Struggling with finding what we really like to do is one of the biggest dilemmas most of us face.

We strive to find what we truly like, what truly our passion is, and what exactly is our life’s purpose.

Day in, day out we come across so many ideas and concepts that we think we must hop on to, only to question it later. And the hazed journey toward finding what we love continues.

Chris Guillebeau, the bestselling author of The $100 Startup and The Happiness of Pursuit, recently shared some really good experiences and stories from his upcoming book – Born for This. I’d like to share a few notes I’ve made from an interview he did for a podcast.

Finding the passion or purpose of life is just halfway through the journey. To complete the process of getting there and doing what we love, we need to try many different kinds of jobs, work environments, and work across industries, exploring different streams.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

~ Steve Jobs

Taking a note from this quote, a. you need to keep doing things that interest you and then b. figure out how to evaluate and c. finally do what you like doing in life.

So here it is…

The Four Point Framework to doing what you love to do

  1. Do not follow a linear path
    Keep working on different things of interest to you, and stay curious. These different things need to be the ones you’re fascinated about and genuinely interested in.

  2. Do something you love to do and make it financially viable
    Start with a small business idea, freelance, or collaborate with someone by doing something you truly love. Make that venture financially viable – sustain that business idea for long enough. Pull it through until the time you’re struck with another life-changing idea you’d like to venture into. Make sure you have the basic economics figured out before jumping into your passion project.

  3. Use your skills to the optimum
    Maximize your skill sets and try to approach every side project of yours with your instinctive perspective. Do not apply formulas and methods learned and aped from existing businesses. Personalize that idea of yours with actionable things by putting all of your emotional, physical, social, and financial skills to work.

We each have work we were born to do, but it can take time and effort to find it.
~ Gayle Allen

  1. Observe and Find the Intersection As you keep working on your projects, look out for the odd intersections and correlations in your project’s ecosystem. Look back at your trail – it could be something from your old project that has been enriched in the current project you are working on, or it could be a common blueprint that has been holding all your projects together. There will be secret code – and it will pop up.

Stay present and dive into those little hints and intuitions that you get – and that will lead you to what you truly want to do in life.

Much like the dots that need to be connected backward.