We know the secret to a good life.  "Find your passion and pursue it!! Find your Ikigai". Sounds great.
But as it turns out, for most people, this is terribly misleading advice. 
 

Finding your passion assumes that you already know what you want, and that there is only one correct answer. Neither is likely to be true. Research from Stanford shows that 80% of people do not know what their passion is. "Finding" your passion could also lead to simply seeking something we find easy, rather than what we find meaningful. Moreover, most of us haven't tried that many things in our lives.
 

Instead of trying to define your mythical passion, get curious and find out more about the areas you have an interest in. There must be people who are doing what you want to do. Reach out and talk to them. Find out what life is like for them, both the good and bad aspects. What do they enjoy and what do they find challenging or boring. No matter how much an area interests or matters to you, there will be periods of difficulty and boredom. Are you able to accept these?
 

Even an Olympic swimmer didn't become passionate after 2 visits to the pool. Don't mistake enthusiasm and interest for what you are willing to commit to. Prototype an experience in interesting areas to develop some expertise. It is only in the process of gaining expertise, and only having gained an understanding of the expertise required, that you can truly decide if something is for you. If you want to be a travel blogger, write and share some stories. If you want to start a business, you could experiment with a small sideline or offer to work for free at a company for a short period of time. If you want to be a sumo wrestler, well start eating my friend. 

The human mind is biological wired for survival. We even have a specific part of our brain - the Amygdala -  dedicated just to warn us when our survival seems under threat. 
 

Doing something new feels threatening to the amygdala: there is uncertainty, not knowing what will happen next. There is a chance for failure. And there is no precedence, many others seem to be doing something else. 
 

When there is uncertainty, your amygdala jumps into overdrive and generates emotions: fear, worry, and anxiety. You begin to imagine the worst possible scenario, or as psychologists term -  "awfulising", and you start to believe your self-generated negativity. Your brain, more sensitive to the negative (potential pain of failure, hard work, and judgement), dims the positive (potential gain of doing something you truly find meaningful) and starts finding reasons and excuses to not take action.
 

While the amygdala does it job to warn us about possible threats, it is up to us to analyse if these emotions are justified:

• What is it that I'm uncertain about? Can I find out more?

• What's the worst thing that can happen? What's the chances of this happening?

• So what if the worst happens? Can I do something to lower the chances of the worst happening? Can I do something to lower the negative consequences if the worst happens?

• Perhaps there is a risk of you trying something new. But what is the cost of not doing it? What will your life story look like if you didn't try?
   

Have you ever gone for a run and stopped, thinking this is it. This is the max I can go. I’ve given it everything. I've gone as far as I can. 
 

But think about it. Were you really not able to take 1 more step? And then 1 more step after that?  (it doesn't need to be running - it applies for anything difficult, could you have gone for 1 more minute? 1 more attempt?)
 

Whatever goal that you’ve set, you have to brace yourself because it's going to difficult. Just like going on that run, you are going to feel exhausted, perhaps without any immediate benefits. You’ll definitely have setbacks. And at some point, you’ll definitely want to quit. Perhaps even those closest to you might also be dispensing advice -  why put yourself through all this pain? Quit.
 

So how can we keep going when it gets tough? How can we take that additional step, and then one more, and one more.  
 

Having a worthwhile goal helps. It’s easier to keep running to save the of a loved one. But it'll be hard to keep going just because your boss told you to. 
 

But just having a worthwhile goal is obviously not enough. How many of us set New Year's Resolutions, only to set the same ones the year after. After establishing a goal, we need a way to reach it, despite all the difficulties. 
 

A very common, but unhelpful answer that we turn to is motivation. We think, "if only we can keep ourselves motivated". If motivation is the answer, weren't you motivated when you set your New Year's Resolution. What happened? How many people changed their lives after watching Goalcast or other motivational videos? Do you think it's motivation that drives an Olympic swimmer to wake at 5 a.m, 300 days a year, for 2 hours of morning training? Willpower and motivation are useful, but they often desert you when you need it the most. 

Instead of depending on willpower and motivation, you have to find strategies and systems to help you keep moving forward. This includes:​

• How your brain is wired, the 5 major characteristics of your brain. With this understanding, know 

  • Why it is critical for you to keep learning, how this affects creativity, and how to learn more effectively

  • Why you should break down your goal into micro-tasks

  • Why you should introduce new variables to your life

  • How to think about time management 

• Why habits and routines can keep you going even when you don't feel like it, and how to develop these habits and routines.