How to Find Passion & Fulfill Your Purpose with Jay Shetty

"Purpose is passion in service." 

JAY SHETTY

Jay Shetty’s vision is to Make Wisdom Go Viral. He is on a mission to share the timeless wisdom of the world in an accessible, relevant, and practical way. He has produced over 400 viral videos that have surpassed more than 5 billion views, and his podcast, On Purpose, is consistently ranked as the #1 Health podcast in the world. He was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017 for being a game-changer in the world of media and has won both the Streamy and Shorty Awards for Best Health and Wellness Creator of the Year 2018. He recently published his first book, Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day. In pre-order sales, it has already reached the top of the best selling lists in India, the U.K., and the U.S.

What does it take to discover your purpose? 

If you are struggling to find your passion and fulfil your purpose, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

We have my dear friend and author of Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty, on the show today. Jay is a purpose coach, host of the #1 Podcast, “On Purpose,” and former monk on a mission to Make Wisdom Go Viral. 

In this episode, I speak with Jay about the difference between passion and purpose. He tells us that we should not wait for there to be a full picture of everything lining up perfectly before we take action. We learn that passion and purpose are more like a puzzle, so we should start with what we have, where we are, with the tiniest piece of curiosity.

PASSION AND PURPOSE

• The topic that fascinated Jay the most when he studied the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita was purpose.
• Everyone has a passion or multiple passions that they can find. When we perform our passion, it makes us happy and brings us joy. 
• When you use your passion in service and make a difference in the lives of other people, that’s when it becomes a purpose. Purpose is passion in service. 
• For example, Jim loves learning about the brain, neuroscience, and memory—he’s passionate about it. When Jim takes it a step further and decides he wants to help others develop their brains and become limitless too, he is then serving in his passion—that’s his purpose. 
• The pain that Jim experienced from being called “the boy with the broken brain” and seeing others that feel limited when they really are not, helps fuel his purpose. 

GETTING YOUR PASSION BACK

• “When you protect your purpose, your purpose protects you.” – Quote from Think Like a Monk, derived from an ancient text.
• Your passion will constantly be put down. People will say things like, “you are wasting your time” and “don’t bother with that”. If you don’t protect your passion, honor it, and carry it around like it’s a priceless jewel, you can sometimes lose it. 
• Purpose is like an adult, passion is like a teenager, and interest is like a child. Curiosity is like a toddler. The birth of purpose comes with the inception of curiosity. 
• If you have lost your passion, which is like a teenager, you start with the child or the baby of curiosity and interest. 
• What are you curious about? What are you interested in? 
• We sometimes put an overwhelming burden on ourselves, sometimes asking God, like “What am I passionate about?! I’m not passionate about anything!” That’s the time to just ask yourself, What am I really curious about? 
• You don’t need to be passionate about something in the beginning; you simply need to be curious and interested. You have to follow the initial curiosity. 
• You know you are curious when you see something or hear someone talking and you say to yourself, Oh, I want to know more about that. 
• Jay’s book, Think Like a Monk comes out on September 8th. 
• There does not have to be a clear connection between what you love and your purpose at first. Your passion and purpose work like a puzzle. 
• You don’t look at a puzzle and say, “It doesn’t make sense because it’s not connected.” That’s how it starts. You go to one corner, connect one piece, then find another piece that connects with that. 
• Don’t wait for there to be a full picture of everything lining up perfectly. 
• Start with what you have, where you are, with the tiniest piece of curiosity and interest and keep following it.

THE RULE OF THREE

• This is a strategy that Jay uses in his own life that helps him narrow his interests.
• Come up with 3 ideas, 3 experiments all the time, across a period of 3 months.
• Start with 3 things that you are playing around or experimenting with and do them all for 3 months. Usually, only 1 of the 3 ideas works and that is the idea that you take forward. 
• You can be passionate about something, but not have the commitment to practice it daily.
• It’s not just about what you like doing, it’s about matching your passion with your expertise and asking yourself if you really want to build the skills that it will take to get the results.
• A lot of people say they want to be an actor or actress for example, but don’t always consider what it takes to do the job. An actor might need to redo the same scene fifty times before it’s right. 
• The question you have to ask yourself is, do I want to be asked by my director to say the same thing fifty times, not do I want to be on the red carpet?
• You have to be in love with the work, not the result.  

TAKING ACTION

• Procrastination comes from a desire for perfection and wanting everything to line up perfectly before we make our first move. It is a constant addiction to perfection. 
• The only antidote to procrastination is action — taking a step, trying something, and getting feedback. 
• In the book, Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, he shares the concept of the MVP or minimum viable product. All major tech organizations and apps have an MVP. 
• Facebook does not look the same today as when it started. Instagram started as a photo app. What would have happened if Instagram waited ten years to launch because they were procrastinating about what they wanted to be, rather than just launching with what they were clear on and adding other features later? 
• Thinking is good, but overthinking will stall your progress before you ever get started. 
• Jay’s life is a perfect example of someone who is doing something that they were terribly frightened of growing up as a child. Learning and public speaking were Jim’s biggest challenges. Your struggles can become strengths.
• Every professional was once an amateur. Every expert was once getting started. Little by little a little becomes a lot. Consistency is the key.