Passion Project Series: Pursue your Creative Curiosity

Read: Five (5) Reasons to Start a Passion Project

No Passion? No Problem!

How to Start Your Passion Project

by exploring your “Creative Curiosity”?

“Passion”, most of the time seemed to be a daunting word – a “BIG word”. I met a friend back in college who says, she thinks she doesn’t have a talent… back then I don’t have the right words to say – that actually everyone does. So I just answered her that maybe she hasn’t discovered it yet. Indeed now, I realized we all have – we just need to take the time and effort to discover it and learn more about it.

These steps are simple, doable action steps that you can start brainstorming now.

Here’s my take on how to get started:

Step 1 – Brainstorm/Dumping Ideas

Whenever asked, what are you most passionate about – our mind wander and we start to have this long list of things we want to do. In fact, you are not alone. Many creatives would love to do this and that or maybe this or this or that or that… sounds pretty “a lot” right?

Let me be specific: I love teaching, I also love hosting/emceeing, I enjoy writing, I find drawing/painting relaxing. I also think that I would love to explore cooking and baking… well – the truth is there are more.

So what I did, I took my specific notebook for ideas and started dumping them all. When I say dumping – I mean writing them all.

CALL TO ACTION: Get a pen and a paper or dedicate a specific notebook for your creative pursuit and use a page or two to do brain dump. Meaning use this page to write all the things that you are interested in. Let’s say you want to paint, write a song, start a blog/vlog, exercise, prepare healthy food, create a poem/haiku, draw, sew etc. Just let them flow. Write as many as you think you are interested and curious about. No judgment here.

Step 2 – Trim Down/Pick at least 3

Now this is step is a bit difficult. If you find it too soon to cut into your top 3, I suggest you do (from 10 to 5 then final 3).

Hey, I just want to say – there is no rush.

Take your time to weigh them in. Don’t be pressured to finish them right then and there. 

Step 3 – Evaluate

Now from three, here comes the more specific and judgment moment. For your top 3, evaluate how-well do you actually know the ins and out of this project. There could be 2 possible options on this.

First, you know and you are well verse on this matter – so it is easy for your to proceed with step 4. Second, if you may find that you are truly curious about this but not so sure on where to start or probably you think you need a more specific skill/s to learn it. Then, in this event I’d like to suggest:

CALL TO ACTION:

3a. Find someone who could help you, let’s say a friend that you think who has more experience in this field.

3b. If you want to dig deeper and really take on the higher road, maybe you can buy a book about it.

3c. Finally, enrolling into a short course would also help. For example you want to pursue baking, and books/ Youtube isn’t your preferred way of learning. Then a short course would work. Hop on to Google and look for a nearby training center in your city.

Step 4 – Plan/ Choose “the ONE”

From the many ideas, you now have to narrow them down and choose ONE that you are most passionate/curious about.

This doesn’t mean that you will forget all the other list of curiosity you have on step 1. It only means that for a certain duration of time, you get to focus on one thing. Pour out love, passion, effort, time and more on it. Which hopefully you’d finally find your gem! A talent or passion you long to cater and nourish.

CALL TO ACTION: Once you’re ready to go. Start your 3 months plan on how are you going to proceed and explore this passion project. I have created a free 3-month planner for you to help this. Download here. (The Creative Passport 90-Day Planner)

In this planner and step, you will then take into consideration the duration of your passion project. If you’d like it to be continuous and sustainable then you have to incorporate it in your day-to-day schedule or on which timeline best suited.

It’s been tested and proven that doing passion project requires time. You don’t look for time, you create it. In our busy & sometimes chaotic schedule plus the fact that scrolling social media and watching videos online; our time is consumed out of the blue. Therefore, scheduling passion project time and intentionally adding it to our daily routine matters.

Finally, Step 5 – START.ACT.ENJOY

Writing a plan of action with a timeline helps you get a better result. For example, you would want to explore blogging. 

SAMPLE:

First, I will set a timeline on the things I’d like to accomplish:

1. Learn how to make a blog – Read articles and guide for 1-2 months (Jan-Feb 2019)
2. Browse Ideas and research sample blogs that I would want how my blog would look like. (march-Apr)
3. Create my blog, start to write down topics/posts – May
4. Publish & Launch Blog (June)
5. When should I publish new posts? (Weekly? Monthly? Daily? etc.)

CALL TO ACTION: START. So many times, we get this idea and we keep on thinking about it. Wrote it on our diary/notebook or somewhere but still daunted in actually starting it. In fact, even this workbook took a lot of time for me. Procrastinating, overthinking and just simply taking my time without clear reason why. The big leap of faith is when you actually DO IT. Sit down, dive in, and release the first draft of whatever you want to create. One of my favorite author Elizabeth Gilbert always injects this important lesson: “Above all, most importantly BEGIN!”

Also, enjoy and take it easy. The main reason of having a passion project is to mainly enjoy the process and take away your time from the busy and stressful life at work and of all other lemons that life throws to us. Therefore, enjoy the process. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

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If you wonder why I mostly use “Creative Curiosity” instead of simply dropping the word Passion, it’s because one of my favorite author & creative – Liz Gilbert’s  on Oprah’s Soulful Sunday mentioned her encounter with the huge load “passion” may bring to some people – so this is her take on it – hope it may enlighten you further. Check out her talk here.

Ready to start your Creative Curiosity pursuit? Go ahead, take that note and pen and START!

Care to share how it went? I’d love to hear from you!

Email me at [email protected] or just drop me a message on my blog’s Facebook Page! In My Heart – JM Kayne’s Blog.

Be blessed & be God’s blessings,