Does your next project deserve to get a place in your passions portfolio?

You discover a new topic you want to explore. Holy crap, that’s bad news! Because it means another project is added to your passions portfolio and it immediately takes a priority 1 ranking.

You know for yourself, you’re suffering from the new shiny object syndrome, but you’re so stoked up about it! The problem is, you already have over one hundred projects in your dream catcher, which is your repository for possible projects and your current passions portfolio is completely full.

Should you start right now with this new project? Again, there is big chance that you will leave this project or other ones unfinished. Does it deserve to have a place in your projects and passions portfolio?

Your heart is singing: “Yes, yes, yes”. Your gut feeling is saying: “Go for it!”. And I don’t want to break your enthusiasm but maybe we should let the head speak as well.

What are the criteria to add a passion or project to your passions portfolio?

There must be some objective criteria to decide whether or not to add a project or passion to your passions portfolio. A project or passion to add must generate some kind of value and must deserve its place in your passions portfolio.

First of all, you may ask yourself: “What value or advantage will I get in exchange for the time and energy I spend on it?”

The next thing to see, and this is the most important, is to see if your project or passion to add is in line with your vision, your values and your beliefs. Actually this filter should already be set for your dream catcher. It doesn’t make sense to spend time and energy on projects or passions that don’t meet this basic criterion.

But if it does, then there are more criteria to help you decide. The list below gives you these criteria, so you can use them as a basis to decide whether or not to add this project to your passions portfolio.

You new project of passion will

• Give you more freedom
• Add to your health
  • Remove anxiety or stress
• Add to your financial security
  • Make money or
  • Save money
• Save time
• Make you belong to a group or make you more loved by your family, friends, peers etc.
• Add to your self-worth, give you prestige or recognition
• Make you feel fulfilled
  • In an intellectual way (you learn something)
  • You become a master in a specific field
  • It adds beauty to your life and your world
  • You contribute to a higher goal beyond yourself like serving others, spirituality etc.

You’re not limited to just one criterion. It can be combinations of any of the above.

And then there is Ikigai

Ikigai is Japanese and means “a reason for being” or in French “raison d’être”. Finding your Ikigai can be tough and can take time, but it will give you fulfilment and a meaning to life.

It is your “reason to get up in the morning”. Where did we hear that? I get up in the morning to [fill out the blank] in order to [fill out the blank]. That was in a post on “How to create an inspiring personal vision statement”

Ikigai gives you a different set of criteria:

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

Combining two criteria, we talk about

• A passion (What you love and what you’re good at)
• A profession (What you’re good at and what you can be paid for)
• A vocation (What you can be paid for and what the world needs)
• A mission (What the world needs and what you love)

Combining three criteria gives the following results:

• Without purpose (passion and profession)
• Boredom (profession and vocation)
• Failure (vocation and mission)
• Happy but poor (mission and passion)

You find Ikigai when you can combine all four initial criteria (what you love, are good at, can be paid for and what the world needs). When your new project answers these criteria, by all means, go for it and add it to your projects portfolio. You found your reason to get up in the morning and to live a purposeful life!

Your view?