Passion is something within you that provides the continual enthusiasm focus, and energy you need to succeed. But unlike feel-good motivation derived from external sources, true passion has a more spiritual nature. It comes from within. And it can be channeled into amazing feats of success.
How to develop passion
Let’s look at your career for a moment. That’s the work that occupies the majority of your week. Ask yourself: Am I doing what I love to do?
If you aren’t, and you had the choice to do anything you wanted to do, what would that be? If you believe you can’t make money doing that, imagine that you just won the lottery. After buying your expensive mansion, a Rolls-Royce, and all the toys and travel you wanted, what would you do with your day? What you’re doing now or something different?
If you’re not skilled enough to do the work you’d love to do, make time to educate yourself so you are. Do whatever it takes to prepare — working part time in your dream job or even volunteering as an intern — while still maintaining your current job.
Pay attention, too, to those times outside of the office when you feel the happiest, the most joyous, the most fully engaged, the most acknowledged and appreciated, and the most connected with yourself and others. What were you doing at those times? What were you experiencing? Those events are indicators of ways you can bring passion into your life outside your day-to-day work. It tells you what you would be happiest doing with your time.
How to keep passion and enthusiasm alive
The most obvious is to spend time doing what you love to do. That includes discovering your true purpose, deciding what you really want to do and have, believing you can do and have it, deliberately creating your dream career, delegating as much as you can that is not your core genius to someone else, and taking concrete steps toward the attainment of your goals.
Another key to passion and enthusiasm is to reconnect with your original purpose for doing anything that you do. When you look underneath the surface of the things that feel like have-tos rather than want-tos, you’ll almost always find that there is a deeper purpose that you can passionate about. You may not love the idea of sitting in a pediatrician’s waiting room with your child, but when you get underneath it, aren’t you passionate about your child’s health and well-being? Ask yourself, What is the why underneath what I am doing? If you can get in touch with that, it is a lot easier to get enthusiastic about whatever it is that you have to do.
* Source: The Success Principles by Jack Canfield