The Passion Principle

Passion is hard-core devotion to a person or cause; it infuses life with meaning, joy, and unbridled enthusiasm. Passion is desire in your heart, fire in your belly, an indispensable virtue that is far more valuable than money, power or fame.

Whether the issue pertains to growing sales, adding greater value, focusing on key result areas, embracing change, attracting talent, or raising our own performance, passion is one of the great differentiators as it fosters commitment and determination.

Passion reflects confidence, spreads good cheer, raises morale, inspires associates, arouses loyalty, and laughs at adversity.

You cannot overlook nor underestimate the relationship between perseverance and passion. Perseverance is the strong determination to move toward the achievement of a goal–purpose. And passion is the fuel that drives perseverance.

No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic. Apathy is the enemy of passion; it's perhaps the worst of all evils. Far too many people go through life without making any effort to truly live it ... to get that fire in their belly for enjoying life and living it to the fullest.

For the individual without passion, life is irrational, unfulfilling, and for some hopeless. The rootless individual is missing significance and goes through life like a blindfolded man in a strange room playing a game of which he does not know the rules.

Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm. Apathy is a killer of ideas, of hopes and of dreams. The world has no lack of good fights to fight and it has no lack of resources to solve our problems. What many lack is the burning desire and enthusiasm to fight the fights and to solve those problems.

The potential to become passionate is an inherent birthright and demonstrated clearly by children. The most irresistible charm of children is their bubbling enthusiasm.

Children who come fully under the spell of passion see no darkness, no stop signs, no red lights, nor speed limits. They are completely smitten and forget that there is such a thing as failure in the world.

Children are easily excited and they have relatively few fears about expressing their enthusiasm. They are turned-on by an innate curiosity that stimulates learning. And, when they learn, they can hardly contain themselves long enough to tell you about their new discoveries.

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.

What have you done with childlike enthusiasm this week? Far too many people act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements for a successful life, when all that they really need to be happy is something to be passionate about.

To engage in work that does not cultivate your passion is completely unnatural and sabotages your spirit. You must love that which you do. Your heart must be in it. Without passion and enthusiasm you will never work up to your fullest ability, potential and competitive greatness.

The demands placed on every one of us require that we bring all of who we are to the game. Actively engaged hearts and minds, unwavering commitment, laser focus, and relentless determination are all motivated by passion.

Many factors contribute to creating passion for work. These include identifying what it means to be successful, transforming projects into exciting work, and defining that work in terms of a heroic or noble cause.

What is most beautiful and sacred to you? What would you feel incomplete without? When you have identified that which brings you complete joy, your own unquenchable desire to achieve that goal will become your passion — the inner drives that turns your dreams into a shining reality.

Few things are professionally more fulfilling than doing work that you are extremely good at and turned-on about. It's an incredible feeling when what you're good at and excited about enables you to make a contribution that truly adds value. The result is meaningful success.

Deep down we all want to be involved in work that matters, that has meaning, that is memorable, and if we're really lucky, work that changes the world.

Compelling work stimulates the passion in everyone. They're the things from which legends and legacies are made. If the project you're working on now is not fueling enthusiasm, you should transform it, reframe it, and redefine it until you fall in love with it.

Those who truly get the passion bug see the bigger picture and ultimate value they bring to the world. They do this by linking their individual contributions to a larger, nobler cause.

It's the administrative assistant in a hospital who believes she is a part of saving lives; it's the photo developer who knows that she preserves people's memories; and it's the sailor who understands that the combat readiness of his ship strengthens peace negotiations.

When people establish a connection between what they do and changing the world for the better, heroism is the result. Everyone wants to feel heroic and noble about something because at the heart of heroism is meaning and significance.

What is the ultimate value you bring to the world? What is the heroic cause for which you fight? When you define work as a cause, a movement worth fighting for, you will find that there is no height to which your spirit cannot rise.

You will also find that you have cultivated something that is extremely difficult to replicate, as passion is the ultimate competitive weapon.

Every great accomplishment is the triumph of some great passion. Great works are only produced when one is intoxicated with a passion for greatness. Vow to live completely, fearlessly and passionately.

Everything Counts!

Gary Ryan Blair
Gary Ryan Blair is President of The GoalsGuy. A visionary and gifted conceptual thinker, Gary is highly regarded as a speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to leading companies throughout the globe. Visit The GoalsGuy at www.GoalsGuy.com