Is following your passion all you need to succeed? Anyone looking to do more of what they enjoy has heard this before. But is it really accurate?
Following Your Passion
This week I’m borrowing the wisdom of a skilled entrepreneur and author Graham Cochrane to dig a little deeper into that topic. In this blog post, I’m reviewing some ideas that redefine what it means to be following your passion from his recent book, “How To Get Paid For What You Know”.
Besides only passion, it is suggested that success comes when someone is willing to pay you for your knowledge. This may be a course you sell, for instance. Because of this, it’s important to answer these questions.
Ask Some Questions
Ask some questions to help you understand what following your passion looks like.
Question 1: “What comes easy to me?”
- Being in front of people. I enjoy talking, singing, and playing music too.
- For people my age, I’m good at computers, and technology.
- I am trying new things, places, foods, and exercises.
Question 2: “What do people say I’m good at?”
- Singing and music-related things
- They ask me questions about technical things
- I don’t look my age, I have good health
Question 3: “What have I helped people do in the past?”
1. Arrange music, and coach singing, control live and recorded sound, tune and string guitars,
2. Present topics in the public arena,
3. Fix slow computers, hook up hardware,
Question 4: “If I had a Saturday afternoon completely free, what would I spend hours reading about?”
- Music Technology, and how to play more gigs
- how to turn my knowledge into income
- Weight training for older men and swimming.
My answers show 3 areas of interest from most to least interesting. They break down into the following list:
- Music
- Technology
- Health
Wrap UP
The next step to consider in following your passions is to ask people in your sphere of influence a few questions. Their responses help to determine how much interest people have in topics we know about. Their interest is a signal of what idea we should develop as a way to begin to monetize my knowledge. Coming up with an original idea is not the goal. Developing our own voice and delivering our own solutions is how to take this idea further.