Category: What’s on my mind (Page 2 of 4)

What is passion?

“How do I find my passion and how do I know what it is?” This is a question that I get a lot when talking about the topic of passion. I have done a post about what I think passion is and what my passion is and that might give a little contact to this post! So with that out of the way, here is what I think might help you find your passion!

I believe that everyone is passionate about something and it is something discovered within you and not something that is found. Yes trying new things might trigger an existing excitement within you and energise you. So that brings me to my first point to discover your passion especially when you get stuck.

Try something new and DO IT

Keep trying something new. Try and research different things. I find myself trying out a few different things like water Color, tee shirt printing, writing, illustration and even sculpting. But taking a step back and looking at it, I am going in the directions of visual art. I would never give know if I stuck to what I am trained in, which is business and Human Resources.

But it is not enough to just find something new to do. You need to be hands-on and TRY it. Reason for that, it might sound really good in your brain but once you start doing it, things might change very fast.

I thought I would like to make handmade candles until I made my first candle in the office. When hot wax started flowing everywhere and I am getting my fingers burnt and ended up with a hot gloppy mess, and I ended up getting so tired from all the cleaning and got even more confused over what happened, that’s is when I realized, maybe not. Does it mean I will not go back into candle making? No, it is just not right for me right now given the time constraints I have.

Stop trying to be perfect

This is something I need to keep reminding myself, especially after the candle episode. It sucks to fail. But having a gloppy mess is always better than not trying it at all. I am a perfectionist and it takes the fun out of many things I do. When I paint, I get very anxious every time I mix the colors wrong. But knowing to catch yourself and getting back into the position of exploring instead of performing or producing will help with the anxiety.

I still remind myself that getting good at something Is a process and not an event. So enjoy the process and stop trying to be perfect, it is supposed to be an activity that energizes you and not wear you down remember?

If you are a person who wants to improve fast, one thing that helped me on a daily basis is the motto of being “1% better every single day”. That helps to break the mountain into smaller chunks. One of my favourite phrase,

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

What would you want to learn and take a course on?

This question is very helpful to pinpoint the direction or subject you are interested in.

Recently I had coffee with a friend I had not seen for a while. We were at a coffee place and again the topic of passion came up. He has been working in a bank and enjoyed his work. But as he rose the ranks, he started to take over portfolios that he has no interest in, and all of a sudden, he started dreading going to work even though he has a paycheck that makes my eyes green with envy.

“So what do you like to do?” I asked. He had no idea but what caught my attention was how excited he was when telling me about the cafe were going. And the way he was telling the barista exactly how he wanted his coffee while I ordered my Americano with cream.

So logically, my question to him was, “have you taken any class in coffee-related stuff? Like latte art, roasting coffee or even coffee blending?” I saw him lit up. It might sound like an obvious route that he would have seen himself but sometimes, when one is stressed at work, the last thought would be something enjoyable. Considering what you might want to study in or take a course in, might help you find your passion

But that being said, this is an important note!

Passion does not have to take over or replace your full time job!!

I have written a post about jumping into your passion full time, how I did it, as well as some things you need to think through first before making that move, especially in Singapore.

Who do I look up to?

I have always looked up to urban Painters. Where they just grab all their art gear and sit by a lake (there are not many pretty lakes in Singapore grrrrr) and start painting. They always look like they give no shit about who they are blocking or who is watching. It’s like being in one with the paper and brush.

We will only look up to and sometimes, even be jealous of someone who is doing something you always wanted to do. Eg, if you don’t have a passion for teaching, you will not be jealous of the person who won the best teaching award this year. Heck, you might not even know who they are! That’s because that’s not what you are interested in and it does not energize you!!

So noticing who you look up to might point you in a direction when trying to find your passion. I look up to motivational coaches a lot! Be it Mel Robbins, Jairek Robbins, Nick Vujicic, Dr Ryan Lowery, and many others. I look up to them because one of my passions in life is to inspire people to be a better version of themselves, hence, making the world a better place.

Go to the book store

What section do you head straight to when you go into popular, Kinokuniya?

Manga? Maybe be story telling excites you?

Photography? Duhh

Sports and wellness? Maybe health and fitness is your jam!

Mine is always stationaries! I am just strange.

So take notice where you end up mindlessly sometimes. Your subconscious knows what excites you. That’s where you find your passion

Don’t be afraid to move on if you fail or find something else.

I like to watch people play games but I suck at it. I CAN NEVER PRESS THE RIGHT BUTTONS. You do not have to pursue everything you are interested in. But at least give it a try. You can still enjoy it without having to pursue it.

Stop giving yourself excuses

A wise businessman I look up to very much said before “If you want something, don’t let anything get in the way of what you want.” If I want to have enough money to buy supplies for my art, I better make sure I earn the money somewhere.

Stop giving yourself excuses cos at the end of the day, you answer only to yourself and no one else. Love yourself enough to at least try.

Last words before this entry become too long, you can not try and wonder for the rest of your life if you could have found enjoyment in areas in life you did not explore, or you can be happy knowing you have been adventurous enough to try, that you had the balls to start.

Passion is the energy you feel when you are excited. It’s like the childlike wonder you had when you first tried something.

Hope this post encourages you and point you in the right direction as you find your passion in life. Remember to follow the energy cos that’s what passion is, something that energizes and excites you.

And I want to tell you that you are precious and that you have great things coming your way once you take that tiny step to listen inwards and not look outwards in the pursuit of passion. It is in you all these while you just need to listen.

Love, Samantha

“I don’t know what is my passion” is something that comes out a lot in my conversations. Recently I was having a chat with a Friend online. The conversation went a little like this.

Friend: Sam, I envy you. You seem to know what you wanna do. I have no passion for my work and I dread going to work every day.

Me: What do you mean?

Friend: It’s like, you are so passionate about everything you do. It must be great being so full of passion and so sure all the time

Me: And where did you get that idea from?

Friend: Your Instagram! Your Facebook post! You have the life that I will gladly quit my job. You always feel so sure in life!

Me: Oh no you don’t! And if my life is limited to what I post on social media, I will be very envious too.

That being said, Instagram is curated according to what you want to portray to the world. But more often then not, most of the post I share is actually a reminder to myself first, then sharing it online in hopes that it will encourage others as much as it has encouraged me.

But that being said, let’s talk passion! So what is my passion and how do I see passion nowadays

I am one of those people who are 三分鐘熱度 in everything I do. That means that I jump on to things very quickly and jump off them quickly too. I have a lot of interest. The excuses I used to give myself was, I am looking so that I can find out “what is my passion”.

This word ‘passion’, feels like an elusive creature who seems to run away when I was so sure I got it. But what exactly is a passion? And sometimes that word becomes a dirty little word.

Recently I was listening to a podcast by Mel Robbins and she touched on it and it clicked in my mind. She said passion is simply an activity that gives you energy and excites you. It is not a fixed activity, person, place or thing. So don’t over think it! It is simply energy.

Here is a link to Mel Robbins’s video talking about passion. This woman inspires me every day!

So for example, Mel said in her video, that if you are excited Everyday to go to work, the work is not your passion. The reason your job energizes you might be because you are excited and it is new, or that you have a great boss or colleague and team. 

But if one day, your awesome boss leaves the company, and replacing him is a jerk that micromanages, causing the team to fall apart. Now you will start dreading going to work. You will “lose passion” of the job. So the question is, is your job your passion in the first place? Maybe not.

If you are passionate about money, money generating ideas and activities might motivate and energize you. If you are passionate about teaching, activities that help you to teach better, or a new process to make learning more efficient might energize you. 

So what is MY passion? Or what energizes and excites me? As my name suggests (Samantha means ‘the teachable one’), learning new things energizes and excites me. Especially learning a new craft.

“But can I have more than one passion?” you ask? Of cos! Some people might enjoy gaming and others might enjoy cooking, some enjoy both! These are activities that energize you and at the end of the activity, you feel happier. Mentoring and coaching does energize me too!

So instead of getting stressed out over finding your passion, having this slight change of mindset does wonders and simplify this elusive creature.

Hope this little post help in the age-old question and do have a look at my other post about ways to find my passion, as well as a short checklist I always ask my friends when they tell me they are about to leave their jobs to pursue their passion.

So in case you don’t hear this from anyone else today, I am here to remind you that you are precious, you’ve got this and it just takes being 1% better every single day to live the better life you always wanted! I love you and God bless!

Love, Samantha

We have reached the middle of 2018. The year of new beginning. It has been half a year since our office and it has been a month since Daniel quit his job to join me full time.

Am I afraid? I am freaked out! His job was kinda cushy and it was the backbone of how OCW got so far the last 2 years.

With this reduced income, how will we fair? I actually don’t know! But what fun is life without a little uncertainty? But maybe this is too much uncertainty. I had encouraged him to go ahead and leave asap. But was that a wise choice? I guess the jury is still out there! If we survive, I think it will be all worth it!

But if not, I dont dare to think about it to be honest. So here goes nothing!