Lesson #5: Find Your Passion

“Passion is energy,” says Oprah Winfrey. “Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Since she first discovered her passion for communication while preaching Bible passages at her grandmother’s church at the young age of 3, Oprah has dedicated herself to fulfilling her passion. Overcoming numerous obstacles, Oprah focused all her abilities and activities on achieving her dream. She now regularly spends time on The Oprah Winfrey Show encouraging her audience to discover their passions and live the life of their dreams.

For Oprah, passion did not necessarily mean she always knew what she was doing. Reflecting on her early days as a broadcaster, Oprah claims, “I said I knew how to edit when I didn’t. I said I knew how to report on stories. When I went to my first city council meeting, I wasn’t quite sure of what to do, but I told the news director that I did.” Her passion and willingness to learn were what enabled Oprah to stick her foot in the door.

“What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and work that fulfills you, the rest will come,” she says. “And, I truly believe, that the reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is because my focus has never, ever for one minute been money.”

While Oprah’s passion had been obvious since she was a young girl, she recognizes that it is not that easy for everyone to discover his or her true passion. In order to find yours, Oprah says you need to “pay attention to your feelings. The path to discovering why you are here is through your feelings.” The most important thing, she cautions, is to not let others prescribe your path for you. “You can be pursuing a profession because your parents say it’s the best thing. You can be pursuing a profession because you think you will make a lot of money. You can be pursuing a profession because you think you are going to get a lot of attention.” But, she warns, “None of that will do you any good if you are not being honest with yourself.”

Oprah proposes one way to test if you are truly following your passion is to ask yourself, “Would you do your job and not be paid for it?” In asking this question herself, Oprah replies, “I would do this job, and take on a second job just to make ends meet if nobody paid me. That’s how you know you are doing the right thing.”

It is only by finding your passion and establishing goals towards that end, that you will be able to discover true happiness. For Oprah, talking to people is like breathing; she had no choice but to follow her dreams. Whether she is expanding her media empire or focusing on philanthropic activities, she pursues every activity with the same fervent passion she embraced on her rise up. It was this passion that allowed a dirt-poor girl from Mississippi to transform herself into becoming the world’s first African-American female billionaire.

Lesson #5: Find Your Passion

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