Hi. Oh God, I’m about the same time again tonight. It’s 9:00. What I want to talk about today, I want to talk about a book that really started actually changing my life in this personal development kind of space. It is called The Passion Test.
Now, I discovered The Passion Test when I was actually at an event that Janet Attwood was speaking at. She asked me a couple of questions, I got up and of course did something crazy and sang on stage, because that’s what I do. I’m trying to push the boundaries a bit. But I loved its simplicity, I loved her authenticity, and I loved the fact that it is a system, which that kind of analytical part of me really, really loved.
Why is it important to actually discover what your passions are? Well, it’s important because if you don’t, your just punching in and out of life every single day, you know? It’s what was your life really look like if you were living your passions fully, you know? And, passions don’t have to be incredibly deep and meaningful, passions can actually be sometimes quite simplistic, you know? One of my top five passions is actually something to do with hanging out with my daughter, Elody. And it has always, always been that.
What’s interesting is your passions change over time. I think it’s actually important to take [foreign language 00:01:25] every so often. I probably retake the passion test every … When was the last time I do it? Probably about every 18 months, actually. So, I did it in January this year, because last year was a massive year for me, as you know. Death, TV shows, lovers, friends, family, changes, all quite mad really.
So, in January of this year I sat down and went, “Okay, this is what it used to be, what is it currently?” Out of my top five passions, only one had actually changed. For me that was fairly significant. Oh, look. Hi Yvonne, hi Jeff, hi Judy. Thanks everyone for watching. Late at night, as it is. You could have something better to do.
If you do know what your passions are, it’s actually easier to be you. Much, much, much, much, much, much easier. And do you know that of all the studies that have been out there, probably only about 20% of people actually are passionate about what they do. And when you look at how much we spend in our work life in particular, that’s a F-load of time. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, it’s going to be vile.
Another thing that’s good about knowing what your passions are is it makes making decisions really, really, really easy. If you know anything about me, I’m a Gemini, which means neither of my personalities can make up their mind a lot of the time. But when I do make a decision easily, it’s probably because it is something I’m really passionate about. Or, I can ask myself the question. There’s something hanging in here that I want to get done, or I want to do, or an event I want to go to, or a job I want to take, or a client I want to take on, or a party I want to go to, and I have to ask myself, “Is this leading me towards my passions, or away from my passions?” Because, if it’s leading me away from it, unless there’s a really, really good reason, I am going to say, nada, noski.
Like, at the moment, I’m so clear on my passions, and that’s allowed me to really drill down on my goals. I can open my diary any day and go, “Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, doesn’t work, does work.” That makes life a hell of a lot easier. Now, as I said, they don’t have to be deep and meaningful all the time. A passion can be living in a beautiful home. A passion can be traveling the world in first class. A passion could be … Actually, I’ll give you an example. I’ve got a little list here of Jack Cantfield’s passions.
He was actually interviewed, and is in the book. I do highly recommend this book. I’ve got a couple of copies, so … Oh, I’ve got four copies left. No, that’s not many. So if you ask me nicely I might send you one, yay. And he had top 15 passions when he started, so being of service to massive numbers of people is one. Speaking to large groups. Being a multi-millionaire. Having lots of free time. Studying the spiritual masters. And I love the last one, having fun, fun, fun, which we all kind of like.
Oh. Here’s one. Enjoying great sex on a regular basis. Now that wasn’t Jack’s, but it’s actually in all the times I’ve been working with people on their passions, sex has come up a lot, I’ve got to say. Being surrounded by supportive people, your health. Health’s a big one for people, because we only get this one body, and hand on my heart, I have neglected my body a lot in my life. These days I do take care of it, but you know, at 45 I really need to work on that a little bit more. Sometimes I let my other passions take over, and I don’t get to the gym, so that’s a problem.
Now, there’s a really easy test you can do, which is in the book. You can get it online. You can do it with me if you want. You can send me a message, and I can sort you out and get it done. We just take you through the system to actually knot out … You can’t put these big ideas and we go bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, and we come up with those five passions. And then we create things called passion cards. It just … I cannot stress enough how much it simplifies your life.
Now when you are really clear on a passion, it helps you set a goal, and then when you set that goal, if you heard me talk about goal setting at all, one of the most important things about it is directly from The Passion Test. And that is your intention. So important, you’ve got to have your intention. You’ve got to put lots of attention on what you’re doing, and then you need to kind of let it go, and have no intention.
The intention part is during those steps to actually get where you want to go, and achieve what you want to do. And the no attention is not being attached so greatly to it. So, that does not mean writing down your goals every day and going, “Universe. Oh, magical universe. Make it happen for me, because that’s not going to happen.” It’s like with those times when you’re driving in the car, and you see the big sign for the Lotto, and you go, “Oh, it’s just going to be magical, I’m going to win $30 million, and I’m going to do this, and give it to that, and give it …” And then you never buy a lottery ticket. You’ve actually got to do something, guys. That’s the important bit, and don’t ever take your foot off the breaks on that one.
As I said, when you are clear on your passions, there’s a great saying. This is actually the secret to The Passion Test, I guess, whenever you’re faced with a decision, a choice, or an opportunity, you can always choose in favor of your passions. I think that is a really bloody good way to live life.
I’m going to leave you with that now. I can talk about The Passion Test for hours, and I do. I do it in keynote, I do it a couple of days workshop, I actually work with people on their passions for their business. Did you know a business can be passionate? Very clever. So have a great night. Thank you for watching me on my day four, yeah day four. My 365 days. See, I think I’m getting better. And I will talk to you all soon, bye!