Uncover Your Passion

Ladies and gentlemen, what do you want? What do you truly, truly want? What is it that you look forward to every morning? What excites you? What stirs your blood? What do you enjoy doing and are you good at? If money wasn’t a concern, what would you be doing?

Fellow Toastmasters and guests, good evening.

Those were some of the questions that I asked myself last year, while I was going through a rather painful phase of figuring out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

You see, last year February, I resigned from a high-paying corporate job at a multinational bank. Five months prior to that, I was hired to be part of their systems implementation project team, and given the rank of AVP along with the perks that came with it. I reported to a very driven, efficient, task-oriented boss who happened to be a college acquaintance. It had been my long-time career fantasy to experience being sent on a foreign business trip, to enjoy an attractive executive-level pay, and to work for a boss that I greatly admire. In fact, I got all of them. But it didn’t last. I had thought that this banking job was the break I was looking for after being in a call center operations for 8 years. I had thought that I would stay there for 5 years or more. Little did I know that I would be staying for only 5 months.

It was a bad case of mismatch of job qualifications and expectations. I resigned not because I wanted to but because I had to. My boss will eventually let me go because she felt I couldn’t cope fast enough to meet the requirements of the job. She couldn’t afford to wait for me to “grow up”, so to speak. I was disillusioned and my pride went down the drain.

After that incident, I decided to take the time off and do the things that I’ve been meaning to do but never had the time because I was always busy with work. I used the time to reconnect with myself and uncover my passion. I had to be clear on what my strengths are and where my interests lie so that I know what direction to take.

2008 was a year that I ROVEd – Reflected, Observed, Volunteered, Explored.

o I REFLECTED. I spent a lot of “alone” time. Being a visual person, I wrote down my thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and deepest desires into a journal. I mind-mapped of my goals and dreams and I implemented each of them one by one. Joining Toastmasters was one of my goals and here I am.

o I OBSERVED. I’m an avid book reader and so I have my personal metal bookshelf inside my room housing my precious collections. I took a hard look at the contents and found titles on: Art and creativity, Management, Entrepreneurship, Self-help books, Psychology and Mind-Enhancement, Health and wellness. I aunderstood myself better through the books I have accumulated throughout the years. I find happiness in investing or spending on things that interest me.

o I VOLUNTEERED. If pay wasn’t an issue, what would I rather be doing? I found the answer when I immersed myself in a seminar company for 8 months, doing volunteer work for their leadership success programs. I attended some life coaching workshops, had myself coached, and also served as a coach. It’s amazing how much insight you can get about yourself when you find yourself very willing to do something without being paid.

Back in college, I was actively involved in publicity committee work and the volunteer work allowed me to rediscover my artistic talents when I had to do backdrop designs, photoshoots, and audio-visual presentations as part of my tasks.

o I EXPLORED. I explored with entrepreneurship. I took some entrepreneurship and financial literacy classes. I joined a one-week bazaar selling miscellaneous items ranging from bedsheets and pillow cases, to office wear and casual wear, to bags and diving accessories. Obviously, I didn’t get my ROI back but at least, I found out ways not to business. I did some sidelines with networking marketing and designed some corporate giveaways. I took on a temporary consultancy job for a friend’s company.

I applied for jobs in various industries – training, banking, BPO, computer retail, IT consultancy, telecoms. I had about 20 initial interviews but never got shortlisted. I was either under qualified or over qualified. I didn’t want to go back to the call center because of the irregular work hours. My esteem was tested each time I got rejected but I took it as a positive learning experience because I know that each interview brings me one step closer to the job that was for me.

Throughout my journey of uncovering my passion, I have become a better person. I learned the value of humility, patience, resilience, risk-taking, openness, and resourcefulness. I learned to be grateful with what I have instead of complaining about what I don’t. I learned to trust and have faith.

I have discovered that I like talking to people, understanding their needs and wants, experimenting new ways to do things and applying what I’ve learned, and doing a bit of creative design work.

Two weeks ago, I decided to accept an offer to work in a small-scale retail business referred by the same friend who got me in the banking job. They are an imaging solutions provider supplying photo-equipment and printers. My role is sales and marketing in nature, something I’ve never done professionally before but was willing to learn. The pay was a fraction of the salary that I used to enjoy before. There wasn’t much perks. No foreign business travel, but I do get to go on field work and participate in events. I get to speak and present. I get to learn photography techniques. I get to be mentored by an entrepreneurial boss. Because a small company, I could bring in new ideas that would improve the business. I’d rather be a big dot in a small company, than a small dot in a big company. I’m pretty happy because what I’m doing is aligned to who I am.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sharing this with you because I’d like you to understand the value of being able to find your life purpose, of uncovering your passion, in order to be happy and fulfilled.

As Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, said in his commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, “You’ve got to find what you love.” You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

Take the time to uncover your passion. That way, when opportunity presents itself, you know when to grab it. Good evening and God bless.

(Taken from my BSP#9 Speech Project)