How passionate are you? Does it show? Being inspired is one thing, but executing on that inspiration is the key to developing and maintaining passion.
One definition of passion is any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love or hate. Another is a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything, such as a passion for music or a passion for providing healthcare services.
According to my mentor, and recognized world leadership guru, John Maxwell, passion does these three positive things for us:
Passion pulls us up enabling us to overcome adversity.
Passion puts the blinders on us when facing difficult hurdles and allows us to win in the face of challenge.
Passion pulls us out giving us initiative.
When our backs are against the wall, passion provides us inspiration to take a risk and to try new things and to dare to be different to be successful
Passion positions us well giving us the greatest odds for success.
When seeking a positive outcome, passion provides the confidence that gives us that little extra we need to more likely accomplish our objectives.
I believe that it is essential to have a clear vision that you believe in to help maintain your passion. The vision that I have for helping others is an example of that. If that doesn’t exist for me, I would flounder and likely never be satisfied with the help I was giving people.
A vision for success that is based on passion is sustainable because it becomes the driver of all that occurs to enable success. Focusing on the vision that you have then becomes your mission and shapes your values. These intentional behaviors evolve into who you are and not just what you do. Intentional behavior will spawn plans of action, individual growth and new, creative ideas to become better at achieving your vision thus maintaining your passion.
Maintaining your passion will almost certainly require that you stay focused on your vision in a rigorous and systematic way. Passion is the first step to achievement. If you don’t stay focused it will be difficult to sustain your passion and therefore achieve your potential.
Associating with passionate people helps to bolster and reinforce our passion. Passion is contagious so it is better to associate with as many people as possible that are passionate about life, about who they are and about what they do.
By keeping your passion, you will be able to go out into the world and inspire others in a potentially life-changing way!