Hey friends,

This week’s post is a 3 step method to finding your passion in life. I hope you benefit from this and as always, thank you for reading 🤍

What's Inside:

• 😄 How To Find Your Passion
• 🩺 Medical School Update
• ✏️ Insights - Podcasts, Books, Amazon finds & other cool things

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How To Find Your Passion

If Roger Federer had never played tennis, if Lionel Messi had never kicked a ball or if Albert Einstein had never dabbled in physics and science then none of them would have found their calling.

Imagine this; somewhere out there is a career that you haven’t thought of that could be your gold mine. The only thing stopping you from finding out is trying it out.

Our education system is majorly flawed. It is designed to create people who work for companies.

They value maths, English and science far more than creative work and reward what suits the needs of the elites. If you go through traditional schooling, by age 18 you have hardly explored the world of occupation. All you know are the classic jobs like doctor, lawyer and teacher.

It is your duty to explore beyond what you’re exposed to.

50 years ago it was very difficult to do this, but today we have the internet. You have access to everything at your fingertips.

Use it and explore.

I firmly believe there is something for everyone. We all are brought into the world with purpose and it is your life’s journey to find that purpose.

When you eat, you try different foods and see what you like or dislike.

When you make friends you spend time with them and see who you’d like to keep around.

Why is it we don’t do the same for work? We’re taught to choose something at 16 or 18 and that’s the path we stay on until we retire and die? That makes no sense.

The period of your life after school, especially your 20s is for exploration. That is the time for you to take risks, explore and try everything until something sticks. Until you find your Ikigai.

Ikigai

Please read this book if you like the sound of Ikigai. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. 'a reason for being') is a Japanese concept of finding your purpose in life.

It’s a combination of the following:

• What you love
• What you are good at
• What you can be paid for
• What the world needs

If you can find something that satisfies all 4 parameters then you will be infinitely successful at that thing.

What I love most about Ikigai is that it’s simple.

People complicate success and make it sound impossible. If you’ve been reading my newsletters for long enough, you know I like simplicity.

Ikigai breaks down a successful life into the basic fundamentals and it allows you to believe you can have the life that you want.

It’s a great place to start because maybe you’ve already got the tools, metaphorically speaking, to find your Ikigai. If not, maybe you should work on introspection before coming back to this.

Introspection: Asking yourself the right questions

What do you want to be when you’re older?

One of the most frequently asked questions to young children and adults is poorly phrased.

Instead, we should be asking,

Who would you like to be when you’re older?

Asking what you want to be when you’re older makes you think in terms of labels.

Doctor. Lawyer. Teacher.

There aren’t enough labels in the world to satisfy everyone’s dreams and desires. Everyone is different.

Sure some people want to be doctors, lawyers and teachers but what about those who just want to have an impact without a textbook job? What about those who just want to serve the community? What about people who will go into careers that don’t exist yet?

20 years ago being a content creator didn’t exist. Being a full-time YouTuber didn’t exist.

If it wasn’t for creators pursuing their passions, we wouldn’t have these new exciting career paths today.

This is key to finding your passion.

You need to think deeply about who you want to be.

Logically speaking, how could you possibly find your passion when you don’t even know who you are or who you want to become?

Take 5 minutes to think about the following questions. I’d go a step further and get your journal out to write out the answers. Think deeply about your answers.

How do you want others to describe you?

How do you want people to feel when they’re around you?

What qualities do you want to have as a person?

When you die, how would you like to be remembered?

Figuring out the type of person you want to be will help determine what your true passion is.

I’ll give you an example of myself.

When I grow old I want to help people, but not specifically as a doctor. I just want to help them reach their potential and become better versions of themselves. Being a doctor would allow this for sure, good health is central to life, but social media and the astronomical reach I have allows me to help far more people than I ever will as a doctor. I want to be remembered as a respectful, honest, resourceful person. Someone who smiles through difficulty and appreciates even the smallest of blessings. I want to be remembered as a person who aimed to fulfil his potential and aimed for the impossible.

If you know my content, I’m sure this section makes a whole lot of sense. The funny thing is I did this exercise 6 years ago when I was 19, deciding what to do with my life. The things you see me doing today; content, medical school, and this newsletter, are all part of a greater vision that I outlined at the age of 19.

I know exactly who I want to be and that led me to find my passion, my work, and my purpose in life.

My passion is sharing my knowledge and experiences to help others reach their potential.

I wasn’t this exact 6 years ago. With time I refine my life’s dream and I always reserve the right to change my mind in light of new evidence.

The message here is, don’t expect something so profound to come quickly. It takes time, patience and a lot of introspection to figure out your direction.

Do you see why it’s so important to ask the right questions now?

TRY: Sit, stand or walk alone. Give your mind time and space to think deeply about who you want to be in the future. Let that question sit in your mind for some time, then write it down. Over time keep track of this, in a journal for example. Let the idea of who you want to be evolve with time. Once you have a clearer picture of who you want to be, then you can focus on what to do with your life.

Ikigai gives you the framework for what to do.

Introspection gives you the tools and the pathway.

Next is belief. Belief makes the impossible seem possible.

Belief

Belief is incredibly important.

Tell a 5-year-old that they can’t sing and they will believe they have a terrible voice for the rest of their lives. One belief can restrict a person from even trying in the first place.

If you’re reading this and you have an inner belief of I probably couldn’t do this, then you’re right. If you believe you can do this, you’re also right.

You are your beliefs.

But you can change them.

For anyone who lacks self-belief, it is likely that you were once labelled as mediocre.

Maybe it was the education system.

Maybe you suck at maths and science and were made to believe that you will amount to nothing, but if there’s anything you take from this newsletter, let it be this.

You are capable of anything you put your mind to.

Follow my framework. Explore life with curiosity and courage. Be willing to suck (we all did in the beginning). When Lionel Messi first kicked a football, he was not the best footballer in the world. Equally, when you stumble across something you enjoy, you might not be immediately great, but practice makes improvement (not perfect). Keep searching until you find your Ikigai.

Be patient. Be persistent. Believe.

Figure out who you are. Spend some time alone thinking, writing, and journaling. Use the questions I listed earlier to dive deeper into your sense of self.

I hope you find your passion.

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🩺 Medical School Update

I’m a few weeks into 4th year and I’m honestly loving it. It’s not as bad as I was told. My week basically consists of random placements in the hospital. I go in, speak to patients and practice procedures. Sometimes doctors quiz me on things and I get most questions wrong - I’m glad about that because it means I’m learning.

Everyone has been nice to me. No one is really forcing me to be there 9-5 so I can leave as I please. It’s very self-directed. I go in and do what I feel is going to help me learn the most. I value my time a lot and given that I’m not paid to go into hospital, I make sure I’m getting value from each minute there.

I usually go in with a checklist of things I want to do and questions I want to ask. Any time I feel nervous or uneasy about something, I volunteer anyway. Discomfort usually signals a lack of confidence which is usually a cause of incompetence. In short, if I don’t want to do something, I probably suck at it otherwise I’d be happy to do so. That’s my guiding compass on how to get better as a future doctor.

Since I’m spending so many hours a week on placement my free time is reduced and inherently more valuable. I try my best to maximise my efficiency when I’m away from the hospital so even though I have more things to do, I’m actually MORE productive than when I was on holiday.

Wild.

I’m on paediatrics this week so this will be fun. Kids are the most interesting age group to treat because they’re so outward with their emotions. An ill child shows they’re ill with their speech, face, walk, arms and eyes. It’s so OBVIOUS and really interesting how much you can decipher just from looking at a child.

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✏️Insights

🎙️ Podcast: MKBHD: The Story To 16 Million & The World Of YouTube on Deep Dive​

MKBHD is a legend in the YouTube game, as is Ali Abdaal. As a content creator, I got a lot of wisdom from this episode and it was nice to hear 2 of my favourite YouTubers having a chat. Great episode especially for anyone interested in YouTube and the business end of content.

📚 Book: The Element by Sir Ken Robinson​

The first self-help book I read over 8 years ago. This book was the turning point of my adulthood which took me on the journey to find my work today. It’s SO insightful and has some incredible real-life examples of how the education system fails you in finding your passion. A must-read IMO.

🎥 Movie/TV Show: Pirates Of The Caribbean (Free link to watch)

I re-watched this whole series with my sister and it’s actually amazing. To say this movie came out in the early 2000s is amazing. The CGI, sound effects, script, humour and of course Jack Sparrow. Worth a re-watch. I definitely didn’t understand the storyline as a child.

🛒 Amazon Finds

Click this link to view my Amazon storefront. Here I share my favourite books, tech and household items purchases. As a minimalist, I am very careful how I spend my money and I ensure that every item brings me some sort of value or utility. I often get asked about the decor in my bedroom - you can find most of it over here.