Among the many books that I am currently reading is John Maxwell’s, “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader“. It’s a short book and I’ve committed to read a chapter a day. Today’s quality is Passion.
Passion is something I have longed for. I don’t really have passion for anything – at least not in the “keep you up at night” sense. I enjoy doing a lot of things but nothing really keeps me up at night. I may have bursts of enthusiasm but it quickly fades and I’m back to being Mister Even-Keel. Never too excited about anything.
So, I’m not happy with that part of myself. How do I change it? The book gives me a few suggestions:
- Take your temperature – How passionate are you about your life and work?
- Return to your first love – sometimes events in life distract us from our true calling.
- Associate with people who have passion – it’s contagious.
I’m currently at step 1. Trying to identify step 2 and looking for people in step 3.
What is your passion? What keeps you up at night? If you have developed a passion for something, how did you do it? I am interested. I’m ready to lose some sleep!
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Great topic! My passion is helping people in any way I can, and it keeps me up at night wondering if I’ve done enough.
I developed it by years of helping people, and then not helping people, and realizing it feels better to help than to not. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
A good first step might be to write down everything you’re NOT passionate about, and keep narrowing it down from there. And keep track of how you FEEL when you’re doing certain things. Do your guts twitch and do you get a bit nervous? If so, you’re on the right track!
Good luck, and happy searching. Life is all about the journey!
August 4th, 2007 at 3:39 am
What a great post! How I rediscovered my passion was by remembering the things I used to do as a child that made time fly by fast. Whatever it was that you used to do in playacting roles is most likely the reason you came here to live out your life’s purpose.
Good luck and remember to listen to your heart.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Good post. I think passion is really important.
Hm. As to how to develop it, I think the first step is identifying it. I think a lot of us have passions that are built into us, but sometimes it fades. Or if it’s not developed enough, we might not even notice that it’s what we’re called to do.
I just posted on my blog about tips on identifying your passions (at http://derrickkwa.blogspot.com/2007/08/passion.html). Would love to know what you think.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
This is something I’ve struggled with too. I think that passion is tied to finding purpose, and I just posted about clues to finding purpose (http://dailyplanit.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/clues-to-purpose/) The search continues!
August 7th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
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