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
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. ; )
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.
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.
Now for the reverse, how to turn your profitable living into a passion!? Possible?
Where’s that article!
You mentioned some points that have rung true for me as I grow my own business, Donald. I’ve often asked myself, “is anyone out there?” and alternate with, “that’s it, I’m quitting.” Then, I apply my heart-felt energy/emotions and I’m back on track…much faster than I ever was in the past!
One of the things I sometimes hear from my clients, “I don’t know what I’m passionate about.” It’s not until after I’ve worked with them and they get clear about their goals and why those goals are important to them that they get a clear picture of their passion.
It also helps when they can see in real-time how good for their heart and body it is just by thinking/talking about their love – whether it is a person, place, thing or idea.
I love what you said about whether you’d do it even if you weren’t getting paid for it…which leads to that maxim: Do what you’re passionate about and never work a day in your life again.
Shanel,
I agree. In fact, such virtuous cycle is one of my goals with this blog. So yes, we need to learn how to turn our passion into profitable living.
Avani,
That’s an interesting side of passion: they can turn the otherwise boring tasks into something we enjoy. It’s actually similar to productivity trick that uses frequent rewards to increase motivation. In this case, the passion is the reward.
Flora,
Yes, passion does make real difference in such difficult times.
Ewonk,
I believe it’s possible. We can do that by learning to love what we do. I wrote a post about it entitled Change Your Mindset to Improve Your Productivity.
Marianna,
Your comment reminds me of a quote by Thomas Edison:
This man had more than 1000 patents!
Well stated! Passion is everything.
Marc and Angel,
Yes, passion is everything. Thanks for stopping by!
excellent post, i guess i can say that you hit the nail dead on the head…without passion you cant be successful..heres a great ooist tht touches on that topic, as far as being an entrepreneur goes..a href=”http://www.victoryblogger.com/entrepreneur/wealth/ “>click here for post
[…] Find your passion and follow it. – “In the first few months (of writing this blog), I often felt like I was 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.” – via Life Optimizer […]
[…] ???????? ?????? […]
[…] the next step? 18. What one thing would you do for free? If no one paid you to do this, would you do it for free? Better yet, would you pay for the privilege to do […]
I have a big question. A person who living a poor country who face the trouble of leading his normal life with his family memeber because of insufficient earnings,how can he think about passion?Though he have high education he cannot get the job because of unemployment problem and a huge compition where many highly educated will fight for better.Please is there be any answer of this questions.
Sohel,
You’re right that it’s not easy to think about passion in such situations. I’m not in there, so my answer is just a projection of what I would do if I was there.
Since the financial demand is pressing, I have no choice but to work (any kind of work) to meet the needs. But I will aim to create a room to breath. That is, I will work hard so that I can earn enough to give me chance to think about other things.
By then I will have the opportunity to think about my passion and work on it. The passion will in turn bring me to the next level in my career since we work better on things we are passionate about.
The hardest part is creating the room for breathing but I think it’s achievable.
[…] often write about the importance of passion for career (example), so I was excited when I received a review copy of the […]
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i like very much ure words, that’s true man. you got the key for success.
i googled success is all about passion. i fall in ure article first page, first result !
i feel ure words. nice work
Imed
Thanks Imed. Best of luck to you.
It’s so great… I hope your idea will help me to pave a way to success. Thanks a lot.
[…] Make sure you’re also passionate about the things in life that truly matter.Additional Reading: Passion: Your Key For Achieving Success Passion for Work is a Requirement for Success Follow Your Dreams and End Up Broke! Stop Trying to […]
Beautifully written and just what my soul needed this morning.
You see I have a few people who have attempted to copy me. Its obvious that they copied my direction in life but they have no passion for it. At first I was upset because these people were quickly achieving success and jobs that I don’t have yet.
But your article responded to that. Their short term success won’t last because they lack passion. BTW although I am not paid for it yet I continue to do the work they are paid for, except I do it for free. Thanks for the encouragement! My passion will persevere and lead me to lasing success!
Woooww… deep.. really deep. Thank you Donald, I have just used your views in a paper for a master degree in management… and appropriately referenced it. Amazing views… love it.
Passion does not always or even usually equal success. Success equals passion.