Find Your Passion : 25 Question You Must Ask Yourself - Henri Junttila

Find Your Passion : 25 Question You Must Ask Yourself 

Question: How do you define Passion?

Have you ever looked at what your definition of passion is? Most people haven’t. They’re trying to build a passionate life, all while having no idea what it is.

How can you know you’ve arrived if you don’t know what you’re after? This question is about diving into what ideas, beliefs, and thoughts you have around the word passion. It’s about uncovering unrealistic expectations of what living your passion means.

When you look beyond the label you’ll discover that this isn’t about finding your passion. It’s about enjoying this moment.

It’s about waking up, feeling excited to be alive, and feeling grateful to be doing what you’re doing.

You jump out of bed, humming, ready to tackle the day. Your life isn’t devoid of problems, but you have an inner drive and energy guiding you through life.

You may not feel entirely comfortable exploring this question. In fact, you may not feel comfortable with most of the questions in this book.

However, discomfort is a good sign. If you notice discomfort, you’ve reached the core of the issue. The goal of this question is to uncover any false ideas you have surrounding the word passion.

As you do this, you will have to go through what your friends, family, and society have told you that passion is, and you have to uncover what it means for you. That’s the only thing that matters.

Time to write

Start by answering the question: “How do I define passion?” Look at what you believe passion is. What ideas, thoughts, and beliefs do you have around it? Grab your pen and paper and start writing without censoring yourself. Let whatever comes out, come out. Dump your mind on paper.

If you run out of things to say, just write whatever comes to mind, such as “I don’t know what to say. This is weird. I’d like some chocolate ice cream.”

Keep writing through good feelings and bad feelings. If you go off track, gently bring yourself to the original question.

Living a passionate life is rarely what you think it is. You’ve picked up ideas, concepts, and thoughts about what life should be. When you realize this and readjust your expectations, your life will change for the better.

How will you know when you’re living a passionate life?

Once you know what your definition of passion is, it’s time to look at what your end goal is.

It’s crucial that you uncover how you’ll know that you’re living a passionate life.

What are the signs that will tell you that you’ve arrived?

It’s rarely money, wealth, fame, or any of those things. It’s something beyond that.

The author, Henri Junttila, had several a-ha! moments. When he started looking at what passion meant for him, it came down to enjoy this moment.

In the past, he believed money was the answer to everything. That belief was shattered when he was a professional poker player. He had enough money to travel the world and do what he wanted, yet he still felt like something was missing.

That’s because happiness, joy, and passion come from the inside.

Time to write

Once again, start with the question, “How will I know when I’m living a passionate life?”

Then use the prompts below to help you get going and to look at this from different angles.

Write completely uncensored. If you veer off track, bring yourself back to the question above or one of the prompts below. Let go of trying to find a specific answer and just write. Play with it.

– When I find my passion, my life will be…
– When I find my passion, I will feel…
– I will know I’ve found my passion when…

Our definitions define us, so make sure you go through these first few questions. If you don’t know what you’re after, or where you’re going, chances are that you won’t end up where you want to be.

What will you do when you’ve found your passion?

In the last question, we looked at how you will know you’re living a passionate life. Let’s look at what you will do once you’ve arrived at your “final” destination.

Once you’re living a passionate life and everything is perfect, what then? What will you do? How will you behave?

We’re all waiting for something, so what are you waiting for? What’s stopping you from doing what you want to do?

And what’s stopping you from being happy right now?

This question may seem strange to ask in a book about finding your passion, but it’s important that you explore it.

Remember that the word passion is just a label. It’s a word, and like all words, it points to something beyond it, like a signpost pointing to a city. It’s easy to forget this and believe that the signpost is the city.

Time to write

Start by answering the question: “What will I do when I’ve found my passion?”

Write for 5-10 minutes. If you don’t have anything to say, just write whatever comes up, even if it seems random.

Then dive into the writing prompts below.

– When I find my passion, I will finally…
– When I’m living the life of my dreams, I will…
– I haven’t found my passion yet, so it’s okay for me to…
– For me, it’s important to find my passion, because…

Is your brain starting to feel overloaded yet? If it is, it’s a sign that you’re changing.

This is a lot like going to the gym. Right after, your muscles will hurt, but within a few days, your muscles will have grown stronger, faster, and better.

What would you have to believe about yourself to live a passionate life?

What’s one belief you have about yourself that keeps you from finding and following your passion?

Beliefs seem real because that’s their job. If your beliefs fell apart at the drop of a hat, your life would be a mess. The job of your beliefs is to seem immovable.

So what would you have to believe in order to find and follow your passion?

Do you think you’re not worthy of doing something you enjoy? Maybe you think you have nothing to share with the world. Maybe you think you don’t have enough time.

Whatever it may be, notice that these are merely ideas that you have.

This isn’t about life accommodating you; this is about you making the decision to start. It’s about becoming ruthless about what you want.

Time to write

Just for a moment, forget about finding your passion. Start by asking yourself, “What would I have to believe to live a passionate life?”

What ideas would you have to hold as true to follow your heart?

This question will show you what’s holding you back. And as you know, most of the time, you’re the only one holding yourself back.

Here are a few writing prompts to help you get going:
- To stay where I am, I would have to believe…
- In order to make my passion happen, I would have to believe…
- If I believed that (see above prompt), my next step would be…

Don’t worry if you don’t have immediate clarity. It may take days or even weeks, but it will come. Let your brain chew on this.

While you wait, remember to relax and enjoy the ride.

What's Your Personality?

It is immensely helpful in uncovering your passion to look at what you are naturally good at.

There are several personality tests out there that are quite good at this. Particularly helpful is the Myers-Briggs personality test.

Before you go and do any of those tests, focus on this section. Explore the questions here. When you’re done, you can compare your writing to the results you get from the personality tests above.

Time to write

Start with the question: “What’s my personality?” I’ve made this question vague on purpose. I want you to riff on it and see what comes out. If you go into negative territory at first, let it be okay. Bring yourself back to the positive aspects of your personality. Once you’re done exploring, try the prompts below.

– I absolutely hate doing…
– People tell me that I have a natural knack for…
– My personality lends itself to…

We have all these ideas of what we can and can’t do. We often grow up with family, friends, and society telling us what’s possible. We learn to suppress our natural passions.

It’s not easy to uncover them, but you’ve already begun the process. Let any fear, confusion, and overwhelm be okay. Remember that it’s okay to take a break. This isn’t about getting results right this very minute.

This is about exploration.

What comes easy to you?

We looked at your personality in the last question. Now let’s look at your strengths.

When you tap into your strengths, you’ll experience increased happiness and decreased depression in your life. I’m not just making this up. There’s a lot of research behind this.

It doesn’t matter if you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, because when you start using more of your strengths, you’ll become happier, and yes, more passionate about life.

So how do you figure out what your strengths are? Start by looking at what activities make your heart sing. What gives you a sense of freedom and excitement when you do them?

Time to write

Let’s discover your strengths.

Start by exploring the question, “What comes easy to me?”

And then dive into the prompts:
– When I’m working at my best, I am…
– What I find easy, and what makes my heart sing is…
- If I pretended to know, I’d say I was good at…

Feel free to expand on these questions. Don’t just answer with one or two words. Push yourself to write at least one paragraph or more.

The more you write, the more insight you will get.

What are (or were) your interest?

For sure, you’ve explored your interests before but now do it again. But this time do it without censoring yourself. Just write whatever comes to mind.

Why?

Because more often than not, your passion is hiding in plain sight.

The problem is that life tends to get in the way of your interests. Challenges come up and suddenly you don’t have time for “fun” anymore.

You focus on making ends meet, or following the advice of your peers, and it slowly devours you from the inside. After a while, you start feeling miserable because you’ve gone off track.

This question is about reconnecting to the interests you had in the past, or have right now.

Time to write

Start by exploring the question, “What are, or were, my interests?” Write down anything and everything that comes to mind. And when you’re ready, dive into the prompts below.

– When I was younger, I wanted to become…
– When I was a child, I always loved doing…
– Right now, I’m fascinated by…
– I love learning about…
– The reason is because…

Remember to take breaks. Don’t try to do all of these questions at once. Although if you’re anything like me, you’ll do it anyway.

What do you REALLY want?

Really deep in your heart.

We grow up, and we’re told that our dreams are impossible. We’re told that we should settle for what’s practical.

But what we don’t realize as children is that those words are not coming from an authority. They come from a person who has been defeated. They come from people who unconsciously keep others down to feel better about themselves. We listen, and we hide away the passions that truly move us.

More often than not, they come from friends and family. There’s nothing wrong with this. I love my family. I love my friends. But we have to get to the core of the issue if we want to move forward. What would you want if no one had ever told you no?

Pretend that you step into a time machine. You take a trip back to the past where you shared your dreams with someone, and they turned you down. Or when a similar event happened where you thought that you couldn’t go after what you truly wanted.

What was that thing? What was it that you wanted?

It doesn’t have to be your passion, but it can give you an idea. It can be a springboard to something else. Are you noticing how much emphasis I put on the fact that this is about exploration? Could you begin to explore what you really want?

Let go of wanting to get the answer, and let the answer come to you. It may not come in the form you expect. This question is all about letting go of your assumptions, of the ideas you’ve learned, and the thoughts that hold you back.

Time to write

As always, start with the main question: “What do I really want?” Then go deeper with the prompts below.

- When I was younger, I always wanted to…
- What I want, but secretly believe I can never have/do/be, is…
- The reason I want that is because…
- The way I want to contribute to the world is by…
- If no one had told me no, I would’ve wanted…

That’s that for this question. If you need a break, take it. You’ve earned it. When you’re ready, I’ll be waiting for you on the next page.

What don't you want?

We just looked at what you want. Now it’s time to look at what you DON’T want.

When you ask this question, don’t settle for a superficial answer. If you do, you might just end up with, “I don’t want to work for someone else, and I don’t want to be unhappy.”

Those are great starting points, but you have to push yourself. Ask yourself why you don’t want to do those things. Dive into the details.

Time to write

The only thing you have to remember is to keep going deeper. Dive into the details. Don’t settle for easy, superficial answers.

As always, start with the main question, “What don’t I want?”

And when you’re ready, use the next friendly prompts.

– The most horrible version of my life is…
– I really hate…
– I hate seeing people…

Keep diving deeper. Go into more and more detail. Even when you run out of things to say, keep asking yourself why and how.

You can always go deeper.

What would happen if you gave up right now?

Let’s explore what your life would look like if you didn’t follow your passion.

Henri Junttila has been doing work he loves since 2009. Each year he has gone deeper, and he has discovered that he can enjoy life even more. But each year, he has also come up against challenges that have made him want to throw in the towel.

He had to rethink the way he does business several times. He has had to push his boundaries. And each time, he has wanted to give up. He has felt overwhelmed. But eventually, he got through it.

And as the years have passed, he has gotten better at handling challenges. He has become gentler with himself. He doesn’t try to force progress as much. When he feels frustrated, he does his best to take a break and let his unconscious chew on the problem.

Henri Junttila let his heart guide him in the right direction. And more often than not, he gets the answer he needs. When he doesn't, Henri moves forward and does his best.

We all should never give up.

We’re all built the same way. It doesn’t matter if you believe in this or not. If you look inside, you’ll discover an inner GPS. It might be a voice, a feeling, a picture, or a green elf waiting to help you when you most want to give up.

Most people have neglected their inner GPS. They’ve stopped trusting themselves. To reconnect with it, you have to make a decision to listen.

Time to write

As human beings, we’re wired to go for the quick fix. We’re wired for instant satisfaction. The questions in this section will help you see what the results of those actions are.

Most people live their lives following their wiring, and it leads to regret. These questions may not be pleasant, but they will be revealing.

Start by exploring the main question, “What would happen if I gave up?”

Then dive into the prompts:
– If I stopped following my heart, in 5 years, my life would be…
– In 10 years, my life would…
– If I took tiny steps, even though I might struggle, in 5 years, I would…
– In 10 years of following my heart, my life would…

Interesting, isn’t it?

What is your inner voice whispering?

In the last chapter, we touched on that subtle voice we all have inside of us. Or if you prefer, your inner GPS. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s still there, waiting for you to listen.

Most of us are too busy to pay attention to our inner GPS. We’re so focused on getting things done that we forget to relax.

We forget to take breaks.

Henri Junttila sees his inner voice as his GPS, so if he doesn’t consult it from time to time, he doesn’t know where he is going. The way he listens to his inner voice is through meditation.

But Henri also get bursts of inspiration while walking, cleaning, playing with his kids, or just living life. The secret is to become quiet enough to hear that inner whisper. And meditation helps you do that.

You don’t have to sit down on a pillow to meditate. All you have to do is become aware of your thoughts right now. You don’t even have to try and quiet your mind.

You just have to observe.

Time to write

Start with the main question, “What is my inner voice whispering?”

At first, you may not hear anything. Or you may not hear what you want to hear.

This is normal. Just pretend that you’re hearing something.

When you’re ready, use these prompts to take you further:
– In order to connect with my inner voice, I have to…
– If I had a source of inner wisdom inside me, it would say…
– My heart really yearns to…

How did it go?

You did the exercise, didn’t you? If not, put down this book and do it right now. If you don’t have 15 minutes, do it for just a minute. Whatever you do, don’t move on until you’ve done this. You owe it to yourself.

If you pretended to know, what would your passion be?

Remember back to your childhood, when you spent hours daydreaming and pretending.

You pretended to be in a world far, far away. But somewhere along the line, you stopped. It’s time to start up again. Because when you pretend to know something, or when you allow yourself to daydream, your brain activates your problem-solving powers.

A 2009 University of British Columbia study discovered that when you daydream, certain regions in your brain are activated, which increases creative problem-solving.

In the study, the researchers found that when people are involved in simple tasks, where their minds daydream, these “problem solving” regions in their brain light up like lighthouses.

This is why sometimes when you’re in the shower, reading a book, or doing the dishes, you suddenly have a burst of insight. But this burst of insight doesn’t happen unless you’ve thought about a problem. This is where the questions in this book come in.

When you explore these questions in-depth, you may not come up with answers right away, but when you step back, your brain goes to work on them.

This is also why I recommend you take breaks. It helps to put the book down in between questions and let your mind wander. It helps your brain consolidate what you’ve learned.

Time to write

Let’s dive into the writing. Begin by exploring the main question, “If I pretended to know, what would my passion be?”

And once you’ve done that for 5-15 minutes, feel free to move to the prompts below:
- If I pretended to know, I would want to…
- If I was connected to my inner wisdom, it would tell me to…
- If I let myself daydream, I…

Let your imagination run wild with this one. And remember to take a break and daydream. There’s no rush.

What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

Fear of failure can paralyze the best of us. We experience the full spectrum of emotions. The problems begin when you try not to feel something. When you feel the fear of failure fully, it abates. Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Try it out next time you experience a strong emotion. It works.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? This is a powerful question.

Time to write 

– If I wasn’t afraid, I would…
– If I knew I couldn’t fail, the next tiny step I would take would be…
– If I pretended to have all the confidence and skill I needed, I would…

Play around with these questions. Feel free to explore and think outside the box. This is your life. These are your answers. You are in charge here. No one else.

If you were guaranteed success, what would you do?

The last question was all about failure. Let’s look at the flip side and see what would happen if you were guaranteed success. This question may seem similar to the last one, but we’re going to approach it from a slightly different angle.

Now, there are no guarantees in the real world, but let’s pretend that a magical cat descended from the sky and granted you guaranteed success in one pursuit.

What would you do?
Where would you go?
How would you think?

Being guaranteed success would allow you to focus on doing what you’re interested in while being fully confident that you would get what you want.

No worrying needed. No trying to figure things out. Just focus on what makes your heart sing.

Time to write

By now, you know how this works, don’t you? Begin with the main question, “If I were guaranteed success, what would I do?”

Then dive into the prompts. Notice that these prompts seem similar on the surface to previous ones, but they will take you in different directions the farther you take them. So start with one, and keep exploring.

- If a magic cat descended from the sky and I was guaranteed success, I would…
- If I could pop a magic pill and be free of limitations, I would…
- In a perfect world, the next step I would take would be…

Phew. You’ve come a long way. If you haven’t taken a break, please do. These questions will leave you feeling overwhelmed if you try to do too many at once.

Take a five-minute daydreaming break, and I’ll see you on the next page when you feel ready.

In the future, when you’re already living a passionate life, what advice would you give to the present you?

It just shows you that there are no limits to our imagination. So imagine that you step into a time machine and on the other side, you meet the future you, who’s already living a passionate life. This may seem confusing at first but stick with it. It’ll be worth it.

Now ask that future you to tell you what you need to hear right now. What are the next steps you need to take?

Don’t worry if you believe you can’t visualize. We all visualize in different ways. Let me demonstrate: right now, think about a pink elephant. Whatever way that pink elephant shows up inside your head is fine. For some it’ll be in technicolor, others will feel it, and yet others will hear it. Do it in the way that comes naturally to you.

If you can daydream, you can do this exercise. And if all else fails, you can do it through writing.

Time to write

Look at this question as if you were going on an adventure. Imagine yourself traveling to the future and meeting the future you, who are already doing what you want to do. Then ask yourself: “What helpful advice could this future version of me tell me right now?” And if you need extra help, here are a few prompts.

– What I really need to hear from my future self is…
- What I really need to hear from my future self is…
- The next step the future version of me would advise me to take would be…
- The one thing future me has realized that I yet haven’t is…

Don’t you just love the power of your imagination?

If you want, you can have a conversation with that future version of you. Just start writing down questions and answers on a piece of paper and see where it leads. It may feel like you’re making this all up, but so what? As long as it helps, use it to your advantage.

Conclusion

Living a passionate life doesn’t happen overnight. It’s hard work, and it’s not as glamorous as people make it out to be. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go after it. It simply means that it takes more work than you’d expect.

But it’s work worth doing because once you gain momentum, your life will change. You will feel more fulfilled, excited, and happy. You will start waking up in the morning being grateful for the life you’re living.

Take breaks and daydream. Let your brain chew on what you’ve learned here. Don’t be in a rush to figure things out, because they’ll figure themselves out in time.