Do you want to succeed? If your answer is yes like most people do, then there is one important asset you must have: passion. While you may get results in the short term without having passion, in the long term it makes the difference between achieving success and failing. Why? Because there are difficult times on your way to success. There are times when you feel like you are working for nothing, that you don’t get anything in return for all your effort. In such difficult times, only passion can keep you moving forward.
I experience it myself in writing this blog. In the first few months, I often felt like speaking to an empty room. I felt like I wrote articles nobody read. Even after blogging for three months, I got no more than six visitors a day. In that difficult time, the only thing that kept me going was passion. I love this topic. I love personal growth. Because of it, I kept blogging no matter what.
That’s why my favorite acid test of whether or not you may succeed in a particular field is this:
Are you willing to do it for free?
Are you willing to do it if nobody paid you? Are you willing to do it even if you got no reputation out of it? If your answer is yes, then there is a good chance you will succeed. That’s because by answering yes you are saying that you do it because of love and nothing else. You care about it.
When you are passionate about what you do, your passion will show up in your work. If you are blogger, it will show up in your writings. If you are a speaker, it will show up in your speeches. If you are a product designer, it will show up in the products you design. The energy and excitement are there, and they attract people to come to you. Everything else will follow.
Not only will passion lead you to achieving success, it will also lead you to a fulfilling life. You will become who you are. You will become the person you are supposed to be. That, after all, is the reason why you live on earth.
Passion is your asset. Find it, keep it, nurture it. You won’t regret your decision.
Photo by aussiegall
Comment by ewonk
4 2. August 2008, 2:59 am o'clock |
Now for the reverse, how to turn your profitable living into a passion!? Possible?
Where’s that article!
Comment by Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D.
3 2. August 2008, 12:47 am o'clock |
Passion is essential to success because there will be times when passion is all that keeps you going.
I agree with Shanel also that it’s best to learn how to turn your passion into a profitable living.
Comment by Avani-Mehta
2 1. August 2008, 5:54 pm o'clock |
I agree, willing to do something for free, without any other return than the joy of “doing” is the true test of passion.
What I have found is that along with that one passion, there will be innumerable small things which I have to do and I don’t like to do. Things which I would have happily ignored had they come on their own. But because, they help me to do what I love doing, I will happily learn and do them surprisingly with enthusiasm. My passion covers all of those things and turns them into enjoyable tasks.
Comment by Shanel Yang
1 1. August 2008, 10:54 am o'clock |
It is great to love your work so much you’d be willing to do it for free. But, it’s also important to educate yourself about how best to turn your love into a profitable living, too! After all, with greater income comes greater opportunities to share your work to even greater audiences. Then everyone wins. ; )