Many of us are set on finding our passion, but what many don’t realize is that before we find our passion, we must find our flow, which will lead to joy.
For a very long time, perhaps since the mid 90’s, 'passion' was the buzz word batted around to elevate careers, as we all want to work in a field we love. However, now we’re hearing we need to find our flow before we find our passion.
What is Flow?
-
Flow – a term that’s emerged in recent years when talking about achieving career success – is the cousin of passion. Unlike passion, which is about identifying something we love and then attempting to match it to the job market (I love music, so I should be a musician), flow is about identifying activities we love to do and excel at, and then matching them to a wide variety of industries, career paths and jobs.
The need to experience life
Understanding the importance of flow is not difficult because it is impossible to find your passion without living and experiencing life. Perhaps one of the reasons millennials find it challenging to find a career is because they have not lived long enough or found opportunities to reinforce what it is they actually like and are good at. We all want to increase joy in our life, and our flow is so closely tied to this.What’s important here to remember is that we can find passion and joy in any career; however, to really find this we must establish our flow.
Creating Flow = living your best life
Fortunately, my life has been full of opportunities - through work, volunteering and play, which have all helped me create flow and then passion.
To pinpoint your flow you will need to reflect on the activities that make you feel happy, joy and those that you have excelled at throughout the years. There are many opportunities in the workplace to find your flow and work towards finding your passion. For example, if you enjoy planning events, you can volunteer your time on a not-for-profit board and look for opportunities at work where you can use your event planning talents, such as assisting with the annual company picnic.
