, someone you will see, or something you will make or complete. See if you don’t feel more energized and motivated the next morning. Do this every night for a couple of weeks, and you will find that you get up each day full of joy, passion and bliss.

Audit yourself

When creating Thinkergy’s Creative Leadership Development method, we compiled a list of 40 questions to help you find your passion. There’s not enough space here for the full list, but here are eight questions for you to answer:

• What is it that you enjoy?
• What is it that you can lose yourself in?
• What is it that makes you lose track of time?
• What is it that is so absorbing that you forget to eat, drink or rest?
• What is it that you love learning about?
• What is it that you love to talk about?
• What is difficult for others, but comes easily to you?
• What has been easy to learn and easy to do for you that others have found difficult?

For even better results, discuss these questions with close friends or family members, to see how those who know you best see your talents and passions.

Take the long view

In Creativity in Business, Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers suggest an exercise to guide you toward your passion — or your purpose in life. On one or two large pieces of paper, mark ten columns with “Birth to 9,” “10 to 19,” and so on until “90 to 99.” First, look back at your life so far. Describe what happened during each decade, and give each decade a descriptive title. Once you’ve done this, ask yourself: “What can I learn from the decades of my life? What did I achieve? How happy was I? What does my past tell me about my future?”

Then, imagine living to be 99 years old. Who do you want to be, and what do you want to do and have during each decade of your life? What will be important to you? How will you make a difference? What will your legacy be? Once again, write a description of each coming decade, and add a title. Also, write how you would feel if your predictions and desires came true.

After you have described all ten decades, look at the big picture. What kind of patterns and themes can you identify? What kind of decisions can you make now to make your desired future happen? What can you learn from this exercise? For example, I learned that the decades of my life seem to cycle as the seasons do, and that I am currently in spring, my most creative period. In this decade, I am focusing on creating quality products that I will promote and commercialize when I am back in summer.

Monitor your activity

For at least one week, keep track of what you do each day. List your activities in a “Daily Activity Diary,” and record how you feel while performing each activity, especially whether it energizes or depletes you. At the end of the day, give each of the day’s activities an “energy score” from 0 to 5. Look at the scores and see if you see a pattern.

Also, for each activity with a score of at least 3, ask if you like it because of its physical, social, mental, or spiritual character.

If you monitor your activities, you will get a better idea of what you find enjoyable and energizing, and why. For example, when I did this exercise, I found out to my surprise that I enjoy running, one of my favorite daily activities, not because of its physicality, but because of its mental and spiritual nature. This counter-intuitive result helped me to find my passion and purpose in life, which is: creating creators and innovators.

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2012. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the same title on 5 July 2012.