perform a passion test

If you’re struggling to find your passion and your true life purpose, there’s a simple yet powerful process that you can perform. It’s called The Passion Test, developed by Chris and Janet Attwood. You start with the statement, “When my life is ideal, I am ________.” and you fill in the blank 15 times for it. Just make sure that the words you choose to fill are in the verb form. 

Here are some examples (not restricted to a specific person or vocation):

• My life is ideal when I’m entertaining large groups of people.
• My life is ideal when my products and services are contributing to massive numbers of people globally.
• My life is ideal when I can take a vacation for a few weeks at any time of the year.
• My life is ideal when I’m being part of a network of thought leaders. 
• My life is ideal when I’m helping people pay off their soul-crushing student loans and consumer debt.

Once you write down your 15 statements, your next job is to identify your top five choices. These are your top five passions in life. 

Next, you have to create markers for each of your top five passions, so that you are able to analyze your life and easily tell whether you are actually living that passion.

For instance, if your life is ideal when you are a well-known travel blogger/photographer and engaging in frequent international travel, you can decide that you are going to visit at least five new countries every year for at least eight weeks total, and in each country, you’re spending a good number of days in your chosen cities and/or destinations.

Once you discover your passions and how your life will look like when you are actually living it, next, you must crystallize your passions into potent action plans. 

You have to distill down what key behaviors or actions you must perform every day (or a few designated days during the week) in order to fulfill that passion. As you focus on taking consistent actions based on your plan, over time you’ll be able to turn your passions into reality.