“If you want to find your passion, surrender to your heartbreak.” ~ Umair Haque
Passion matters.
It is the differentiator and the difference maker.
In our quest to be passion driven leaders, we are often advised to “follow our hearts” as the way leads us to our true passion and purpose in life.
What they fail to answer is how exactly do we find that passion?
I am going to suggest something that on the surface seems counterintuitive; even silly.
I am going to suggest that you DO NOT follow your heart to find your passion and purpose.
Instead follow your heartbreak.
Although following your heart can be useful while information-gathering, following your heart in decision-making can become a disservice.
Finding your passion; surrendering to your heartbreak is really about finding what really moves you. Discovering what ticks you off and breaks your heart may be the first step in that direction.
Here’s why:
- It identifies what you find interesting. When something truly breaks your heart, there is no doubt that you find it compelling enough to pursue.
- It uncovers a cause you long to be called for; what some call your “life’s purpose.”
- It unveils a process that you can, and will want to use.
- It gives you an opportunity to learn the skills you need to succeed and bring you closer to getting there.
- It brings congruency to what’s inside you, and what’s outside you.
- When you believe that the world out there needs what you’ve got; it becomes the exact motivation you need to propel forward and make change happen.
In my experience, following a heartbreak, whether it is your own or the world’s, is the single most effective way to help individuals, organizations and the world discover what they were meant and called to do.
So here we go.
Ask yourself this question: What Matters to You? What breaks your heart?
