I love what I do. For years I heard the trite expression, ‘find something that you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life’. At least for me, that’s true. I wake up every morning looking forward to going to work and what I am going to accomplish that day. I realize not everyone can say that, but for me it has turned out to be true.
I can also recognize the people who I come in contact with every day who feel the same way. You can just tell. They have something that you can see, something that sets them apart, and something that I believe is critical to success in any field that you choose… passion.
You need passion for the thing that you do, and if you don’t have it, people will see that. Your job will be just a job, and that sounds pretty depressing to me. Passion is the thing that sets you apart from others. I love watching someone do the thing that they have passion for. A good example is the Olympics. Wow… talk about people who have a passion for what they do! I don’t think you could devote that many years of your life preparing for something that may only last a few minutes if you didn’t have passion.
People say something like this to me all the time… ‘Wow, you certainly get excited when you talk about this stuff.’ or ‘I wish I had your enthusiasm!’. I am not great at everything I do, I can assure you. But I love what I do and I work every day to be better at what I do. I read as much as I can about the things that I do. I study things that make me better at what I do. I take advice from others who do what I do better. And I never stop learning.
So my advice to you is this… if you don’t have passion for the things that you do, then do something else. You’ll never be truly happy until you do. Find that something that you do have passion for and I promise you that you’ll be happier and more successful than ever before. You might not make as much money, but money doesn’t always equal success, does it? Feed your passion every day, and you’ll never regret it.
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Excellent point Don! You are a good example of that!
I know exactly how you feel with one very important distinction: First you must commit. Completely and without reservation throw yourself into the thing and passion will follow. This is true at work, during play or in relationships. Roy H Williams said it best, “Commitment, I believe, produces passion. I often meet people who sigh, ‘I just can’t find my passion.’ To them I say, ‘Make a commitment. Fling yourself into it. Passion will make its debut soon after.'” http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com