The most successful people usually say that one of the reasons they succeeded was because they loved what they were doing. Although they definitely don’t lie, it makes some of us wonder whether we truly love what we do or how can we  find something we’d love more so that we don’t miss that opportunity to  succeed.

If you go down that path of exploration it can take you a lifetime to figure it out. The reason is that you’d have to answer the fundamental and complex question of what love really is. And that’s a difficult one. But if you happen to agree with any of the following versions, that sometimes love is something you just get used to it, something you end up investing a lot of time with,  something that you don’t necessarily like but ends up making you feel good, then maybe you would agree that is just a state of mind that all of us could probably manipulate more or less (OK, some luck is always needed…)

What I am trying to say here is that instead of trying too hard to find out what we love to do we can just learn to love what we already do. What we have decided it was a good choice for us and have now invested a good amount of time and effort with. It can take us some time to change the way we look at it, but actually just by committing to it we can drastically increase our chances of succeeding throughout that journey. After all succeeding into something it will make us fall in love with it for sure!

Figuring out what we are good at is a major esteem need of those who want to become successful at …something. It sometimes comes naturally to us either by luck or great guidance but sometimes it just takes forever to figure it out. In fact not only it can take forever but it’s not even guaranteed that one will finally find his Ithaca however at least some of us get into that discovery sailboat sooner or later in our lives. Regardless the possibilities we are up for a promising adventure!

There are many thesaurus maps out there from people who actually made it to the their dreamland but the reality is that destinations vary by case. Moreover a map alone would never help you become a sailor so is better to learn some techniques instead. After all, as an old sailing quote has it “You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails”

So here’s a technique to help you figure out (and hopefully help you focus on) what you are or can become good at. Here’s how it works: Assuming that most of the times, for one to be consider successful someone else has to acknowledge this  (not always the case but…) think of it as quadrant where you have YOU vs OTHERS on the one axis and KNOW vs THINK on the other.

There are certain things you know you are good at. These doesn’t have to be any special skills or talents. Just the experiences and knowledge you have acquired through your life. These may be things you don’t really want to focus on or you don’t think you should as you believe they won’t get you anywhere. Fair enough but before deciding yourself that none cares about those make sure you have properly calculated the chances of succeeding through those.  Simply put, you would never become a famous singer unless you had started singing in front of an audience. You would never become an entrepreneur unless you had launched into a market. Bottom line you could actually already have something you are evidently good at that can indeed make you successful because there are some people out there caring about it. Don’t ignore these options – they may be your easiest way to the gold.

Then there are some other things you think you are good at. Most of the times these are going to be stuff that you know they make a person successful – thus you want to think you are good at anyway. Also in contrary to the previous case, these are things you may have to work hard (or harder) to achieve them and although there is nothing wrong about trying hard there’s also an element of time or a number of other resources you need to take into account before focusing on them. Nevertheless in this case there are 2 actions you need to definitely consider:

1) Before anything else you need to get some feedback from others on those things you think you are good at. In contrary to the case of deciding what you want to do in life where you can just ask yourself in order to be granted as a successful persona in your area the opinion of your circle is important. This is not to praise or demotivate yourself about anything but simply in order to understand whether you are indeed as good as you think (so that you know!) or what else you may need to do to finally become good at it.

2) Then you need not just to let people know (as in case 1) but also do a great job to convince them (which is another thing you may or may not be good at at the end!) as in this case your capability will be less obvious to them or they might have to take a greater risk in giving you that chance.

Final note – you are good at what other people know or think you are good at!

No one was ever born knowing everything. Knowledge is constantly acquired through education and experience. A lot of what we know is what we were told. Other are stuff we asked about. Evidently we tend to ask more questions when we are younger and naive than when we get older and supposedly wiser. However, no one will ever die knowing everything so what can really differentiate one’s wealth of knowledge over another’s is actually simple: how many questions asked.

Most people don’t like to ask too many questions because they don’t want to look unsure.  They are afraid that their questions may sound silly to others. They might even prefer to assume what the answer could be and be fine with that instead.

Others are using questions to make sure. To expand their knowledge. To confirm their assumptions. Of course, asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers so shouldn’t just ask a million questions to pretend you care but does it really worth losing all these opportunities you have to get more informed or learn something new.

Pick your style. Tip: you certainly don’t know everything!

Entrepreneurship is a form of art, not a science. You can’t go with it by the book. If you do, I hope there’s enough cash behind you to burn until you figure it out. But if you are truly passionate about what you do then you let your dreams, passions, guts & feelings guide you down the chaotic road of entrepreneurship.

Artists are very similar to entrepreneurs, in so many ways. Therefore there is a lot to learn by studying their work and life philosophies. Here are only a few things we can learn from one of the greatest artists of the last century, Picasso:

“Good artists copy… great artists steal…“ It is not a coincidence that this Picasso quote was Steve Jobs’ favourite. There are multiple interpretations for it, but one way to think about it is that you need to go first where others would and could go. Do something before someone else does it. The world is full of opportunities ready to be exploited. Many people are looking for them. You can’t just expect them come your way. You need to go get them – steal them!

“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do” See if Picasso had painted a violin in a conventional, sensible way it would probably look great to everybody. Instead, he did something that it may still doesn’t make sense to the masses, but is indeed an extraordinary piece of work, especially appreciated from those who truly understand art. You don’t need to make sense to everyone. Find your niche and make sense to those who care. That’s when you can claim special.

Picasso once said “…an artist works of necessity…” You can’t be an artist – you live as an artist. Picasso wasn’t contracted to create some of the worlds greatest paintings of all time. He lived and breathed art and apparently had the talent but also the passion and discipline to devote his life into it. So you may be well prepared to become an entrepreneur but what you have to really ask yourself  is simple: are you ready to live as an entrepreneur?