Purpose and passion essentially rule our life, and it can be easy to get the two mixed up. To be happy and successful in life, it’s important to consider both your purpose and your passion.
It can be difficult to fulfil your passion if there’s no purpose behind it, and it can be difficult to find your purpose if you have no passion for it.
But what is the difference between purpose and passion? Keep reading to learn more about what passion is, what purpose is, and the key differences between the two.
What Is Purpose?
Our purpose is essentially the reason why we do things. Think of purpose as organised, tidy, and focused, and think of passion as emotions and more disorganised.
Each and every one of us has a purpose – and without identifying and honouring it, you might find yourself jumping from project to project, switching workplace frequently, and finding it difficult sticking to plans.
It’s easy to get sidetracked in life when you don’t have a clear purpose pushing and motivating you to move forwards.
When you have a purpose, things seem to fall into place a lot easier. Having a purpose means being yourself and doing what you love doing.
Your purpose should also factor in what you’re good at as well as what you value. Your purpose is a representation of yourself and what you care about and something you should strive towards every day.
A purpose is something that you should have in conjunction with a passion – you should work towards fulfilling your purpose with passion and enthusiasm. Think of it as setting goals then going on and achieving the goal.
However, you can still have a purpose without being passionate about it, but this is also likely to result in you finding it difficult sticking to it.
A purpose is generally a single thing, and it’s specific. It’s essentially a long term thing that drives you forwards in life to bring a sense of fulfilment and meaning.
If you already have things that you enjoy doing, you may find your purpose in those. If your hobbies involve being creative or making things, this could be an indication that your purpose is to create.
If you feel good helping others and dedicate some of your time to doing this, you may find that this is your purpose. Your purpose can be anything that drives you to do what you do – its the foundation that your passion is constructed.
What Is Passion?
In simple terms, a passion is something you enjoy doing. Having a passion or multiple passions is integral to a happy life – and finding our hidden passions is the key to unlocking the life we want.
We are allowed to be selfish when it comes to our passions, as our passions are personal to us, and nobody can dictate what we are passionate about.
We follow our passion because we enjoy it – it brings us joy and makes us feel good.
Unlike our purpose, our passions can frequently change and tend to be less structured. When you consider what you enjoy doing and what you do by choice in your free time, then you’ll find your passions.
Many people struggle to find what they’re passionate about as they’re unwilling to try new things, and they stick to what they know.
If you keep trying new activities and hobbies, then you’re more likely to find things you’re passionate about – things that move you forward in life.
Passion is the driving force that drives us with what we want to do with life. If you combine your passion with your purpose, you’re far more likely to lead a happy and balanced life.
Purpose And Passion
Your passions should have emotion behind them – they should include things that bring you joy and other positive feelings. Passion explores the ‘what’ side of things – what are you passionate about? Music? Dance? Writing?
Your purpose mainly explores the reason behind this – why are you drawn to your purpose? Why do you enjoy doing those things?
Passion follows emotion, but the purpose is the reason why. Our passions can be self-indulgent, but our purpose usually factors in others.
For example, when figuring out your passion, you should ask yourself ‘what do I love?’, but when figuring out your purpose, you should ask yourself ‘how can I implement this into my life while contributing something?’.
Your passion is focused inwards toward yourself, but your purpose should be focused on the world and what you can contribute to it.
Your passion can completely shape your personality and sense of self, whereas your purpose can give you meaning while completing you and forming your overall identity.
Without a passion, your life can feel boring and tedious – and without a purpose, your life can feel equally as empty but also aimless and without direction.
You may feel yourself floating through life if you don’t have a purpose guiding you.
It’s arguably easier to find your passion than it is your purpose. To find your passion, all you have to do is assess what you enjoy doing the most and what brings you a sense of fulfilment.
Finding your purpose can be more difficult. It’s something you can build yourself by assessing your gifts, your values, and what you want to offer the world.
To figure out your purpose, you can ask yourself what your unique gifts are, how you can make the world a better place, and who you want to be.
In order to live our best and most authentic lives, then we need to have both passion and purpose – and you’re sure to feel even more fulfilled and successful if you manage to combine the two.
Mark is a multi-award winner in business networking and relationship building. He is passionate about coaching and mentoring business owners and professionals through 1-1 & group coaching, team performance workshops and group mastermind sessions.