I recently attended a choir concert of one of my kids. It was a pretty big affair, with a choir of about 200, and the choir conductor was an African American gentleman in black tie and tails who appeared to be soft-spoken and genteel. Until the music started.
The first song out of the gate was some sort of African spiritual in a different language. As the music swelled and the choir and soloist began to echo each other in rhythm and rhyme, they began to move. The kids in the choir all began to sway back and forth together. And the soft-spoken and genteel conductor began to dance. He hopped and skipped. The tails of his jacket swung from side to side. He waved his arms in the air as the choir followed the swing of his arms. He cut them off, he lifted their voices, and directed the sound like a traffic cop in the middle of a busy New York City intersection.
And then I began to move.
It was infectious honestly. At first my foot began to tap. Then my head began to move. Then I found myself swaying ever so slightly with the choir. I had no idea what they were saying because the words were foreign to me, but I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t take my eyes off that conductor, waiting to see what he would do next. He held both the choir and the audience in the palm of his hand and moved us at will. At the final crescendo of the song, and as the final note was still bouncing off the walls, the crowd rose to its feet and rewarded them for what they had done. My first thought was, ‘I want more’.
No matter what you do, when you display that kind of passion for what you do, people respond. People are drawn to that. They seek it out and they end up wanting more. I love watching people do what they do when they have passion. I love watching success. I love to see someone at the ‘top of their game’, and witness the very best. Because you know that it took a tremendous effort to get to where they are. You know that in some cases it takes years to get to that point, and you respect that. That’s probably why I love the Olympics so much.
So my question to you is this: do you have passion for what you do? Do you settle for being just ‘ok’, or do you strive to be the very best at what you do? I get asked alot by my clients about how they can market themselves and spread the word about what they sell and what they do. One of the first things you need to do is love what you do. Your passion will be contagious. And people won’t be able to take their eyes off you. That’s when things will change. Trust me.
