The power of a break.

If you subscribe to the blog, you’ve noticed a famine in the land of career posts over the past four weeks.

I took a break.

Breaks are an interesting way to test a passion. If you take a break from thinking about or working on your passion for two weeks or more, but find that you actually can’t stop thinking about it or wanting to work on it then it must be a true passion. True passions never go away. Our drive for them may ebb and flow, but they never depart. It’s like they are woven into our being, constantly wanting attention and find their way to the forefront of our minds.

If you’re not sure if you are really passionate, take a break from it. Did it go away? If not, it’s a true passion.

This also means you’ve got to do something about it.

If, on the other hand, you take a break from it for some time and either a) never pick it back up or b) feel relieved to not be working on it, it’s likely not a passion. It may be a hobby, interest or — worse yet — an obligation or something you feel duty-driven to do.

There’s a place for those things in our lives, but they shouldn’t be the core of our work. I’m not passionate about running or swimming or exercising, but I know it helps me. I’m not passionate about reading, but it’s beneficial to my growth.

I am, however, passionate about helping people figure out what to do with their lives and go do it. I’m constantly thinking about the system to figure it out and I’m hyperaware of extrinsic forces that pull people away from their intrinsic motives. I listen for it conversations, subscribe to podcasts that teach it, and think about it a lot.

Not sure if you’ve found a passion?

​Take a break from it and see what happens.