Do you consider yourself a passionate person?
Most of us admire and look up to people who are highly passionate and firey. Sometimes they might frustrate or aggravate us sure, but deep down that’s often because we wish we could be like them. We wish we had the courage to follow our dreams, speak our minds, and live life to the fullest.
Well guess what: you can. Being passionate isn’t a matter of genetics – it’s a choice. And once you realize that that’s what you want, it’s something that’s attainable and worth working towards.
But before we dive deep into, how to become a more passionate person, let’s look at some of the benefits.
A Shortlist of the Benefits of Being a More Passionate Person:
- Passion gives you purpose for living
- Passion can boost your energy levels
- Passion sets the stage for a positive environment
- Passion makes you smile more
- Passion can create resilience and increase endurance
- Passion can make you feel happier
- Passion is contagious
- Passion can make you smarter
- Passion can increase confidence
- Passion can boost your performance
- Passion can create clarity
Strategies to Help You Become a More Passionate Person:
Be Authentically You – With No Apologies
The most important thing you need to do to be genuinely passionate is to be who you really are and not apologize for it. This alone takes a special type of courage. We live in a world where we are continually bombarded with messages of who we should be and what we should do. As a result, many of us have lost our way and don’t actually know who we truly are. When you are searching inwardly for authenticity, take notice of sentences that include the word: should. Don’t just do “all the things” that are expected of you – do the thing that you really want to do, those things that express who you really are. People who know who they are are usually extremely passionate about it.
Keep Your Promises (to yourself):
Many of us have mastered the ability to keep our word when it comes to others. However, we fail miserably at keeping our word to ourselves. We say that we’re going to start doing or stop doing “XYZ” and we look around 6 months later and we haven’t moved towards what we told ourselves that we were going to do. We’ve all been there. It may seem harmless, after all, no one really knows what we promised ourselves but ourselves.
Right?
Wrong.
Here’s the problem.
We are creatures of habit, good and bad. This bad habit is sending a message to your mind that you are a person that doesn’t keep your promises to yourself. What happens when someone fails repeatedly to keep their promises to you? You can start to not trust them or you just don’t expect them to come through. Creating a pattern of being untrustworthy to ourselves, chips away at our passion. So start practicing the fine art of keeping your promises to yourself and it will make you a more passionate person in the long run.
Develop a Growth Mindset:
In a nutshell, a growth mindset is when you believe that you can develop your abilities with time, training, and even deliberate practice. On the other hand, a fixed mindset believes that you are born or have access to a limited amount of talent and resources…PERIOD. The awesome thing about developing a growth mindset is that people with this mindset not only tend to be more passionate but they see “failure” much differently than most people. They don’t actually see themselves failing but as learning. According to Dweck, The author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, a growth mindset creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. This brings me to my next point.
Become a Lifelong Learner:
Nothing fuels passion more than knowledge and hunger to learn new things. As you develop a passion for lifelong learning, you will in turn become a more passionate person.
Learn to Embrace the Struggle:
Whenever you start something new that you might feel passionate about, realize that you are a beginner. As a beginner, chances are that you are going to suck at whatever it is. That is how this works. As you are consistently taking action on your passion, you will get better. The gap between being a beginner and growing into an expert (if that is your goal) is where the struggle lies. Learn to embrace and, in time, overcome that struggle and you will become even more passionate as a person.
Choose Your Day:
If you want to be a more passionate person, learn how to “choose your day”. This simply means, plan your days with those activities that you want to do. These activities can be categorized as work, play, hobbies, learning, and even chores. But the goal here is to prioritize those activities that you want and need to get done first. The alternative is to have your day chosen for you by others in the form of distractions and interruptions. People who chose their day, rather than their day choosing them are happier, and yes more passionate.
Speak Your Mind
This extends generally to stop worrying about what people think. Notice how passionate people always seem to be shouting or proclaiming their passions? This is because they are following their heart and not worrying what others think.
Most of us are so afraid to speak our minds because we think we’re going to offend people that we end up walking around with our heads hanging down. Whatever you say or don’t say, you’ll still offend people – because it’s impossible not to – so you might as well be you and speak your mind.
Get Back Your Energy
If you want to be more passionate and full of life, do what it takes to get your energy back. To be passionate, you need to emmerse yourself in the things you love. And to do that you can’t be exhausted all the time. If life and work always seem to be on top of you, then it’s time to make some positive changes that will serve you well and boost your energy. These changes could include getting more sunshine, eating more nutritious foods, limiting social media, getting proper sleep and rest, and/or developing an exercise routine. If it seems like life will overwhelm you if you take time off, then that could be a sign that something needs to change!
Final Thoughts:
Passionate people are extraordinary to say the least. They follow their heart and do what makes them come alive. As you can see, there isn’t a monopoly on becoming a more passionate person. There is room for all of us. It starts with making a decision. That’s it. Decide to change your life. You can start with a few of these tips and you will be well on your to becoming that passionate person that you so admire.
Be well + prosper,
Elaine xx