The idea of “following your dreams” and “finding your dream job” is highly sought after, and probably virtually everyone would like to find a way of structuring their everyday lives so that they were always living in the most meaningful and motivating way possible.

While there are a wide range of different resources out there that may help you to find your passion, such as IAPAM advice on starting a medical practice, a big part of the process is always going to have to come down to you, on a personal and individual level.

Without further ado, here are a few tips and suggestions on just how to effectively discover and follow your passion.

Try Many Different Things, and See What Resonates the Most

First things first: unless you already have a very clear instinct of what it is you want to do, and what you find meaningful and engaging, you’re not likely to ever find your passion by just sitting around and thinking about it.

Instead, your passion will probably be the kind of thing that you’ll “know when you see,” or rather, “know when you do.”

By trying many different things – from different hobbies, to different jobs and professional projects – you put yourself in a situation where you can get a good sense of what resonates with you the most, and what you find generally positive, meaningful, and engaging in practice and not just in theory.

Get in Touch With Your Intuitions

Finding your passion naturally requires you to be attuned to your intuitions, and to your innate sense of what feels meaningful and engaging to you.

If you’re in the habit of constantly ignoring your intuitions and simply getting things done via a purely practical and logical approach, you may end up finding pastimes and a career that seemed good on paper, but you’re unlikely to actually find your passion.

Passion, like love, is something that you have to feel.

By getting back in touch with your intuitions, you are likely to not only have a more fulfilling personal life, but will probably also be better in a professional context as well, because – at the very least – you will be more invested in what you’re doing.

Look at the Examples of Other People, and Notice Which Ones You Feel More Impressed By

Whether you’re looking for a path that you can feel passionate about in your professional life, or in your personal life, one great exercise when it comes to finding and following your passions is to begin by looking at the example of other people, and noticing which ones you feel more impressed by.

If you find that you are consistently impressed by individuals working in a particular industry, or by a particular approach to life, that may be a sign that you should consider exploring avenues that point in that direction as well, as they may be the kind of thing that you will feel motivated to get out of bed each morning to do.