Conventional wisdom suggests that you will not apply extraordinary effort to anything consistently unless you are passionate about it. Your passions are the overriding motivators in your life. If you want to be successful, you should learn to connect everything you do to your core passions.
Passion has several components; I’ll discuss three. First, passion is spiritual. It is breathed into you by your Creator. There is something in each of us that says: “I’m not an accident! I’m not some chance event created by a random assembling of molecules! I have design and purpose! I was born for a reason! The world needs me!”
Secondly, passion is prophetic. As you look this world, you are struck by a sense that something is broken. Something is wrong! Something in this world could be better! The feeling could be profound: assailing grief over abject poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, frustration over lives wasted for lack of opportunity in an urban slum, compassion over the plight of families of chronically ill children. The feeling might seem simple, even self-centered, yet suggest a larger value: “Man, nobody can get a good cheeseburger in this town!”
Thirdly, passion is visionary. It drives you to do something about the thing that is broken. Passion is the feeling that will not let you rest until you do something about it! It is the place to which your thoughts go constantly asking the question, “What can I do?”
It is not unusual for a person to ignore or to suppress her passions. God-given passions often emerge during adolescence, at a time when one is least likely to direct them constructively. Well-meaning parents and counselors may see them as unhealthy obsessions. They might encourage their youth toward more “practical” pursuits. Yet passion, when harnessed, is the foundation of a powerful and productive life.
The key to harnessing your passion is to connect it to a viable purpose. Passion asks the question, “What can I do?” Purpose answers the question, “What can I do?” Purpose factors your personality, talents, training, and experience. Turning your passion into purpose requires focus, discipline, and hard work! It solicits help from others, honest, even brutal feedback, and accountability. This is the narrow path. Those who choose it will find joy because they will make a difference in this world. Those who reject it will become bitter because they will always see the thing that is broken and never acknowledge any responsibility for it.
For discussion: What’s your passion? How will you turn it into purpose?
Thanks for the thoughts John. You’ve got me thinkin’!