Doctor. Lawyer. Actress. Vet. Artist. Explorer. We all wanted to be a million things growing up! But very few of us knew with certainty and a burning PASSION that we wanted to become a painter, writer or teacher.

I always say that lucky are those that are GOOD at their jobs. But those that are passionate about their work will always be GREAT! So, I’m often asked, “but how do I find my true passion? How do I know what I will be really great at doing?”

Just for a moment, forget the titles, positions and the corner office set-up. To understand your greater purpose, we need to uncover your natural ability and amplify your superpower!

Show notes

  • The difference between being GOOD and being GREAT.
  • PASSION – the energy that never dies.
  • The ability to work with a purpose and serving others.
  • How do you find your passion?
  • All the skill sets and experiences you have accumulated will hold you in good stead.
  • Quick ways to pinpoint your passion and purpose:
    • Ask close friends and colleagues what your superpower is.
    • Keep a journal to document all the work interactions or moments that left you energized.
    • Trace back your career and write down what you loved most and what you liked least about your job.
  • Your superpower is a natural ability (and it’s often taken for granted!).
  • You will notice a pattern in your career.
  • Great success occurred when you were fueled by passion to work towards a greater purpose.
  • Be open to new opportunities and adventures to explore your superpower.
  • Be brave to be free!

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If you enjoyed this podcast, you will enjoy listening to the little known secret to wealth, why I left my 7-figure salary, and finding your superpower.

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Transcript

Lisa Linfield:                       00:09                     Hello everybody, and welcome to today’s episode of Working Women’s Wealth. Two weeks ago, we were talking about the energy that never dies. And that was the energy associated with doing something that was in your passion and purpose. So just to recap a little what we were saying was that anybody who is lucky enough to do work in a field that they are good at will always be good at what they do. But you will only be great at what you do, when not only do you do work that’s in a field that you’re good at, but you also are passionate about that field. And that really is a difference between good and great. And then there was a fourth element which was when you work in your purpose. And part of working your purpose is when the work that you do serves other people.

                                                                                And the reason why that was the energy that kept on giving, was because a lot of time no matter whether you’re passionate about something and whether you’re doing work that you’re good at and you’re paid for it, we all lose energy at times because let’s not kid real life can be either down and boring or just hard, you know? No matter whether we are passionate about what we do because they are just times when you’ve got to push through. But when your talent or your work serves other people, it’s an amazing thing about life, the universe, God, whomever, that when you are about to give up those people that you’ve served, creep out the woodwork in some way or other and pay you a compliment, tell you how much you’ve impacted them, do something that gives you that extra boost of energy. Because most times when we serve others, a lot of the maybe it’s 90% goes out. But the 10% that comes back, always seems to come back at the most strategic time.

                                                                                So one of the questions I was asked after that was well, how do you find your passion? How do you find that thing that you’re passionate about? And I have to say it is a process. There are definitely three things and I’m going to teach you about them now. But it’s definitely a process that I don’t think any of us should ever lose faith if we haven’t had a miraculous lightning or thunderbolt that has shown us what we’re passionate about. And the reason why is because if I take what I’m doing now, which is something I’m passionate about and is my purpose I serve other people. I don’t look back on any of the time that I was working corporate or that I was doing other things as waste of time. All of the skill sets that I’m using now, all of my experience, all of who I am, is for every single step of the journey that came to bringing me right here, right now talking to you.

                                                                                And I really remember a number of years just trying to push it, force it, find that thing that I’m passionate about doing. And it didn’t come very quickly. And I found myself where I am in a very roundabout way because I actually didn’t know in detail the content or the joy of financial planning I had to go to university to find that out. So I would just advise or caution not to stress if you haven’t yet found that thing. Because we’re all on a journey and I firmly believe that our journeys will take us to where we need to be. But I have three things that are really something that could help you in this journey. And the first one is that if you don’t know what it is that you’re passionate about or that you’re good at or that you’re unique for, that you email 10 close colleagues, friends, people who know you very well but in a work context, and you ask them what is my superpower?

                                                                                I did this exercise a few years ago and I sent a mail to colleagues ranging through at my work career. And it was so interesting. And what I found about your super power especially if you’re not conscious of it, is that it is actually that thing that you can do unconsciously well that you don’t think of as a superpower. And for me that was explaining complicated things in a simple human way. And it was amazing because an x effect. I did that exercise when I was in that pushing hard period where I was pushing hard to find something that I could do. And it didn’t strike me as a lightning and thunderbolt receiving that feedback, I guess because I kind of knew that it was there within me, but what I didn’t know was that other people saw it as a super power. And it wasn’t then even knowing that, that I came up with Working Women’s Wealth and the whole thing about Working Women’s Wealth is the ability to teach money, no maths, no jargon.

                                                                                There was a long lead gap between it. And when I was reflecting on this whole thing, it’s all pieces of the puzzle that have to fall in place. You know, when people came back and said to me your superpower is being able to explain complicated things simply. It kind of sat with me and then when I started my financial advice business, I never had any intention of doing Working Women’s Wealth. It came later. So even when I thought I’d found what I wanted to do and what I thought I was passionate about doing, which was financial planning, it took a while until Working Women’s Wealth came. And then it really created that sense of passion and purpose. So it’s been a long journey. But the first thing that I would really recommend you do is to ask people you trust and just say, hey, you know, I’m going through a process of trying to nail down my passion, would you mind sharing with me what you think my superpower is?

                                                                                The second thing that I think is very good is to keep a journal. And I don’t keep a handwritten one, I have many handwritten journals. But for this particular exercise, I just kept a note pad on my phone. For any times when I would leave a meeting or leave an interaction or something to do with work where I felt that bounce in my step that like whew, that was a cool experience or thing. And I came to see a pattern that many times that was an either a, a sense of teaching someone something or b, when there was a complex problem that we eventually solved or found a way of solving, and then being able to articulate in a simple way to explain it to others. And effectively, that’s what I do all the time is I take the complicated problem that people don’t have enough money for retirement and I try and solve ways within that person’s budget, that person’s life as to how I could then get a plan for them to be able to make it to retirement with enough money. And then explain that to them in a simple way.

                                                                                So again, this was just something that I did over quite a long period of time of be really conscious and write it down whenever I would leave a meeting where I felt good or I felt the happy vibe about that meeting. And then thirdly, another thing that you can do in order to find your passion is an exercise which is quite fun actually, is to go back through your career and for every job that you’ve held to write down the thing that you love most about it, and the thing that you liked least about it. Be Personal, that specific memory that you know, I love that project or you know, I really hated this interaction or this project and think deeply on why you liked it or why you hated what exactly about it was there.

                                                                                And when you look back through your career and it’s not just jobs, for example, if you held a post as the head of an industry body or the chairperson of the woman’s Club or any of that stuff, write all of those done because you will then start to see a pattern of the types of things that you really enjoyed working with. And that for me has been something that really helped me in understanding the types of fields that I should work in. And in my current situation of having both a wealth management business and Working Women’s Wealth where I teach people, I get to combine the two. You know, I solve great problems and that analytical side of me comes in through working one on one with clients.

                                                                                And then the other side which is the teaching explaining complicated things in a simple way, that comes through in my Working Women’s Wealth. And in both of them I serve other people. But I guess that almost the high comes in from helping them understand a way forward to a problem that either they didn’t even know they had or that they’ve been trying to solve that they couldn’t. You know, that’s when I really kind of hum in any of the work I do. So for all of you out there I would really take some time to work this out, but also don’t put the pressure that you’re suddenly going to get struck by a lightning bolt. You know, once you know the characteristics to look out for, for jobs that make you happy and for work that makes you happy and work that you can serve other people, then it’s amazing how many of those opportunities open up. And as I taught once before, that’s because we have a part in our brain called the reticular activating system.

                                                                                Big Word but basically what that piece of the brain does is it just scans the environment for whatever it is that you’re looking for. So as I have explained before, if you are hungry and starving as a caveman, your reticular activating system is continuously scanning for opportunities, potential things that could help you meet that problem. So once you come up with I’m looking for my passion and these are the things that are common to it, or these are my super powers, these are the things I’ve enjoyed, these are the things that make me happy, then it’s amazing how your brain will set about trying to find you opportunities that fulfill that. And also that you’ll be more open to it, that you will not choose a job or a position because of its title, but because of the things inside it that are going to make you happy and give you that energy. So I would wish for everybody to find their passion and let me know how you do on this journey. Take care and have a great week. I’m Lisa Linfield and this is Working Women’s Wealth.