Passion plays an important role to attain remarkable success in life. Many people do not know their passion and hence experience great difficulty in identifying it. They have become so busy with their day-to-day business or routine work that they tend to lose touch with their passion.

People do not often give serious consideration to their passion while deciding their course of study or searching for a job. Usually, students tend to join a course for which they get admission and remain satisfied by taking up any job irrespective of whether it is in tune with their passion or not.

It is better to identify your passion first and then choose a suitable education and employment related to your passion. You will be able to excel in your career, if you choose to work in an area related to your passion.

How to search for your passion?

There may be more than a single passion in your lifetime, so explore all the possibilities. Your passion may include a multitude of desires and a melting pot of interests.

First find out what you like and list your favourite hobbies, topics, extracurricular activities, your dream job and volunteer service, etc.

Choose one item from the list that excites you the most. Then acquire more knowledge about it, improve your skills and follow the foot-steps of people who have achieved success in the same field. If it doesn't work out, you should try the thing that comes next on your list. You will eventually discover your passion, if you keep searching for it continuously.

How to follow your passion?

Try doing something connected to your passion, even though you may not make any money out of it. You may enjoy working in an area you're passionate about, build your business network and ask for feedback that will help you develop and refine a business plan.

It's best to stay in your job, while you're researching the possibilities of following your passion. If you can follow your passion as a part-time job, and build up the income for a few months or a year, that's even better.

Sometimes, it wouldn't be possible to make a living out of just following your passion. Never give up. Keep trying. Try again and again, until you succeed. Success doesn't come easy, so giving up early is a sure way to fail. Keep trying, and you'll get there.

Why you fail to follow your passion?

Most people don't believe it's possible to have a career that coincides with their passion. Some people suppress their interests, because they're being told that it's impossible to do what one loves, or they have told themselves that.

The real reason why most of us don't follow our passion is not because we don't know what it is, but because we do not honestly believe that it is possible to achieve our dreams and we think they are frivolous or impractical.

The biggest obstacle for most people is self-doubt and fear of failure. They lack confidence in their abilities to achieve success while following their passion.

Success stories of people with passion

People with a passionbelieve they are never too old to pursue their passion. Fauja Singh took up running at age 89 after his wife and son died and created many records. He became the oldest person to complete a marathon when he was 100 years old.

Dr S.K. Dicksheet, aged 80, is battling throat cancer and is confined to a wheelchair because of an accident. He has undergone a triple bypass surgery and has a heart that functions only up to 18% of its capacity. Despite such physical challenges he performs 100 surgeries a day to fix people's defective faces and bodies, free of cost for poor patients for the past 42 years.

Sachin Tendulkar found his passion in cricket at a tender age and experienced many difficulties in the initial stages. But he continued his hard work with a lot of passion and went on to create history.

At the age of seven, Michael Phelps was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He took up swimming to help release his pent-up energy and ultimately found his passion. He created a world record by winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ruskin Bond wrote his first novel at the age of 19 as he was very passionate about writing. He started writing after completing his school education and has carved a niche for himself as a famous novelist.

Passion for something elevates life from the ordinary into the extraordinary realm. Passion gives excitement to life and grants huge success to people. There is no greatness without being passionate and nothing great has ever been accomplished without a passion. So keep trying to search for your passion and try following it to achieve great success in your career.