Your Purpose, Your Passion

Happy Friday feels, Tribe! How are you today? My husband Pat and I are just back from our beautiful Hossam Sedona trip. If you haven't been to Sedona yet, I would highly recommend it. It's so magical and fun!

That being said, I'm so excited to be back home in the office with my dog Roxie recording this episode for you. I came back from this vacation, feeling so refreshed and ready to get back to work. It’s almost like taking a step away gave me the space I needed to dream new dreams and reconnect with my purpose. Vacations can be the best cure for getting stuck in a rut or burnout sometimes!

But sometimes we get discouraged, burned out, or stuck in a rut that we created for ourselves. That’s what we’re talking about today — the ruts we create for ourselves by playing it safe, ignoring the little voice inside of us that’s telling us to do something different, and not giving ourselves the flexibility to shift as we grow. 

Listen up. You were not put on this planet to build a box for yourself and stay inside of it. If you’re longing to start a business or you’re miserable in your current situation, that means something. That means you need to do something differently, but it also probably means you need a new definition of passion and purpose. Stick with me today, and you’re sure to feel a little more in love with your life and confident that good things are on their way (you won’t even have to go to Sedona!).

The Difference Between Passion And Purpose

Passion and purpose are two different things. I watch a lot of people build their businesses around their passion. That's not a bad thing at all. I believe that you need to bring your passion into your business. However, I think that we have to remind ourselves of this important piece of information: your passion is going to change. 

I know you're like, “Wait! No, it's not.” Listen to me. Yes, it is. Back when I was 22 years old, I was over-the-moon passionate about helping children. All I wanted to do was help kids, so I became a teacher. And you guys, I was an amazing teacher. That’s right. I’m not even afraid to toot my own horn about it. Within the first year of being a teacher, my passion changed. I loved my job but saw the opportunity to help more children. Make an impact on more lives. And serve the majority. So, my passion shifted to becoming a principal. 

That’s when I became extremely passionate about a school's systems and processes, how things ran, and how we could be proactive instead of reactive. I dove into all things related to setting up frameworks for massive success, not only in a classroom but also in an entire school, and eventually an entire district. So I went back to school for my master’s degree in educational leadership. And guess what happened? My passion shifted again — this time to leadership.

I believe the definition of leadership is someone who unlocks the greatness within every single person that they come in contact with. As a leader, my job is not to sit up here and be like, “Hey, listen to me. I know everything. I've done it all.” No! I strongly believe that my job is to teach, motivate, inspire, and support you guys by sharing stories of how I've done it and how I'm going to help you do it. Instead of just creating and implementing structures for massive success, I was guiding and empowering others to build these systems with me. Once again, I was sure it was MY THING, and I was GREAT at it! But another shift was on the way. 

In 2018, another passion was born in me for helping people with food and weight loss. Specifically, I was passionate about helping women with their relationship with food. I realized that the struggles I had experienced with food, my eating disorder, and thinking that my self-worth was tied into the way I looked, were things that many other women struggled with, too. 

These women were struggling with what I had overcome through self-development and growing myself as a leader. While they were lost and grabbing at straws in an effort to lose weight, I had answers. I couldn’t let them keep spending money, cutting carbs, and trampling their self worth with every failure, when I knew I could help. So my passion became threefold: 1) help women lose weight, 2) help women live in their power, and 3) help women find the confidence in themselves.

For over a year and a half, that was my passion. I lived it and breathed it, fully confident that was exactly what I was meant to do. And then something happened. My passion shifted once again to what I do now: helping people grow their impact, scale their income, and live the life they dream of. I am a business mentor who wants to see business owners live in their financial and personal power and have a hell of a lot of fun while they do it! 

Do you see how many times my passion has changed from 2011 to now? But do you also see how my purpose never changed? Since becoming a teacher to now being a business coach, my purpose has always been to equip and empower others to become better versions of themselves.

Passion is a guide. Purpose is your true North Star. Your passion is the topic you're obsessed with. Your purpose is the current that motivates your passion. The absence of your true purpose is when you start to feel fearful, lost, disinterested, and burnt out. 

So my question for you is: What is your passion right now, and are you okay with that passion changing? The second question is: What is your purpose? Because if you can really hone in on that purpose and you can start to live it out every single day. And when you start living out your purpose every single day, your business becomes easier, and your life becomes more simple, fun, and exciting.

What You Need If You Want Your Passion to Be Your Career 

Some of you reading this might be still working in the 9-to-5 corporate setting, but you really want to be an entrepreneur. Some of you might be an online health and wellness coach, but you really want to transition into business coaching or copywriting. Others of you might even have a booming business, but you’re ready to work fewer hours and hire a team. My question for you is: Why aren't you listening? That desire and longing to shift is your passion telling you where to go. Why are you quieting that voice? Why are you shushing your intuition? 

Have you ever thought, “Why can’t I leap when I know my soul is calling me to?” I’ll tell you why. It's because society tells us, “Oh, you can't make your passion your career. It's your passion project, a side hustle. It can’t be the thing that pays your bills.” 

That’s bullshit! You can 100% make your passion your job, the thing that makes you all the money you need, and then some. But the only way you’ll make a living by working your passion is if you are courageous enough to take the leap that comes with living out your true passion and purpose. The kind of courage I’m talking about comes in two parts:

First, you need to have the courage to take leaps and do scary things because fear is always going to be there. Fear of failure. Fear of responsibility. Fear of success. Fear of investing. Fear of what others will think. It's always going to be there. I've been doing this for a minute, and I've invested a lot of money and a lot of time into stepping into my potential and building a business. And I can tell you with all confidence that fear never goes away. 

You have to have the courage to do things regardless of the fear of being there. Lori Harder says, “When fear comes up, I run toward it. I run toward the fire cause I know that's growth.” That's exactly what I've adopted for myself. When fear pops up, I ask myself, “Ooh, is that something that I need to be doing?” And I run toward that because on the other side of fear is growth. On the other side of fear is me living out my passion and purpose. 

The second part of the courage is about building yourself a network of supportive people who will listen to you and encourage you to run headlong into that fear. So many people never dare to follow their passion and purpose because they're scared AND lonely. Your passion and purpose are too great to be kept quiet by loneliness. Breath life into who you are and why you were put on this earth by having good people around you. 

How to Stop Playing It Safe Even If You’re Scared

I have this quote hanging up in my office that says, “Life bends for the courageous.” To me, it’s a reminder that you can navigate any sea or storm. You aren't here to play it safe or be passive. You're here to live and leap because once you have the courage to run toward fear, fully embracing your passion and purpose, you’ll know what truly living feels like. I always say that my life really began when I became a full-time entrepreneur. 

When I stopped playing it safe and incorporated all of these things that I'm teaching you here, my happy, abundant, and successful life finally began. All that to say, sometimes, truly living out your passion and purpose requires completely closing one door and opening another. When I decided to leave my teaching career and go full time in my business, I kept one hand on the doorknob. I was like, “Oh, I've got a back door just in case this doesn't work out.” But you know what I needed to do? I needed to take the full leap and cut the chords and not put in notice for a year off. 

If you’re like, “Yes, I’m ready to cut the cord. I want to live fully in my passion and purpose” here are three leaps you might need to take:

#1. Cut the cord. Don't leave yourself an escape route. Tell your boss, your friends, yourself that you’re going to do this, put in your two-week notice, and leave when the day arrives.

#2. Invest in yourself. If you look at every successful person you admire, I bet they have one big thing in common: They've constantly invested in themselves. You don't know what you don't know. Having a mentor to guide you, hold you accountable, and support you is one of the most important aspects of taking leaps.

#3. Curate your environment. What are you listening to? Are the people who you spend the majority of time with on your team and cheering you on? Do you hang out with people who are taking similar leaps as you in business and personal development? Listen to podcasts, read books, and spend time with people who will help you grow.

If you’re not taking at least one of those leaps, you’re letting fear hold you back. As long as you’re not choosing courage, you’re going to feel lost, confused, maybe even depressed because you’re not really living out your purpose. You’re also not really living out your current passion, which means you’re not having a damn good time living. 

Why You Need To Listen To This Episode Right Now…

I know all the dreams on my vision board will happen because if I'm in my purpose, listening to my passions, and taking leaps without letting fear hold me back, it's only a matter of time until I get there. It can be the same for you! 

What I want you to do now is tell me what your passion and purpose is. I literally want you to take a screenshot of this episode and tell me. This requires you to be courageous. I'm calling you out, right now, because I love you, and I genuinely want you to have this abundant life.

So take a screenshot of this, tag me @thejennkennedy, and tell me about your purpose and passion. I cannot wait to see you declaring your purpose and passion for all to see! Don’t worry about judgment. Just do it! 

I hope that this helped move you closer to what you want in life. If it did, I have a major favor to ask: Please take five seconds out of your day and give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Every single week I pull up the podcast and read the reviews. They truly matter to me, and I love reading your thoughts about what I share here!

Thank you so much for joining me today, guys! Now enjoy your weekend and start running towards fear!