The sun faded towards the horizon as I made my way through the winding back roads of rural northern Georgia. I was returning from a photoshoot late one night, and I was still a long way from home. My wife, newborn daughter, and a home-cooked supper were waiting for me; but the ETA on my GPS said 10 PM.
As I drove, I decided to call my sister and brother in law. He had just gotten home from a long day of work, and they were about to sit down for a late meal too. As I talked with them I thought to myself, “Wow, that must be really terrible to just now be getting home from work and eating…” No sooner had that thought come to me than I realized - “I AM still at work…”
Doing my job was so enjoyable to me, I hadn’t even considered it work. In that moment I found new meaning in the phrase “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
How did I get to that point? I’m not a gifted entrepreneur who’s always dreamed of having his own business. I have a seminary diploma, not a media degree. I studied Greek and hermeneutics, not frame rates and hex codes.
After graduating from Bible college, I was given an unforeseen opportunity to become the Media Director at a large church in 2016. That’s where my media career began. I had almost zero training in that area up to that point, but what I lacked in experience I made up for in passion.
I began voraciously studying, and I soon realized how much I enjoyed this new world of art. Soon I started Mark Shideler Media as a side hobby, and that’s all it was for six years. But everything changed in 2023 when I unexpectedly lost my job. The company I was working for did something illegal, and when I approached them about it they let me go. Over the next few months God clearly showed me that He was calling me to do media full time, even though I had no interest or confidence in doing so.
As I look back on my life, I see a fascinating display of God’s hand at work guiding me to discover, develop, and do what He created me to do (which ended up being very different from anything I ever dreamed). And I believe what I’ve learned so far on that journey is true for others as well.
There are two principles in life that I’ve come to understand. The first is that ANYONE can be good at ANYTHING.
Now by this I don’t mean that anyone can be as equally good at anything as anyone else can be. I could practice shooting a basketball for 20 hours a day and still never be as good as Steph Curry is. However, in a general sense, any person could force themselves to learn anything if they try hard enough.
But the second principle I’ve learned is that NO ONE can be good at EVERYTHING.
We could get good at anything if we tried, but we only get good at some things and not others. Why? What determines what you get good at and what you don’t?
One word determines what we excel at - that word is PASSION!
Passion is the greatest motivator. You PURSUE what you ENJOY, and you QUIT what you HATE.
God created each of us with a unique purpose, and He also gave us the passion and giftings to accomplish that purpose.
In order to live fulfilled, you must DISCOVER what you were created for, DEVELOP that gifting, and then DO it for the Creator who gave it to you.
So how do you discover your passion?
There’s a process I’ve observed in my life that enabled me to do this. It’s not complicated or new. I didn’t invent it, and I wasn’t even aware of it as I was learning it. But as I look back I can see it, and I believe it’s applicable for everyone (not just me).
The process of discovering your passion (so you can develop and do it) involves three basic components: Education (how much you know), Effort (how hard you try), and Experience (how long you develop).
Here are a few steps that allow us to follow this process:
Education - Be a self-motivated learner (Your passion might be something you know little about) We live in an age of information where there is no shortage of training available. But in a world where information is everywhere, many people are woefully uninformed. Why is that? Because we’ve made the goal of education to pass classes, when the goal should be to learn information. I’ve had the opportunity to mentor several aspiring creatives over the years. The ones that I enjoy working with are the ones who love to learn on their own. The ones that I quickly give up on are the ones who say they enjoy media but show no interest in learning new things. Information is everywhere. Many can teach, but only YOU can learn. So develop an insatiable appetite for educating yourself on a variety of subjects (even ones you don’t like).
Effort - Embrace difficulty and failure (Your passion might be something you’re scared of) A fact of life is that your first anything will probably be bad. Your first painting, your first oil change, or your first public speech will not be your best. Do it anyway! Embrace difficulty, and be willing to fail. It is through difficulty and failure that you will learn. As a perfectionist, I’m often afraid to try new things because I know I won’t be as good at them initially as I ultimately want to be. That fear of failing has held me back many times, but I’ve learned that I can do a lot more than I think I can if I am just willing to fail.
Experience - Stay humble and don’t quit (Your passion might take time to develop) There are two attitudes that will immediately slam the brakes on personal growth and progress - “stuck up” and “give up.” As soon as you quit, you stop. And as soon as you think you've arrived, you stop. Humility allows us to have an objective view of our abilities (to not be over or under confident). It allows us to appreciate how far we've come, recognize that we haven't arrived, and determine to continue moving forward. There are creators who are not as good as me, and there are creators who are much better than me. I can't feel “less than” and give up, and I can’t feel “better than” and get stuck up. Attitudes of self-doubt AND superiority will BOTH keep you from trying. So try new things, celebrate others’ successes, ask questions, and receive criticism.
This process of pursuing education, putting in effort, and gaining experience in a variety of subjects allows us to discover our passion. Then, once we identify our passion, we can take that exact same process which we’re already familiar with, apply it to our passion, and excel at it.
When I first began doing media I knew nothing about it, felt overwhelmed by it, and was not immediately successful at it. But as I applied this process, I discovered a passion I never knew existed. When I was forced to do media full time, those same feelings of self-doubt and fear returned. But I again applied that same process to my new calling, gained competence in it over time, and am now using it to glorify God and provide for my family.
And perhaps the most important observation is that I didn’t wait until I had to learn media to become familiar with this process. I had already been using this process in other areas of my life. So when the opportunity to do media came along, I took a familiar process, applied it to a brand new subject, and opened up a whole new world.
Almost a decade later, I’m confident of this - in order to live fulfilled, you must DISCOVER what you were created for, DEVELOP that gifting, and DO it for the Creator who gave it to you. And the way to accomplish each stage of that journey is to consistently pursue education, put in effort, and gain experience.
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