Finding your passion

Thomasina Miers struggled to find her way for 10 years in a series of jobs that weren’t quite right, until she realised that a deep-rooted love of food was her true passion. ‘When I left school, a career in food wasn’t really seen as a viable option. I spent about a decade trying to find a career that fitted. But I realised that I think about food all day long, from what I’m going to have for breakfast to what I’m going to cook some girlfriends for supper. I just wanted to do something I loved.’ So, if there’s something that you find yourself talking and thinking about over and over again, that’s probably a key motivation.

If it’s not as obvious as Thomasina’s, it can seem bewildering to try to pin your passion down. There is, after all, so much choice available to us now, with jobs such as ‘influencer’ and ‘coders’ that weren’t even dreamt up when most of us took career advice at school. If this is you, we suggest you start by asking the members of your sisterhood what they think is important to you. People who care about you can often see things more clearly from the outside.

It was a woman in Michelle Kennedy’s sisterhood who prompted her to launch her app connecting mothers in their local area. ‘I was moaning about the fact that, as a new mother, I had no mum friends locally and that there wasn’t an app that acted like a dating app. Eventually, after I’d gone on about it for ages, my best mate said, “Can you just do this? I’m sick of hearing about it.”’ So, she did. Her friend gave her the kick she needed.

7 tips to help you find the drive and motivation to achieve your career goals