How to find what you Love Doing
We have been told our whole early lives : “do what you love,” but you have no idea what that is ? This question lingers uncomfortably. You might head to university with a hazy notion of your future—or no notion at all—only to find yourself more lost than ever.
The numbers back this up: studies suggest that up to 70% of students don’t complete the programs they start. University often marks the first time we’re forced to own our decisions, and the pressure can be paralyzing. Sometimes it sparks clarity; more often, it breeds confusion.
Why It’s Hard to Know
Cramming facts or solving equations rarely lights a fire in your soul. Shouldn’t what you love come naturally, like an instinct? Maybe it does—but it’s buried beneath years of routine, expectation, and a system that prioritises grades over exploration. Schools teach us what to think, not how to feel out our passions. Real experience—the kind that reveals who you are—gets postponed until your first job, and even then, it’s often dictated by someone else’s rules.
Take Sarah, for example (a hypothetical stand-in for many of us). She studied biology because she liked animals, but a couple years in, she realised lab work drained her. It wasn’t until she volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary—hands in the dirt, not a textbook in sight—that she started liking it. Experience, not education, showed her the difference.
The Key: Act on Purpose
Dolly Parton once said, “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” The trick is in the doing. Passion doesn’t announce itself while you’re sitting still—it emerges when you move.
Here’s how to start:
Pick something small. Choose a project that sparks even a flicker of curiosity—writing a blog, building a birdhouse, learning guitar chords.
Commit to it. Give it daily effort for at least two months. Consistency turns interest into insight about yourself.
Finish what you start. Half-done projects teach you nothing. Push through to the end, even if it’s imperfect.
Reflect. Afterward, ask: Did this feel like me? If not, try something else.
Your Path Awaits
You won’t find what you love by waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration. It’s in the mess of trial and error—scribbling words, or planting seeds—that your dormant passions wake up. So pick up a tool, any tool, and begin. As Dolly might say, do it on purpose—and don’t stop until you’ve uncovered the you that’s been there all along.