Free Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus Page B

truth be told, no one is passionate about just one thing. Joshua isn’t passionate about only writing; he’s passionate about contributing to other people, and he’s passionate about living a healthy life, among other things. Similarly, Ryan isn’t passionate about only mentoring people; he’s passionate about growing as an individual and constantly improving his life and various other pursuits. Passionate people know what they are most passionate about, they know what else they are passionate about, they know what gets them excited, what gets them energized, what gets them into a peak state.
    Second, passion fuels more passion. Passionate people turn to their passions when they aren’t feeling inspired. On those days when they don’t want to get out of bed or start that new project, passionate people focus on the things that get them excited. For example, there were times during the creation of this book—particularly while editing the first three drafts—that seemed especially dull and monotonous. Instead of waiting to be inspired by a sudden burst of passionate activity, we chose to continue our trek through the murky waters of monotony, all the while keeping an eye on what we knew we were passionate about. In fact, it was our passions that acted as a beacon in the night—by dredging through the tedium, we were able to stay focused on what was important. Without our passions guiding us, it would have been easy to veer off course and never return. By the end of the fourth draft of this book, we were both excited about our creation and what it would mean to the people we shared it with.
    Using what you’re passionate about to keep you focused and fuel more passion is a critical part in discovering your mission. But first you must discover what you’re passionate about.
     
    Removing Anchors to Find Your Passion
    It is often difficult to discover your passions because you’re stuck in the vapid muck of your daily routine. It’s easy to embrace the uninspiring, lifeless cycle of your everyday work. Lather, rinse, repeat. It seems too easy. That’s because it is too easy. It’s easy to get anchored down by our daily lives, and it’s much harder to free yourself of those anchors.
    As it turns out, we discovered four main anchors in our own lives that were keeping us from pursuing our passions: identity, status, certainty, and money.
     
    Removing the Anchor of Identity
    Who are you? Have you ever sat down and thought about this question? On the surface, it sounds fairly simple, but in reality it’s an expansive question, and it’s not an easy one to answer. Because of the complexity of this question, we often turn to our vocation for an answer: I’m a teacher, I’m an accountant, I’m a sales manager, I’m a stay-at-home mom. While all these answers are acceptable answers to a different question (i.e., What do you do to earn a paycheck? or How do you spend the majority of your time? ), they become problematic when we give these labels enough meaning to say That’s who I am as a person.
    Once you acknowledge that your vocation is who you are, it’s extraordinarily difficult to do something else. This is one of the reasons people stay in the same industry when they change jobs ( I wasn’t happy as a sales manger at ABC Paper Company, but I bet I’ll be happy as a sales manager at XYZ Paper Company! ). People get so wrapped up in their vocation as their identity that it’s hard for them to realize they are so much more—they are beautiful in so many ways.
    When you’re trapped in this kind of identity, it’s hard to realize that you are not your job, you are not your stuff, you are not your debt, you are not your paycheck—you are so much more. You are a brother, a father, a mother, a sister, a lover, a partner, a friend. You are a growing person, a contributing person, a healthy person, a person who is capable of so much more.
    For the two of us, this meant actively identifying ourselves with more