W o r k l i f e S o l u t i o n s L t d

Passion Workbook
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Inspiration, success & achievement

“Passion is the fire that drives us to express

who we really are. Never deny passion, for
that is to deny Who You Are and Who you
Truly Want To Be”
- Neal Walsch, author of Conversations with God

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Summary ............................................................................................................. 3

What does passion look like? .................................................................................. 4

Concequences of ignoring your passion ................................................................. 4

Moving forward – a path with a purpose ................................................................ 5

Discovering and rekindling passion ....................................................................... 5

What is Passion? ................................................................................................... 7

2 Clues to passion ................................................................................................ 8

3 Keep a Passion Journal ......................................................................................10

4 Focus on your strengths.....................................................................................11

5 What do others notice? ......................................................................................12

6 What are you proud of? .....................................................................................13

7 What is the most frustrating or annoying part of your present or past work? ............13

8 What pushes your buttons? ................................................................................15

9 What do you care deeply about? .........................................................................16

10 What do you value? .........................................................................................17

11 What fascinates you? .......................................................................................17

12 Begin with the end in mind ...............................................................................18

13 Take your foot off the brakes ............................................................................19

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Inspiration, success & achievement

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“All we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic

about.”
- Charles Kingsley

Passion is to humans as water is to plants – it is fundamental to our growth,

happiness and well-being. It is an expression of who we are at our deepest level.

Many people think that they are not passionate about anything. Yet the truth is
that everyone is passionate – they may Dust need help taking their passion out of
the drawer. The difference between those who live their passions and those who
donGt varies. Some people are more aware of what they are passionate about than
others. Some people have more determination, courage and perseverance than
others. Sometimes a big dose of courage and self-belief is often what it takes to
live a more passionate life.

It was recently noted that less than 10J of people are visibly pursuing their
passions, whilst over 43J of people are dissatisfied by what they do.

This workbook will give you some tools and strategies to help you to discover and
tap into your passion.

Passion is a key ingredient in helping people make positive life transitions, for
passion can give the confidence, tenacity, inspiration and courage to make positive
choices in our lives.

“Love’s @ourney would be terrifying if we didn’t have passion to give us courage –

the blind courage of lovers, it is often called. It would be truer to call it the blind
wisdom of lovers, because uncertainty is the basis of life.”

-Deepak Chopra, Author

Discovering your passion is a key part of helping your discover who you are, who
you want to be and what makes you tick.

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What does passion look like?

Passion is not an intellectual thought. It is a feeling, an emotion. Whilst both thoughts

and feeling are critically important, western society tends to value thoughts, reason,
logic, and clear thinking more highly than feelings, intuition and soul.

If it is our desire to be the best that we can be, then the integration of mind, body and
spirit is essential. However passion can be difficult to find – and many adults fail to find it
altogether. In the absence of any encouragement they give up searching for it, or at
least rediscovering it.

“Passionate people exude energy, power, excitement, drive and commitment.

Their eyes sparkle, they are fully alive. They have an impact on others. They
are the people who often become our leaders, or become the achievers on this
planet. They achieve what they want, and most of us talk about them and often
envy them. Yet less than 10% of people are visibly pursuing their passion.”
- Charles Kovess

Concequences of ignoring your passion

The price for remaining stuck in an unrewarding job or a passionless life is a gnawing,
tired, angry feeling of unfulfillment, a sense that you could be doing more with your life
and that you could be feeling better about what you do and how you contribute to
others. Doing what you really want to do, even partially, isn't easy. I've met numerous
individuals who give up at the halfway point or do not try at all. They choose to hear and
believe "work is something to be endured not enjoyed", or “only lucky people can pursue
their passion". People buy into the majority voice before exploring alternatives. They
bury their passion under yet another layer of fear or scepticism, or mask it with alcohol
or anti-depressants. Yet the gnawing, tired, angry feeling of unfulfillment remains.

The consequences of not doing the things we love to do are too costly to ignore. An
unfulfilling life ultimately robs us of serenity, sense of excitement, purpose, and wellness.
This dis-ease is also contagious and can eat away into the other key areas of our lives
such as our relationships with loved ones, family, friends, communities and career.

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For further strategies about creative ways to generate career options you may like to
purchase a Passion Pack from our website www.worklifesolutions.co.nz

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Many people have narrow ideas about what passion is. For example
some people think that only extroverted people can be passionate.
This is simply not true. Passion is for everyone. Some common
definitions of passion include: Intensity, fervour, fervidness,
ardour, zeal, vehemence, mania, fire, emotion, feeling, zest,
enthusiasm, eagerness, preoccupation, excitement, animation,
fixation, heart’s desire, fascination, craze, obsession.

In the space below write down what passion means to you. You
may even prefer to draw “passion.”

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2 Clues to passion

“Passion is a lot like ‘love’. It is difficult, probably impossible, to define

in precise terms, but easy to see and feel when it is present.”
- Charles Kovess, Writer

How will you know if you are passionate about something? Look out for
some of passion’s common clues such as:

! A burning desire or hunger

! A feeling of inspiration
! A feeling in the pit of the stomach
! A sense of excitement
! A state of arousal
! A feeling of limitless energy
! A clarity of vision
! A feeling that nothing is too much trouble
! A sense of caring deeply
! A feeling of contentment

Passion is also about:

! Emotion, feeling, zest and enthusiasm

! Eagerness and preoccupation
! Excitement and animation
! Determination and self-belief
! Being willing to change
! Following your heart’s desire
! Doing something you love

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When was the last time you felt really excited or deeply absorbed
in, or by, something? What were you doing? Who were you with?
What clues did you notice?

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3 Keep a Passion Journal

“Keeping a journal gives you a sense of your own story. In a sense
you create a script for your own life as you go along.”
-Anon

Somewhere in the business of life we can forget what it is that makes us happy, and
struggle to find the time to do the things we love. Sometimes these moments of insight
are so fleeting that people can forget that they ever occurred. Listening to and recording
these moments in some way is an essential part of discovering and integrating more
passion into our lives. The purpose of your journal is to act as a central, easily
retrievable, place to collect and store sources of inspiration, insights and clues related to
your passion criteria and your preferred future. It is also an inspirational and
motivational tool to be updated regularly and looked at frequently – ideally daily.
Motivational Guru Tony Robbins has been keeping a journal for years and says, by
focusing on what he wants more of in his life, that it is one the keys to his success.

To be effective choose one which has a Eg. "I love writing because I love to share
colour, or images which symbolises how knowledge and help people realise their
you want to feel and that symbolises the potential and lead more fulfilled lives.
more passionate you. These colours and I love the feedback that I get and knowing
images will reinforce optimism and purpose that I made a difference.
on a sub-conscious level. For example, I could do more of this by writing articles for
Mary chose a journal that was red because magazines.”
that was the colour she associated with
being passionate. Andrew chose yellow, So that they may easily retrieve information
because that was the colour he associated you may want to divide your journal into areas
with being happy and excited about life. such as:
Andrea chose a journal with butterflies
because for her they symbolised “new ! Positive feedback you have received from
beginnings”. people (other people often recognise what
you are passionate about before you do!)
Write down or draw any insights you gain. ! Inspirational quotes related to passion
Record the observations of others and the ! Positive affirmations that reinforce
times you feel or notice clues to your your passion
passion such as, feelings of excitement, ! Goals related to your passion
inspiration, or limitless energy. Even
! Anything that matches or provides
feelings of anger and frustration can
clues to your passion criteria i.e. clippings,
provide valuable clues to how your purpose
articles, job advertisements, pictures of
could be fulfilled. Begin to make conscious
inspirational role models, and any other
evaluations of the things that you are most
inspirational information that provides a
passionate about.
clue to things you are passionate about.

Hadyn initially resisted the idea of keeping a career journal. He was a very private person
and kept most of his ideas in his head. He now loves the fact that he can keep all his
ideas in one central place where they won’t get forgotten, and he can flick through his
journal like a photograph album, only this time he is recording the memories he wants to
have.

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4 Focus on your strengths

“Where talent, motivation and interest intersect expect a masterpiece.”

- John Ruskin, Painter

People often take their ‘natural knacks’ or gifts for granted; however the skills that are
easiest for us can provide a good clue to areas we are most passionate about. People
have a tendency to assume that just because something is easy for them, that it is easy
per se! Others may find the same tasks difficult – largely because their heart is not in it
or they do not have the same strengths and skills.

What skills and talents come easily/most naturally to you? Which ones give you a buzz or
a huge sense of personal satisfaction?

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What strengths do others notice and admire?

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Write these insights in their passion journal. Add to it and review it regularly.

Writer, Michaal Cunningham, won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel (and now a hit movie),
The Hours. When asked how a man managed to write a story that captured the feelings
of three very different women, his friends reply: “He’s an unusually empathetic guy. He
has this uncanny ability to know how other people experience the world. That’s such a
handy skill – and a blessing for a writer.”

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5 What do others notice?

“Although men are accused of not knowing their own weaknesses, yet
perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where
sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner never knows of.”
- Satirist Jonathon Swift

Collecting positive feedback that others have said about you provides an objective way to
record and confirm your skills, passions and areas of strength. Many people, including
the best author of “What Colour is Your Parachute”, Richard Bolles, believe that we are
unable to truly realise our strengths without the objective insight provided by others.
Through the eyes of others, it becomes possible to confirm our passions and to recognise
those that we may have overlooked or discounted. The power of collecting feedback is
powerfully summed up below:

“I realized that I had been collecting evidence of failures, telling myself “I can’t do
this because…” and sometimes they were old failure messages from the past.
To overcome my doubts and fears I started to look for and collect evidence of my
success…sometimes people would come up to me and say, “you really spoke to
me. That touched me,” and I’d go home and write that down. So I started to think
that I was worthwhile because I had proof of it. And once I could shore myself up
with the external proof I got better at not needing it.”
- Business Woman, Barbara Koziarski

Mary was considering an internal promotion within the HR department, but was
experiencing some self-doubt. The comments of a friend who said: “your eyes light up
when you talk to people. You have a real gift for encouraging people.” Mary went home
and recorded these comments in a special inspirational book she kept just for recording
feedback. Later, when the time came to apply for the position, referring to these
comments helped confirm both her passion for helping people and her ability in this area.

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6 What are you proud of?

Take pride in your accomplishments and focus on your strengths. Often the things
that we are most proud of, reinforce and mirror our passions and the things that
give our lives meaning and purpose. The past is a good predictor of the future
and the things that we are most proud of can provide a good clue to future areas
we will be most passionate about and inspired to do. The more you can focus on
your past achievements, skills and talents the stronger they’ll become and the
more others will benefit from your unique talents.

Looking back over your past what are you most proud of? When did you feel a sense
of achievement? Why?

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7 What is the most frustrating or annoying

part of your present or past work?

Whilst we can have many minor upsets, it is the major upsets that will give us the

best clues to our spirit. List the aspects that you find most frustrating in either your
current role or previous roles. Then explore: “why?” keeping asking the why
question until they have got to the core, or essence of the annoyance. This increased
awareness may be the only catalyst you need to begin a re-evaluation process
within your organisation, and to initiate some changes at work.

Frustrating/annoying things Why they frustrate me

about work

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What changes could you make to bring about constructive changes?

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Robert, a senior lawyer, was annoyed at the lack of recognition for contributions
other than meeting revenue targets. Asking "why" several times helped him
discover his key drivers were making a difference and being appreciated. Robert
realised that the times he felt most appreciated was when he worked as a
volunteer for Youth Social Services. Consequently he identified an opportunity to
assist in his firm’s induction process and his role has been tailored to include
mentoring new legal graduates. Now not only does he gets to do more of what
he loves doing – helping people, but his commitment, enthusiasm and
contribution to work have increased dramatically.

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8 What pushes your buttons?

Passionate anger, constructively used, could become the fuel that drives you, the
fuel that drives your passion.

What presses your buttons? It may be specific things going on in your life now or
wider issues about life in general, such as injustice, racism, etc. Gain greater
awareness by exploring why your buttons are being pushed.

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Are there any ways you could you use your anger to benefit others and bring about
positive change?

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9 What do you care deeply about?

Real passion is more than a fad or fleeting enthusiasm. It can’t be turned on

and off like a tap. It’s a full-bodied belief or commitment to something.

What do you care deeply about? Discovering all the things that we feel strongly
about is not always easy. Look for some clues to your beliefs by catching the
times you use words such as “should”, or “must”. What do you really believe in?
It might be honesty, openness, freedom, equality, justice. Record your insights
in the space below and add these to your passion journal.

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10 What do you value?

“Values are a matter of what guides you through every day, every task, every encounter
with another human being. Yet we are often unaware of what our values are.”
- Richard Bolles, author

Determining the values which give direction and meaning to your life. These are your
deep, personal needs that motivate you to truly love your work day after day, ie helping
people, creative expression, excitement, precision work, etc.

What do you need to do to feel fulfilled?

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11 What fascinates you?

Passion goes in all directions. It can be as tangible as a job or a car or a house, or as

intangible as a dream or an idea. You could be passionate about anything.

Work Hobby
Sport or pastime Family
An idea A cause
A belief The environment
Travel Other cultures
The past The future
Films Books
Music Collecting things
Gardening Making money

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What captures your interest and attention? List as many things as you can that you

could be/are passionate about.

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12 Begin with the end in mind

Standing forward and looking backward to today, what are the key actions and dates
that you have to put in place to realise your future goals of a more passionate you?
Identify any training, experiences and/or stepping stone activities that will help you
achieve your goal. Break down your goals into mini goals which will help you achieve
your major goal. Set dates for their achievement and plot these on an action line.
Do something everyday that you feel passionate about.

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13 Take your foot off the brakes

You may benefit from asking yourself the following questions: “What is stopping you
from doing more of what you enjoy?” or “what could stop you?” Often our need for
acceptance and approval from others may be a barrier to following our passions or
pursuing our destiny. Fear of failure, procrastination or other impediments may also
create obstacles. One of the keys to working on ways to remove these barriers is to
become more consciously aware of the power of self-limiting thoughts, beliefs or
habits. Once you have named your passion barriers you can start fixing them so they
don’t keep the hand-brake on realising the real you.

Passion barriers:

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Ways I can minimise these barriers and build on things that will help me pursue my
passion:

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Amongst the most common passion barriers we see at Worklife Solutions are
people who have low self-esteem, and lack confidence and belief in their
ability to make positive changes and have their needs met. Just as in love,
where we are told that to love another we must first love and accept
ourselves unconditionally - to be passionate about something we must first
be passionate about ourselves and in our capacity to make a difference.
Fundamental to this is believing that we deserve the best.
!"#$%&'(
!"#$%&"'!
Inspiration, success & achievement
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