By Regan Hillyer

I could have also titled this, “Stop Doing What You Are Not Good At And Become An Entrepreneur.”

This article essentially continues on from my recent Forbes Coaching Council articles. It’s the third part of a series around building a successful online business and a powerful personal brand and some of the pitfalls to avoid when moving through these processes.

Here I’ll cover the five tell-tale actions that mark you as a solopreneur and how you can shift these aspects into being an entrepreneur.

In my role as a business, life and entrepreneurial coach and reflecting on my journey to now having created an eight-plus-figure business, I can honestly say that I have seen so many of my clients who are solopreneurs. You may be new to that term. In my opinion, that’s the polite term for the more commonly used “control freak” or “roost-ruler.”

And I admit frankly to having been one of these people — until I saw the benefits to my own self-growth and that of my businesses, of releasing myself from those aspects of the enterprise-building that I simply was not particularly good at managing and executing. As your business grows, so do the responsibilities and tasks, and it is simply not possible to take on all of this work on your own.

The “solo” part of the word “solopreneur” defines it perfectly. It can be the reluctance to give up any control over the enterprise that has been created. See if you recognize yourself in the following traits.

Solopreneurs work for themselves, either in an online capacity or in a small but burgeoning business and are in no rush to build a team to support this growth because they are not yet “in the space” where they feel that they can either trust or delegate tasks to team members.

The solopreneur offten displays the traits of wanting to control even the smallest aspects of their business. Even when they are not especially good at the aspect of the business niche that they are working in, they may still believe that the only way that they can have overall governance and, hence, control of their enterprise is to do and be everything. They often believe that they and only they know what is best for their business. 

Solopreneurs also tend to believe that because an individual has not been there from the conception of the enterprise that they can not possibly understand the creative process, the stumbling first steps and the willpower that was required to launch the brand, product or service. They may believe that it is their “baby” and anyone else who hasn’t been there from the first can’t effectively contribute or bring any creativity at this point.

Solopreneurs are usually anxious to grow and build. They may genuinely seek forward movement for their enterprise and get frustrated when they get bound up in the minutiae of some of the admin or compliance issues around running a business. Either the admin gets left behind, creating a rat’s nest of paperwork, or the solopreneur reluctantly gets bound up in the tasks around compliance — and then invariably, the creativity and growth of the business get neglected.

So how do you turn from solopreneur to entrepreneur? 

The fifth and, in my experience, most commonly occurring solopreneur trait is their ego. Sadly, yes, often the blocks around growth and business-building are ego-related. The solopreneur may be reluctant to admit that there are various aspects of their creation that they have little or no viable skills in managing.

First, be super honest with yourself. Admit that there are aspects of your business that you are less than perfect at managing, and identify those aspects. Then ask yourself, “How can I gracefully shift out of those aspects, at the same time trusting, ‘letting go’ and permitting a professional who has those skills to best drive?” At this point, the true entrepreneur will creatively brainstorm how this can be achieved and what practical, physical steps need to be taken to make this transition a reality.

It is a positive business health-check to go through this process and identify your weaknesses and, in turn, your business’ vulnerabilities. Then ask around, use your connections, get support from your mentor, throw it out there and check out how others have handled this natural and organic growth strategy. 

We all have trust issues around inviting others into a situation that we have solely created. Moving away from this state requires a large shift, and although I am advocating that you do indeed trust those professionals who you take on board, know also that the road may not always be smooth. Part of your personal growth and the growth of your enterprise is that you are entering into a state of constant learning the minute you let go of the control that has been holding you back. You will still need governance and regular discussions with your team; it is a gentle, hands-on approach; however, there is a line between micro-managing someone and trusting enough to allow them to autonomously manage the niche in which they are skilled. 

Take heart in the knowledge that an aspect that you were not the most creative at is being handled by a higher-skilled individual and that this will free up your time and focus for the areas within your specific strengths. And, as your business flourishes and matures, there will be more instances where you will stop, take stock and evaluate just how much you can effectively do in the new niche that you wish to investigate and grow.

If you have been the solopreneur, it is most likely that your skillset lies in research and development and creative market analysis. Just as you have had to identify your soulmate tribe to develop products and services for, you can now use those same skills for developing your support team.

from: forbes.com

While most companies are playing “corporation,” Dan Price is redefining business as “cooperation”

By Alan Trapulionis

By April 2020, Gravity Payments revenues were down by 55% compared to the previous month. As a payments company, their revenues are directly dependent on the overall sales volume — which was down significantly amidst the accelerating Covid-19 panic.

Dan Price, the CEO of the company, had a tough choice to make. In a Tweet, he said that he could either fire 40 employees (20 percent of his staff,) or he could go bankrupt.

Instead, he did something that so many leaders never think of. He asked his employees for help.

I spent 40 hours talking with every employee about our finances and asked for ideas.

The result was magical. Six employees offered to sacrifice their paycheck altogether for a few months. More than 20 people agreed to give up half of their paycheck. Even those with serious financial commitments volunteered to chip in.

These savings gave Gravity an additional 9-to-12 months of runway, and, in the end, all 200 employees retained their jobs.

However, that is not the most amazing thing Dan Price has done.

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Dan Price’s $70k Minimum Salary Policy Pays Off, Big Time

In 2015, Dan Price shocked the business world by taking a personal $1M pay cut to raise his company’s minimum salary to $70,000 a year. He was called a “socialist and communist” publicly. Gravity lost several customers — who either considered the move to be political or expected an increase in fees. Two of Gravity’s higher-paid employees left, considering the raise unfair to them.

Only time could tell whether Price’s philanthropic ideas would do well in capitalism. And it did.

In just 5 years, Gravity Payments’ processing volume has gone from $3.8 billion to $10.2 billion. However, as BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty put it, there are other metrics Price was proud of.

“Before the $70,000 minimum wage, we were having between zero and two babies born per year among the team,” he says.

“And since the announcement — and it’s been only about four-and-a-half years — we’ve had more than 40 babies.”

Hegarty further reports that before the pay rise, less than 1% of the company could buy their own homes (Seattle isn’t exactly a cheap area to live in.) Five years after the dramatic pay rise, 10% of the company’s employees have their own homes.

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“Give, And You Shall Receive”

There’s a less-glamorous part to this story: Gravity’s almost threefold-rise in processing volume may be caused by all the buzz created by Price’s move, instead of the actual value created by the company.

Dan Price is now a public figure — but he wasn’t one before. Until 2015, Price was a low-key CEO from Seattle. After 2015, Price has become a study subject for Harvard professors, an inspiration for good-willed entrepreneurs and somewhat of a Jesus figure for job seekers.

He credits the growth of his company to the 2015 pay rise, but, having been covered by pretty much every major outlet in the country, I think it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Gravity grew on account of that.

Price shares inspirational stories from within Gravity. One guy, he says, has lost more than 50lb as he could afford to spend more money on health. Another Gravity employee, who was commuting for over 1.5 hours every day to work, used to stress about having a flat tire — because he couldn’t pay for it. That changed after the pay rise.

Price says he’s disappointed more companies didn’t follow suit. However, if most of Gravity’s growth came from philanthropy-marketing, this particular storyline has been used up already — and there’s no reason for others to join the ride.

There is one lesson from all of this: doing extraordinary things for your employees attracts plenty of media attention. And, with some luck, that can very well turn into real business growth.

from: entrepreneurshandbook.co

https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/luciditysbm.com/21699

By Jaclyn Lindsey

If you’ve spent even just 10 minutes scanning the headlines in the last month, the workplace can seem like it’s suddenly become a minefield. Sexual harassment. Bullying. Racism. Sexism. Homophobia. This isn’t news–in fact, it’s been happening since the beginning of time—but in this cultural moment, we are finally talking about these micro- and macro-aggressions openly.

But what are we supposed to do about it?

We all have a choice about how to handle how we feel on the inside. It’s what we do with those feelings that actually makes an impact. When I co-founded kindness.org in 2016,  I wanted to educate and inspire people to choose kindness.

The impact of kindness is provable

To motivate people to be kind to each other and respect our shared humanity, we had to show that kindness deserves to be taken seriously. So how can we take something written off as warm and fuzzy and prove that it matters? Leveraging science, data and technology is the answer.

Ahead of my organization’s official launch, we collaborated with Oxford University researchers to review the existing scientific work on kindness. The most consistent question asked was, “what is the impact of being kind on human well-being?” We learned that there is a substantial and measurable effect on well-being across many areas. By helping others, your own happiness, life-satisfaction, relationships, social connections and positivity are increased—and life becomes more enjoyable.

Data and technology make it possible for kindness to flourish

One big thing missing in the existing research was a widely accepted index for measuring kindness within workplaces and communities. So we started a kindlab headed by research psychologist Dr. Lee Rowland, and began launching studies, exploring ongoing research, and using social media analytics to better understand our own community and what kindness looks like across the globe.

As we build the first kindness index, we are focusing on two issues: workplace culture and digital acts of kindness. Currently, we have “citizen scientists” (no lab coat or PhD required) investigating what kindness means in the workplace across different situations and relationships, such as between colleagues or from management to employees.

Measuring small acts in the workplace, like greeting people when you pass them in the hallways, smiling, or offering coffee to colleagues will help us understand their impact and develop programs that create real behavioral change.

Kindness brings sustainability to workplaces

For too many of us, workplace innovation and startup culture has meant the eroding of boundaries between our work lives and personal lives. Creating a kinder workplace can include working more efficiently within your set hours instead of working long hours. This means treating apps like Slack as an awesome communication tool—that doesn’t have to be pushing notifications 24/7.

When we apply the kind act of listening to others outside our circle, we can increase diversity in hiring and combat sexism, racism and homophobia. When we treat all vendors with respect, even if we have to cut ties, we make sure we have both operational integrity and efficiency. Perhaps most importantly, a kinder workplace means treating the well-being of employees—mental as well as physical—as a key part of productivity and sustainability. There is no place for sexual harassment and bullying in a workplace grounded in kind words and kind acts.

Our big vision is a kinder world and we are focusing on one pillar at a time to begin turning our ripples of kindness into a positive wave of global change. Together, let’s turn our feelings about the cultural moment we’re experiencing into the action of kindness, and create an innovative and sustainable workplace culture that will make the world a better place for everyone.

from: forbes.com

By Gene Marks

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — Microsoft is killing off their 25-year-old browser, Internet Explorer.

Microsoft announced this past week that they will be getting rid of Internet Explorer on August 17th, 2021. According to the announcement, the web app for Microsoft Teams will stop supporting the most recent version of the browser— Internet Explorer 11—this coming November, while the rest of the services apps in 365 will stop supporting it next year. Microsoft Edge will replace Explorer and will have more features than Explorer since it will rely on Chromium software which was created by Google for their Chrome browser. (Source: Independent)

Why this is important for your business:

This is important if you’ve got any online applications that rely on IE as an interface. Some older apps do. Microsoft says IE replacement browser, Edge, is faster and uses less resources than Chrome, but I’m still using Chrome.

2 — Online sales are up more than 31% in just three months, while Walmart’s -commerce sales are up 97% in the second quarter, all thanks to the pandemic.

Reports released by the U.S. Department of Commerce this past week revealed that e-commerce sales across the country have grown more than 30% in only three months due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the second quarter of the year, $211.5 billion have been spent online, which is 31.8% more than last quarter. Walmart also reported that their Q2 e-commerce sales went up 97%, also thanks to online shopping and their grocery pickup and delivery. According to the Department of Commerce report, now 16.1% of all sales in the United States are done online. (Source: Tech Crunch and CNBC)

Why this is important for your business:

Covid only accelerated what was already happening: people are buying their stuff online and unless your business is an “experience” – a bar, restaurant, salon or other service – you’re going to need to make sure you’ve got an online strategy because brick and mortar is probably not going to cut it. Also of note is Walmart’s meteoric online rise and how it’s now challenging Amazon. Maybe you can do the same – if you’ve got a few hundred million dollars lying around to invest.

3 —Chrome will soon let you know if a web form is unsecure.

Google is stepping up their efforts to ensure that Chrome users will have their information protected when attempting to input it in web forms that aren’t secure. Beginning in their M86 version, the browser will start to flag forms that show they are secure on HTTPS pages but cannot be verified as being secure when the forms are submitted. From now on, autofill on these mixed forms will be disabled in order prevent private or sensitive information from instantly populating. (Source: Engadget)

Why this is important for your business:

This will first affect mobile Android users. But ultimately it’ll expand to every Chrome user. And ultimately Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Safari will do the same. This is a wakeup call for you to check your website’s forms and make sure they’re complying with the latest security protocols.

4 — Deezer now has an analytics app for podcasters.

Deezer—an up-and-coming streaming service—recently rolled out an app to highlight analytics for podcasters. While analytics apps currently exist through Stitcher and Google Podcasts, Deezer will be the sole streaming platform that will allow individuals to get podcast data through a mobile app. (Source: Engadget)

Why this is important for your business:

Worth a look if podcasts are part of your business. The app—named Analytics by Deezer— will organize podcast data into audience and analytics. The audience portion will reveal the gender and age of listeners, as well as which individuals are listening on the web, their phones, or a desktop. While the analytics tab will showcase the amount of times a podcast has been streamed, how many individual listeners there are, and what the most popular time to listen is.

5— TD is rolling out online accounting in a bid for small business accounts.

TD shared in a press release last week that they will be introducing TD Online Accounting, which will serve as a new online accounting and payment feature. The addition will be made to their small business online platform and will allow business owners to pay their electronic payments and credit cards straight from their TD Bank business checking, allowing the process of making payments to run more efficiently. TD is looking to add more small business customers to their portfolio and will limit the offer to small businesses that already have an account for their through TD online. (Source: Pymnts)

from: forbes.com

An entrepreneur’s work is more than expressive; it is an endeavor that is both creative and practical

 

An entrepreneur is much like an artist. Their expressions reflect the core idea that defines the nature of their work. Unlike an artist, however, their work is more than expressive; it is an endeavor that is both creative and practical.

The desire to connect needs with the world
It is a myth that entrepreneurship is genetic. Instead, entrepreneurs are neither born nor taught; they are released from their selves. The entrepreneurial spirit goes beyond fancy titles and multi-dollar companies; it ignites a desire to create something unique and innovative. It is a manifestation of inner abilities towards the outer world. However, desire alone isn’t enough to be a successful entrepreneur. One should also possess risk taking abilities, be able to identify a need in the world and fulfill that need with a desirable solution.

Necessity is the mother of invention
Take, for instance, the story of Ingvar Kamprad—the founder of Ikea who was also dyslexic. His first venture was to sell matches at age six. At 17, he got some money from his father for doing well in school. With this money Kamprad started IKEA—a mail order business. A few years later, he was boycotted by local furniture manufacturers, who believed he was practicing unfair trade with low prices. Faced with their boycott, he began to manufacture his wares himself. And as he went along with that, he identified a need that was not satisfied. This need was for furniture that could be transported easily and efficiently. And today, that is what Ikea is known for: flat-packed dismantled furniture that may be stacked and transported easily.

Key traits that form building block of an entrepreneur

• Hard work: Hard work is the key to success. To practice hard work, you need to focus on things that you can control, work hard to build discipline, examine your own values, and consider all the pros and cons and carefully stack the odds in your own favor.
• Risk taker: Entrepreneur needs to take calculated risks and act quickly on them. Once a need has been identified, and a solution is found, an entrepreneur must inspire those around to share the vision.
• Flexible: Entrepreneurs must be flexible, and yet persistent. This is the cornerstone of the entrepreneurial spirit. A need has been identified, a solution has been formulated, but persistence is the key to seeing those concepts, those dreams turn into reality.
• Time: Finally, while we make our own ‘luck’, for success, timing is everything. We’ve talked before of certain products being ahead of their times, and failing. Timing and being the right person at the right time and place is sometimes a big part of the entrepreneur’s success.

Famous British entrepreneur Richard Branson described, “Being an entrepreneur simply means being someone who wants to make a difference to other people’s lives.”  Anyone can have an idea, and start a business, but true entrepreneurship is about more than that. It is about evaluating risk, making connections and knowing one’s purpose. And it is when you remember that purpose, entrepreneurship is truly successful.

from: https://www.entrepreneur.com

By Meredith Galante

Want your team members to perform at a higher level? How you interact with your team could be the key. There are differences between being a boss and being a leader. And acting as the latter can help your employees feel more engaged and succeed at work.

As a boss, it’s possible to manage your team effectively — help them meet deadlines, finish tasks, etc. — without leading them. A leader has a vision and can inspire and motivate employees to do work beyond what is expected or required. Not surprisingly, research by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that teams motivated by leaders perform better than those who are tightly managed by bosses.

So how do you go from boss to leader? Try these five tips to start leading more today:

Leave your ego behind

A leader will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if the task feels below the pay grade. If your team members are currently working hard on the task at hand and are good at it, jump in to do the dirty work. If you run the copier or make a pot of coffee it will help the to team see you’re in the trenches too, and will help them respect you more.

Build Trust

Listening can be the first step in building trust. Even if someone doesn’t have the most experience, letting all of your team members feel like they can speak up and share thoughts will help breed the best ideas. It will also build an environment that helps employees feel trusted and valued.

Remember, just because you’re listening doesn’t mean you necessarily agree. Just be honest and empathetic when responding. Empathy goes a long way — 80 percent of workers said they would be willing to work longer hours for a more empathetic employer.

Communicate your vision

If a leader is someone with a vision for a team, then they need to share it with their team. Seems pretty basic, but 61 percent of employees don’t know their company’s vision for the future. Make sure you communicate your long-term vision and short-term goals regularly. To make sure your employees feel included in that vision, remind them how their work contributes to it.

Give and receive feedback

A good leader praises his or her employees. Employees who feel valued will continue to perform well in their job — and maybe even go above and beyond. Seventy-eight percent of employees agreed that being recognized helps motivate them do better work, according to Officevibe. Additional research found that 82 percent of employees appreciate feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. This is a good reason to say “great job!” A little praise can go a long way.

(On the flip side, a study by Randstad found that lack of recognition is one of the top reasons employees leave a job. And Officevibe found that four out of 10 workers are actively disengaged when they get little or no feedback.)

But to effectively lead, you also want to encourage your employees to give you feedback — bad or good. You can encourage team feedback by asking questions such as, “What would you change about our team?” or, “What can I do to better support you?” If you prefer the private route, asking employees to fill out a survey about the work environment can give you feedback to better shape your working atmosphere.

Keep Calm

Being a good leader means being able to endure the ups and downs of life and business. A manager might freak out and cause distress among the team because of a failed deal or lost business. However, a leader will take a step back, help the team learn and grown — and then move forward.

from: squareup.com

Tiziana Scramuzzo, is the designer behind the small Italian brand Elexia Beachwear. When the coronavirus pandemic hit her country it devastated her summer swimsuit line and production had to be stopped. Unsure of what to do, with the materials she had, Scaramuzzo began making masks. While joking with her family she thought it would funny to design a swimsuit with a matching mask and then she invented the “trikini” suitable for post lockdown beach visits.

“We thought about how it could have been to go to the beach this year with a mask and then I thought of making one in lycra, combined with the swimsuit. It was more of a game, but in the end it really worked out.”

The three-part swimwear comes with a matching top, bottom, and mask. Scaramuzzo decided to post some photos of her swimsuit creations on social media to gauge reaction and people seemed to like it.

Scaramuzzo said people loved the idea and she began to receive dozens of purchase requests from all over Europe.

“We are realizing that people want normalcy,” explains Mrs. Scaramuzzo. “There is a great desire to be reborn and beauty, and they demonstrate it by asking us for brightly colored masks, combined with glasses or clothing, This gives us hope because it means that people try to ward off depression and this is positive.”

Scaramuzzo said that she never would have imagined production would have been shut down for so long. But, she’s turned lemons into lemonade and has created a new product. Scaramuzzo is a great example of what small business owners are doing around the world creating products so people can get back to normal as much as possible. Hopefully, the coronavirus won’t be around forever and there’s evidence to show that is the case.

from: patriotnewsfeed.com

By Monica Torres

No good employer is going to outright say that they kill you, but new research finds that too many modern workplaces are grim reapers inflicting a fatal amount of stress on our bodies and minds.

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford, is ringing the alarm that job stress and poor management is killing us — accounting for up to 8% of annual health costs and leading to 120,000 excess deaths every year in the United States.

[It is not necessarily job related injuries, or unstable health insurance; overwhelming, why our jobs are killing us is due to stress! Management/leadership that does not contribute to the employees feeling safe, appreciated, and part of the in-group are inducing stress in those employees, which in turn induces the release of cortisol, the fight or flight hormone. Cortisol shuts down the immune system. Over time the continuous suppressing of our immunity will kill us! – Steve Header ]

In his new book, “Dying for a Paycheck: How Modern Management Harms Employee Health and Company Performance — and What We Can Do About It,” he explains how long hours, a lack of job autonomy through micromanagement, and unstable health insurance are making us sick to death.

He talked with Ladders about his research and what leads otherwise reasonable people to stay in toxic jobs:

We don’t track it, so there’s no accountability

Pfeffer defines one of the main culprits that is making us sick as “social pollution,” or harmful workplace practices that take a psychological and physical toll on employees. Social pollution is what happens when your employer makes you lose your work-life balance. Work always comes first.

As one Salesforce marketing executive in the book put it, “You have all this shame and embarrassment because you are stressed and think it’s you. I felt like my brain literally did not work. I literally could not remember conversations ten seconds later.”

When your job’s daily requirements are making you overwhelmed, you are in a socially polluted environment that is leeching away your mental energy. For social polluters to be stopped, they need to be shamed through metrics of what they are doing to employees.

“At the moment, employers measure efficiency and productivity and that’s fine, but that’s all they are measuring, so that’s all, therefore, they are paying attention to. If employers began to measure employee health, they might pay a little attention to that as well. Without measurement, it will never get on anyone’s radar screen,” Pfeffer said.
Pfeffer wants employers to regain a sense of stewardship for their employees’ wellbeing. And for employers lacking this nurturing feeling, we would need to step in to create and monitor it.

“We can use public admonition and social pressure to produce healthier workplaces,” Pfeffer writes in his book. “This entails having companies pay their share of the costs of ill-­health that they create, costs that are now largely externalized and borne by society at large.”

Nap pods aren’t going to cure this
Pfeffer’s book makes the argument that wellness initiatives of yoga rooms and nap pods are a band-aid solution to the larger problem of toxic stress that employers need to address.

“If your employees were not exhausted, they would not need to take a nap,” he said. “A lot of this is an attempt to remediate: ‘I’m going to keep you at work all the time so I’m going to try to make that workplace a little more comfortable for you. Give you better lighting, some food.’ But the research shows pretty convincingly that prevention is much more effective than remediation.

“It would be better if we gave you a job environment — including bosses, coworkers to provide social support, etc — so that you did not need that stuff.”

Why reasonable people will not leave toxic jobs

Usually, we recognize that a job is bad for us when we wake up in cold sweats because of it … when we need to take pills to get through another long day. And yet, too many of us still will not leave jobs that are clearly bad for our wellbeing. Why? Pfeffer says ego plays a large role.

Ego is the voice telling you that if you were any good, you could put up with the demands and the stress. It’s the one taunting you that quitters are weak. It’s the inner voice that says you could tough it out one more quarter, one more year. Pfeffer interviewed one General Electric executive who said his bosses would ask him, “Aren’t you good enough to be a GE leader?” when he felt doubts.

“I think many competent, wonderful people are very susceptible to the play on the ego. I think that’s the one I see used most frequently and successfully,” Pfeffer said. “People stay even when they know they should leave.”

To escape this tunnel vision, Pfeffer says that we have to stop accepting the unacceptable and leave toxic work situations, no matter the company prestige or how interesting the work is to do.

“Be willing to admit that in choosing an employer, as in any other decision you make, it is possible to make a mistake and, once having admitted that mistake, to act to correct it,” he cautions in his book. “Until people take responsibility for finding places where they can thrive, we can’t expect our employers to value health, either.”

from: theladders.com

Discovering what you love most is an adventure in itself.

By Susan Biali Haas M.D.

Almost three decades of my life had passed before I discovered the power of passions. If I hadn’t become severely depressed as an Emergency Medicine resident, desperate to find some other way of earning income, who knows how much longer it would have taken. Luckily I was forced to figure out this piece of life. I can’t imagine myself, my life (and even my income) without the delicious pursuits that my search uncovered.

Discovering and claiming something you love to do has an amazing effect on your entire life. It’s like a tiny perfect raindrop landing on a previously smooth, unremarkable expanse of water. The instant the drop arrives, beautiful waves of ever-enlarging rings flow across the entire surface, spreading out virtually to infinity.

Here’s how you can start your search:

1) Inventory your talents

What are you good at or have a natural aptitude for? Forget about what you’re good at but don’t really like doing much. I’m talking about the things you have a knack for that delight or happily occupy you.

Are there things you like to do that you don’t think you’re that good at, that other people have complimented you on? Perhaps you even dismissed or rejected their enthusiasm.

After much digging and questioning (I am a passion hound) I recently discovered that one of my coaching clients loves taking pictures. She rarely picks up her camera, as she didn’t think she was any good.

I asked her to email me some favorite shots and they were fantastic. She was skeptical at first, but when I convinced her that I knew what I was talking about (I have earned income from my own photography) she could hardly contain her excitement. She finally had “permission” to fully embrace this pastime that she loves so much. Yet when I had asked about her passions in our first session, she had come up empty.

Identifying things you love that you’re good at is a great way to unearth potential passions. Don’t be concerned if what you love isn’t practical or common (I get very excited about the uncommon).

Please note though that you don’t have to be good at something for it to quality as a passion. You don’t have to ever earn a penny of income from it either. Talent can simply be a clue. When it comes to your passions, the only thing that matters is that you enjoy them.

2) Pay attention to who makes you annoyed or jealous

Are there people doing things that are “frivolous” who annoy you? Take a closer look at that annoyance. Is the truth behind your annoyance that you really wish you could live so freely, that you didn’t have so many serious responsibilities and could be as “immature” as they are?

After a lifetime of being an overachieving do-what-everyone-expects-of-me student, when I embarked on my Mexican adventure at 33 I wanted to give myself a break and find time to pursue my freshly discovered passions for writing and dancing. Most people thought I was nuts, but my father got the angriest. He told me I was wasting my life and should let him help me set up my own clinic instead.

He pounded the kitchen table with his fist, shouting “Life isn’t supposed to be fun! When are you going to grow up like the rest of us?”

Thankfully I ignored him, as I did everyone else who tried to discourage me.

A few years later, when it was clear that living, writing and dancing in Mexico was one of the best decisions (and career moves) I ever made, my dad sold his business. And moved to Hawaii. To write his first novel.

I’m convinced he was largely so upset because he wanted to do what I was doing. At the time, I’m quite sure he didn’t know that. But eventually he figured it out!

3) Think of what you loved to do as a child

This is probably the simplest way to unearth what pursuits hold the potential to light up your days. Before the grown-ups get to us with their ideas, most of us know exactly who we are and what would make us happiest.

Were you obsessed with horses? Maybe you should head to a dude ranch for your next vacation.

Loved finger painting or drawing? Sign up for an art class.

Sang at the top of your lungs until people begged you to stop? Think about joining a local choir (or starting your own garage band!)

4) Notice when you lose track of time, or what you hate to stop doing

When I work at the clinic seeing a long line-up of sore throats and knees, I watch the clock all day until I’m finally done. Yet when I have a patient in front of me who is depressed or anxious or newly diagnosed with a condition that would benefit from lifestyle change, I often lose my usual urgency and spend a big chunk of time with them. Not surprisingly, my true passion is life and health coaching, where I have the luxury of time with clients and love spending great swaths of time teaching and encouraging.

I dance flamenco until my legs or body force me to stop. I also love working on my “Health and Happiness Expert” business so much that I have to force myself to stop writing and reading to sleep and eat and play. It’s reverse clock-watching – I get annoyed as time goes by! What a different world.

What would you love to spend hours doing, that you never get enough time to do? That’s a passion, and you probably need to do it more than you are.

5) See your passion hunt as a fun, joyful adventure

In my coaching and speaking work I see people putting pressure on themselves to find their passion. I do believe it’s critically important to discover and engage in things that light you up, but it’s just as important to cultivate an un-serious child-like attitude of play, wonder and adventure.

When you deliberately open yourself to noticing things you might enjoy doing, don’t be afraid of getting it wrong. It’s all an adventure, you’re learning and growing as you go. Happiness research shows that trying new things increases dopamine levels in the brain, contributing to sustained levels of contentment. So try away!

Notice what you love. Notice what makes you feel like a kid. Notice what you long to have more time for.

Make time for these things, whatever you can manage, and watch your life start to change. It’s really magical.

from: psychologytoday.com