Finding your One Thing
Everywhere’s talking about it. At least, everywhere that I’ve been hanging out lately is.
Focus. Do what’s essential. Simplify.
Finding the One Thing is finding where your purpose, passion, talent and market all overlap. The elusive sweetspot where magic happens.
But finding the One Thing, the thing that really fires you up, engages and challenges you, contributes to the world, and is valued by people, is a tall order for anyone – and even harder if you’re multi-talented.
The upside to being multi-talented is that you have loads of options available to you. The downside to being multi-talented is that you have loads of options available to you.
Maybe you could be a writer, or a dancer, or a financier, or a scientist. Maybe you could set up as an artist, or teacher, or computer programmer. Go solo as a trainer, consultant, specialist. Or gardener, medic, hotelier…
Yet finding your One Thing gives you the anchor for the rest of your actions – it’s the hub of the wheel, holding all the spokes together. It’s the destination that keeps the plane on course. It’s the heart of who you are and what you do.
It’s worth doing – and doing well.
How to find your One Thing
Here are a few things to fund your One Thing that have worked for me. Keep reading below to find out what my journey to the One Thing was…
Go out: go and try things. Find out what you like, what you engage with, what ignites you. Find out what you can contribute to, and how you can do that. Volunteer work, taster weekends or holidays, maybe taking a particular job for a while to see if it fits.
Talk to people: talk to people about their One Thing. How did they get into it? What do they like about it? What don’t they like? What inspires them in it? What’s their day like? How does it challenge and reward them?
If you can’t connect to the people you want to talk with, read about it: read books, blogs, and sites. Post sensible questions in forums. Ask your circle of connections if they can introduce you to someone who does what you want to find out about.
Talk to people: talk to people about your interests and explorations. Listen to their feedback, suggestions, comments. Park it – don’t take it all as gospel – and reflect on it. What do other people see as your innate qualities, values, and preferences? What are you doing when they see you at your best?
Then, when you talk, listen to the quality of your voice. Develop an ear for when you’re speaking fully, from the heart, instead of weakly, from an uncertainty or from someone else’s idea of what you’re “supposed” to be doing. Listen for your internal responses too: as you talk about an option, do you feel comfortable with it? Do you feel wildly excited (this isn’t always a good thing, by the way – it can mean that your head’s not so connected with your heart and the ground. Centre and ground yourself, then see how you feel about it.) Do you feel reticent? Is the reticence to do with the option itself, or more to do with your fears?
Go in: reflect, meditate, take time to explore your thoughts and feelings. Imagine yourself doing each option: how does it feel? How does each option sit with you? Does it resonate with who you really are, or does it have the feel of a “good idea” that’s not really you? Does it draw on all different aspects of yourself?
Take your time: Finding your One Thing can take a while – even years! And you can have a lot of fun and interesting experiences along the way.
You might find that your One Thing changes over time, but eventually a thread that connects them all may appear: the true One Thing that underpins all the others.
How close are you to finding your One Thing?