It’s the Australian café scene’s latest love affair, Matcha Maiden – the lean, green latte-loving powder promising to pump the body with a concentrated burst of anti-oxidants (up to 10 cups of green tea worth in one serve!). The lady behind the latest craze, Sarah, just happens to be a friend of Anaka’s and a super passionate one at that. Heed her advice on a killer 2016!

Anaka: Passion holds unique definition from one individual to the next – how would you describe ‘passion?’

Sarah: To me, passion is best described as a fire ignited within you by certain things that evoke stronger feelings than you usually feel. Your passion can apply to anything – an object, a person, an activity – anything that makes you feel most alive, excited and fulfilled. It’s what drives you to prioritise and focus on something more than anything else. Some people may not ever feel “passion” towards something, but if you do, you’ll know it! I generally don’t think it’s something we choose, but something we discover (and I feel very lucky to have discovered mine so early in life!).

 
A: How important is passion in what you do on a daily basis?

S: I think passion is an incredibly important part of life – to go through life without ever feeling that intense and inexplicable burst of emotion about something would be such a terrible shame. Passion pushes you to work harder, go further and aim higher. I think it’s very closely linked to personal fulfilment and is therefore a vital part of the human experience.

Even if you can’t necessarily be living your passion on a daily basis i.e. in your job, it is important to be able to feel passion about something, no matter how small or silly. A lot of people believe you should be passionate about your work, which definitely helps in many cases – it makes time stand still, it makes hard work easy and it makes every day exciting. But I spent a long time on a career path that I wasn’t exactly “passionate” about and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I found passion in my hobbies, friendships and personal life instead. As long as you find what you’re passionate about and work it into your life somehow, that’s all the soul needs.

A: What advice would you give others seeking to feel more inspired about what they do in 2016?

S: Passion is an emotion and all emotions can fade. Goals are a reference point for passion – a way to measure and evaluate the thing we are passionate about. I think we all feel more inspired about what we do when we can associate it with progress. So setting goals is crucial, whether they be 1, 5 or 10 year goals, and writing them down somewhere is a good way to get inspired. I always physically write down resolutions at the start of each year before reflecting on them come December. And I love to print out motivational quotes and have them around my home and office just for a bit of insight and reflection every now and then. Finally, because I’m doing a lot of writing down and printing, having beautiful stationery really helps too!

The most important thing though is to do what’s right for you. Other people’s goals, circumstances and techniques for inspiration are totally irrelevant to your own (one of my favourite quotes is “the grass is greener where you water it”). If pretty stationery doesn’t do anything for you, then don’t bother with it! The best thing you can do is to reflect honestly on what helps you stay motivated (since many people don’t even think about it that deeply) and then make sure you implement the strategies that will help you most.

A: Who or what do you look to when in need of a boost in dedication and determination professionally and/or personally?

S: Having just said that other people’s goals are irrelevant to you, that doesn’t mean that it’s not good to have role models. I mean to say you shouldn’t get bogged down by comparisons with other people, as we are all different people on different walks of life. But you should have some people who you admire and aspire to be like, who you can treat as role models or mentors. When I’m in need of a bit of motivation, it helps me to think about some of my role models and how much I want to mirror their achievements or to chat to a mentor in whose footsteps I would love to follow.

A: Name a person, dead or alive, that lived with great passion in your opinion?

S: Mother Theresa.

A: List a personal and professional goal you have set yourself for 2016?

S: As Matcha Maiden was quite an accidental success, I haven’t had much time to catch up on myself – I’m still quite alarmed that I’ve left my corporate job and am living the dream! Because of that, I haven’t implemented as much structure in my life as I would have liked to, given the abruptness of the lifestyle change and how busy it has been since then. So a key professional and personal goal for me this year is to have more work/life balance.

A: If passion were a pair of shoes, name the brand and style?

S: That is a very hard question for me as I’m not a huge shoe girl (I know, so weird – give me food or active wear any day!) So shoes aren’t the first things that come to mind when you mention “passion”…. I’d probably say trainers, because so much heart and sweat goes into exercise. I wouldn’t say no to a pair of Chanel heels either.

A: Name a hair product you can’t live without.

S: I’m SUPER fortunate to have pretty low maintenance healthy long hair, so don’t need as much product as many girls do. The flip side to silky smooth Pocahontas hair is that I can’t do anything interesting with it – even the tightest curls just fall out no matter how much hair spray I use. Volume is my biggest issue, so while many girls would pick hair treatments, mine would be more styling products – sea salt spray is God’s gift to my hair! 

A: Hair Goals for 2016?

Find a way to make the big loose Victoria’s Secret curl stay in my hair for more than 5 minutes!