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The greatest change happens because of people that are deeply passionate, and have a great love for the work they do. If you want to make a difference in the world, the single most important thing you can do is consciously and deliberately choose to do work that you are passionate about.

No other choice can have a greater impact on the planet, or your life.

If youre doing work thats boring, you probably wont make much of an impact. You might provide people with some amount of value. Enough to pay your rent, enough to get by. But you wont be inciting change. And you certainly wont be inspiring others.

If youre doing boring work, chances are you do just enough to not get fired.

But if you do work that excites you, keeps you up at night, and fulfills you… youll do more. Youll give yourself to it completely. Youll put in extra time, more energy, more passion. Because its worth it. Its satisfying.

At the end of the day youll think: “My time was well spent today.”

So the real question isnt whether or not to do boring or passionate work. The question is how to get started.

Seven things you can do to move toward getting paid to do what you love:

1. Find your passion. This is all about your great love, and what makes you come alive. To get started here, ask: “What am I insanely interested in?” “What could I talk about for hours?” and “What would I do for free?”

2. Find your strengths. What were looking for are things youre naturally good at, and the unique strengths youve had since birth. This is about contributing your gifts to the world. To get started, interview your friends, family, or peers and ask them what three things youre naturally talented at.

3. Find your value. Finding the intersection between what youre good at and what people are willing to pay you for is what it all boils down to. If you cant find a way to get paid to do what you love, the other stuff doesnt really matter. So its worth spending some time figuring this out. To get started, think about the benefits youll give others by contributing your value. Think about whether or not there is a desperate pain or a deep passion involved in what youre offering.

4. Make the commitment. I think, more than any other reason, people fail to succeed is because they fail to commit. Thinking “I dont know” or “maybe someday” will not get you to the point of doing what youre passionate about for a living. It takes an uncompromising commitment to make this change for yourself. Instead of thinking “I dont know,” think “Ill figure it out.” Remember, paths are made by walking.

5. Be willing to let go. As much as you might want to make this change for yourself, it can be hard to let go of the old patterns of thinking and behaving. A lot of us have ideas that “work shouldnt be fun” or “you should just suck it up.” Breaking down those beliefs can be difficult, but moving toward a new direction is most definitely worth it.

6. What will you give up? You might not think that you have time to take on a new endeavor, and youre right. You wont have time until you make the time. There are a lot of things we place in our schedules that we think we must do. But in reality, our world wouldnt collapse if we chose something else. Make a list of all the activities and time sinks that youll give up in order to make time for your new journey.

7. Will you say yes to yourself? You may want to become a writer, dentist, life coach, painter, or public speaker. If you know that this is what youre meant to do, then give yourself permission to call yourself that… even if youre not established yet. And even if you dont make a full time income from it. Own your passion, completely and unreservedly.

While there is more to your journey than just these seven things, this is a huge start. Clarity and commitment are the biggest steps, the rest is easy. One foot in front of the other.

You will get there. No one can stop you if you want it enough.

And remember, the world needs you to do what you love. Nothing else can create more change, or have a greater impact.

Give yourself permission. We need your gifts.

This article was written by Zen Habits contributor, Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. Also see his free ebook The Zero Hour Workweek.

I have heard it said that prayer is asking for help and meditation is receiving the answer. If thats the case, we are much better askers than listeners. Everybody has prayed, but few listen. That, however, is beginning to change. Meditation-the process of stilling the mind-has busted out of the closet its been hiding in for the last thirty years.
As far as I can tell, its rise in popularity is due to three things:

1. Information. Scientific studies “proving” the benefits of meditation with respect to our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing are making their way into mainstream media. Transcendental Meditation, for instance, is the most widely practiced and scientifically studied form of meditation with over 600 studies to date.

2. Desperation. Ive always thought desperation was highly underrated. It has been a driving force for drastic change in my life on more than one occasion. When were desperate, we are willing to try just about anything to surmount our problems-whether it be stress, illness, or general life malaise.

3. Increased awareness. There is a rise in the collective unconscious moving toward all things spiritual. In other words, meditation is trendy. We can only hope its a trend that sticks. After all, it was in vogue in the 60s and 70s but definitely kooky through the 80s and 90s.

We see and hear about meditation everywhere now, not just in spiritual circles. Commercials are jumping on the bandwagon-using meditation to convince us to buy stuff we dont need. Theres so much wrong with that, I dont even know where to begin. I recently saw a commercial for yogurt that featured a woman sitting in the lotus position immersed in meditation. Wow, you mean if I spend money on eating dairy Ill become enlightened? Oh, dont get me started….

Some medical doctors now prescribe meditation for their patients, and Fortune 500 companies offer meditation respite programs for their employees, even professional sports teams are participating in various techniques. These corporations and athletes may not be looking for peace as much as to cure ailments, produce happier employees, make larger profits or get wins, but whatever the case, they have learned what the wisest among us have known for centuries-meditation makes us better.

When I was initiated into the Transcendental Meditation program, meditation was not commonplace. I learned the technique, but I wasnt quite sure why I was doing it. I was only seven. I did know two things. 1. It somehow felt meaningful and 2. My family were the only meditators on the block-maybe even the whole city. Meditation embarrassed me. I told my friends it was just about “relaxing.”

Meditation is about relaxing, but it is much more than that. In quietness, we reconnect with our Source. Call that God, truth, love, universal consciousness, or your higher self. It doesnt matter. But in those moments something magical happens. We transform.

Quieting the mind redirects our worldly focus within. Through this process, we reach deep levels of heightened awareness. The attainment of this awareness is very important because it reminds us of what is true. Truth is not found in the world. Truth is within. The world gives us a false identity; we look within when we want to know what is real.

In those moments we break free from the onerous chains of false ideas imposed upon us by ourselves, others, and society-even television commercials. The more we are reminded of that truth, the more freely we demonstrate it in the world. We become different; as a result, our life becomes different.

David Lynch is a good example. You know, the enigmatic filmmaker of Twin Peaks fame and movies like Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. Hes different, for sure. And his creativity is beyond. Mr. Lynch has been practicing Transcendental Meditation for over thirty years. We get an insightful glimpse into his world through his short and immensely enjoyable book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity. As he says, meditation is a key to life, peace, and creativity.

I dont believe we can achieve anything truly innovative, interesting, creative, worthwhile or meaningful without first going within. In stillness, our mind expands. We tap in to a well of infinite possibilities. Everything is realigned, giving us a proper perspective. When we come back to this world, we cant help but make better choices because we are in our right mind. And by the way, meditation as I speak of it here is only one way to accomplish that.

Although we access what I like to think of as our natural state in meditation, it doesnt come easily. First, you have to want it, and not many do. Second, you must place the quest for truth above all else, and only a few are willing. Third, it takes practice, which nobody has time for.

Stilling your mind feels counter-intuitive. We are taught to go out and make it happen. Take the bull by its horns. Be the fastest, the quickest. Get up and get going. The world doesnt teach us to stop and meditate-unless theyre trying to sell us something. (Insert nasty dairy product commercial.) This world is a world of ego, and the egos edict is Seek and do not find. Its the opposite of truths motto: Go within and find.

If you are looking to quiet your mind, here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years. By the way, these tips are based on a mantra (word) style meditation, which I find to be the easiest.

Pick a time when you will not be disturbed and turn off the phone.

Find a comfortable place to sit. Always sit up. Otherwise, you will fall asleep.

Take a few deep breaths and with each exhale sink deeper down into relaxation.

After a minute or so, introduce a mantra or word such as “peace” “love” or the universal mantra “om.” (“Amen” is actually a mantra as well.)

Repeat the mantra in a friendly, relaxed way. You can expect other thoughts to interfere, thats just what your ego and your conscious mind does. Dont fight them, dont favor them, dont try to ignore them, dont hope they go away, dont get frustrated, dont judge yourself, just gently bring your mind back to repeating your chosen mantra-word.

When you get antsy-pants and want to open your eyes, hang on and meditate for another minute or two. I find thats when I go the deepest.

When youre ready to stop, gently bring yourself back into the room.

Your smallest attempts will change you. Every effort is meaningful. Try at first to meditate for just five minutes a day. A Course in Miracles tells us that five minutes of a stilled mind will save you thousands of years. Begin there. Then extend that practice to as much as twenty minutes.

I think its better to be consistent for a shorter amount of time-five minutes every day-rather than longer durations less frequently, like twenty minutes twice a week.

Then forget about it until the next meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder, along with Guru Dev, of Transcendental Meditation, says meditating is like taking a bath. When you take a shower in the morning you dont keep thinking about the shower throughout the day. You have done it, youre clean, now you are free to move forward and focus on other things.

Stilling your mind can be frustrating at first. The ego will constantly interfere, proclaiming your efforts a waste of time. The ego thrives on chaos. When you make any attempt to loosen its stranglehold, it will offer all kinds of distractions. Taking out the trash becomes all-important. Do not be discouraged. Starting anything new is difficult at first. Quieting the mind is no different. Its like building a muscle that has atrophied.

With time, you will see and feel the results. With consistency, meditation moves from being a chore to a gift you give yourself.

The Quiet Mind written by Cynthia Morgan

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1. Identify it for what it really is: False Evidence Appearing Real.

As human beings, we are essentially controlled by two emotions: love and fear. We act out of one or the other. The beautiful thing? We have the ability to choose the thoughts we think and the emotion we attach to them. While fear is pre-programmed into us as an instinctual response to potential danger, much of the every day stuff we fear isnt dangerous at all. We have simply convinced ourselves what were fearing is real.

2.