6 questions to help you find a career you love

My passion is helping you find your passion and unlock your potential to live a happy, fulfilled life.

The first step, if you're not sure what you want to do next, is to work out what you feel excited about, what floats your boat, what would make you jump out of bed on a Monday morning with a big smile, ready to head off for work?!

Here are just a few simple questions you can ask yourself which will start to identify what your passions are. Settle into a comfy spot and think about what these are for you. Maybe writing them down will help you explore them further. Even better, if you can, would be to talk out loud or to someone else about them - sometimes hearing yourself speak can help you explore your thoughts further.

Question 1: What did you want to do when you were little?

We all had a dream. When we were younger, we didn't have so many inhibitions - so many voices in our heads telling us we couldn't do it or it wasn't realistic, or it wouldn't make enough money.

If you could get back into that mindset before you listened to those voices, what would the younger version of you say? What were your dreams? What did you think would be great about that job?

Question 2: What have you enjoyed about jobs you've had in the past?

What things did you really enjoy about old jobs, or do you still enjoy about your current job? Which parts of the job made you smile? What were you really proud to tell people you did?

Although we often fall out of love with our jobs, there are sometimes parts of the job that we did really love. If we could find a job where we could get that part back, how great would that be?

Question 3: What do other people say you would be really good at?

Sometimes other people can notice strengths and qualities in us that we overlook ourselves. They're not in our heads telling us all the things we tell ourselves that we can't do. They may see things about us that are really great qualities and suggest possibilities we haven't considered ourselves.

It's hard for us to picture ourselves doing it, and we may talk it down, not thinking it is possible for several reasons. However, if someone once mentioned something to you that resonated with you, there may be something in that which you could investigate.

Question 4: What would you love to do if time/money/family/education (delete and add as appropriate!) were no issue?

Often we put up blocks for ourselves and don't pursue our dream careers as we think (or have been told) that it will cost too much, that it requires long and expensive re-training, or that it wouldn't be fair on our family.

Practical considerations matter, but it can still be useful to temporarily put them to one side and ask yourself what you would choose without them.

If you know something is getting in the way of you pursuing your dream, think about what that is and what steps you could take to overcome it. Who could you get help from? What other way could you pursue it? If someone else was telling you how to overcome that block, what would they say?

Question 5: What do you love to do as a hobby?

Would you like to do something you enjoy in your spare time as a career? Some interests and hobbies may offer opportunities to earn an income, but it's worth exploring what turning something you love into work would actually involve.

Imagine what it might be like to spend more of your time doing something you enjoy. How would you feel if you did that full time? What would you enjoy about telling people? What would it mean to you?

What could you do to research ways of turning your hobby into a money-making venture? Who could offer you some ideas on that?

Question 6: If you never heard the word 'can't' from yourself or someone else, what could you do?

Think of all the times you've had an idea about doing something, and someone said to you (or you said to yourself) "you can't do that, there's no money in it" or "you can't do that, you'd need to spend years getting the right qualifications".

What would have happened if that negative comment hadn't come up? What would have happened if the person had said, "That's a great idea, you can definitely do that!" What would you be doing now?

You may already know more about what excites and motivates you than you realise. Asking yourself the right questions, listening carefully to the answers and exploring what could be possible can be a useful place to start.