There are plenty of motivational posts online suggesting that if you want to find success and happiness you must “follow your passion”.
But what if you have no idea about what your passion is?
That’s me. I’m still not sure if I have too many passions or none. Anyway, in March 2019 I wrote about the strategy I’m using to seek my passion. I haven’t found THE passion yet, but I’m having a lot of fun.
One Apple A Day 526 - explore and exploit
Today I want to write about passion. Or better, about the lack of it. When I was a child, I didn't know what my passion was. Sure, there were many things that I love, reading above all, but I didn't have a clear idea of who I wanted to become. Things didn't get better growing up. I can't remember a moment when I thought "this is it, my passion, what I'm going to do from now on". Instead, I went using a trial and error approach. An approach that I've been refining over the years and it worked quite well for me. Though, I still have that subtle feeling of envy when I meet someone who has a burning passion for something; a person on a mission.
I know I'm not alone in this. Many people haven't found that defining passion or mission, yet.
And you know what? It's ok.
It's ok to be searching and trying. Isn't it the quest for our mission a mission on itself? The important thing is to keep searching, trying and learning. Fragments of the picture will emerge along the way. Our passion will grow within us while, at the same time, we will grow into it.
Of course, there's a problem with this approach: life is short.
We need to find the best explore/exploit trade-off. Find something that works for you, something on which you get higher returns than the average person and exploit it. But always keep a window open for exploration, to try new things and when you find something that works well, exploit it integrating it with what you're already doing.