What lights you up?
No, I’m not about to break into a list of the best lighting techniques!
What I should say is ‘What Lights you up from within’. Because the thing that gives you that spark, is the x factor which will power your career and life transformation.
This is part one in a four part mini series where we are going to do a deep dive into the 4 elements of the Burning Passion model I introduced in episode 2, so that you can work through them easily and uncover your Burning Passion!
A quick reminder, your Burning Passion is the intersection between:
- What Lights your up
- Your Talents and skills
- Your Core values and
- Your Success Vision.
Think of this mini-series as building the foundations of your career and life transformation!
You can’t see anything happen yet, but if the foundations are not strong then the ideal career and life you are building may collapse later in the journey.
In this episode of the Powering Your Passion podcast, we focused on the first element - ‘What lights you up’.
How Does Something Light You Up?
Let’s be clear. We all have many things that we enjoy doing but not all can be described as passions.
So how do you know if something is a passion or just something you like to do?
One way to distinguish between something you enjoy doing and what are your true passions is to ask the question, does it light me up?
When something lights you up it is not something you can mentally process as such. It’s intangible because it is mainly based on feelings and emotions, and the physical manifestations of those emotions.
Something lights you up when you feel excitement, joy and happiness when doing it. And then the emotion translates to you feeling physically energised, literally your blood pumps faster, your chest opens and your lungs expand, your limbs feel strong and ready for action. You feel motivated and confident and your brain feels switched on and alert.
When you share the subject with someone else, you speak fast, tripping over your words, barely having time for breath as you tell them everything....even if they don’t look interested!
I know this sounds a little crazy, but stick with me...I like to compare what lights you up to the Patronus charm from JK Rowling's, Harry Potter stories!
If you have not seen the films or read the books (have you been living under a rock?!) the Patronus charm is magic that can only be produced by thinking of a really happy thought, and when it works it produces a beam of light in the form of an animal, that is able to ward off evil beings, called the dementors.
If the happy thought is not strong enough, it only produces a weak glow, but, if it is a really powerful thought, the light can blast hundreds of dementors from the sky.
I compare that happy thought to when you have something you love doing so much that it brings that feeling of joy, excitement, self confidence and motivation.
So you feel in that moment, if you were able to physically emit a light, it would blast out from you luminescent and powerful, just like Harry’s, and defeat all of your own dementors of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, procrastination and the big one, FEAR!
In reality, we don’t have magic, but we do have biology! And that’s not fantasy.We are hardwired to want to do the things we love. I’m not going to go full science geek on you but the reason that we feel something lights us up is because we have the physical equivalent of a Patronus charm...Dopamine!
When a rush of dopamine is triggered it causes the brain to assign importance to whatever you were doing and instructs itself to pursue more of the same.
But, WHY is working with something that ‘lights you up’ so important?
Well, if you work with something that lights you up, in other words gives you a dopamine rush, because you enjoyed it your brain programmes you to want to repeat it over and over.
I read a great article on LinkedIn by Raja Jamalamadaka, TEDx speaker and neuroscience researcher, called How to work 8 hours and accomplish more than 16 hours of work? which gives and insight into the the benefits (I have put a link to the full article and his TED Talk in the links section below, as it's definitely worth taking a look)
Raja says ‘Since you love these feelings (that you get from the dopamine rush), you do MORE of this work and now a virtuous cycle of "work – dopamine – excitement" is created. Any work done in this state of mind is of the highest quality and you are at the peak of your productivity – you are likely to feel fulfilled and find meaning in your work’
So that means, not only do you feel motivated and energised, your productivity is higher and you also are more likely to want to work with your passion over a longer period of time. Your passion triggers a regular release of dopamine, and as your brain evolves it adapts to power your passion more effectively.
Your passion actually changes your brain to help you reach your goals faster.
How amazing is that!
BUT... if the cycle is interrupted, for example if the work is not enjoyable or there is no reward or anticipation of reward, then the dopamine will stop.
So when looking to make a change in your career, it's important that you look for opportunities that will allow you to have the freedom to work with a passion that lights you up and has the chance for reward.
The more the passion lights you up, just like a patronus against the dementors, the stronger you will be to fight any barriers to your success.
Let’s move on to the most important part - How do you find what lights you up?
First, you need to think of everything you enjoy doing in life and write it down.
Let your mind run wild and have no filter. You are not thinking at this point whether they are viable for a potential career or business, or if they light you up, or even if you are any good at them,..just what you enjoy or love doing.
Ask yourself questions like:
What do you do when you procrastinate? Most people will go for things that they derive the most pleasure from to give their mind a break. So it can be quite telling what you do in your downtime
When you hop on the internet for fun, what websites do you visit? What do you look up on instagram or Pinterest (if you have them) What books do you read?
What are your hobbies or social activities
What tasks do you enjoy doing in your job now? Or in past jobs?
Do you have talents, which you particularly enjoy?
What tv programmes do you love? Are there any patterns to what you watch? Like do you constantly watch gardening shows or cooking shows, or maybe you love documentaries or like me are obsessed with crime dramas.
Whatever you come up with, just write it down, or create an audio file or add to your notes on your phone, whatever suits you.
Next, you need to take everything you have identified as something you enjoy and assess if, when taking part in that activity, you have felt any of the emotions or physical attributes of ‘what lights you up’ that I have discussed above.
You are looking to narrow the passions that ‘light you up’ down to 4 to 5, depending how multi-passionate you are.
If you only have one, then go back and think again as there is usually more than one.
Now, you should now have a better idea of what your passions are that have potential to be part of a new career path!
If you need more help then download my free guide ‘ How to find your Burning Passion (and ignite your career and life), as it really shows you step by step what to do and also gives you a sneak peak into the upcoming episodes in this series!
In the next episode in the Burning Passion series we will be looking at element two of the Burning Passion model, your talents and skills in other words, what you’re actually good at.
They are not always what you expect!
Links mentioned in this episode:Raja Jamalamadaka is a TEDx and corporate speaker, entrepreneur, mentor to startup founders, "Marshall Goldsmith award for coaching excellence" award winning top 100 coach to senior industry executives and a board director.
LinkedIn Article - how-work-8-hours-accomplish-more-than-16-raja-jamalamadaka
Tedx - https://youtu.be/kZLi8guJCrw
