Passion is the Result Of Action Not The Cause of It
Think about it for a minute. Most people feel that if you know what your purpose is then and you are passionate about it, and then all sorts of activities take place. We imagine people who are passionate about things as very active, always setting goals and achieving them. Constantly in action and busy doing whatever it is they are passionate about.
And, of course, this can be true. But most of the time it’s the other way round.
Sure, there are always a few kids at school who know what they want to be when they grow up and they end up being that thing – doctor, teacher, dancer, preacher. But that’s not most people.
For most people – the dreams and imagination they had as children fades as adolescence and then adulthood took hold. We are taught by everything around us – the education system, the way ‘work’ works, the government, social media – that nothing is worth doing with a reward.
You put out a social media post – and you get ‘rewarded’ with likes and comments. You work hard at school and you are ‘rewarded’ with good grades. You work longer and longer hours at work and you are ‘rewarded’ with a pay rise or a promotion (so you can work even longer hours, supporting someone else’s dream.
You end up just doing something, which you may or may not love – in order to get the ‘rewards’.
But think back to being a child.
Remember what you used to love doing. Was it reading? Drawing? Riding your bike? Making things out of plasticine or lego? Doing a jigsaw? Baking?
Did you do any of that to get a ‘reward’? No! You did it for pure enjoyment. For the fun of it. Remember that word…..FUN? But here’s the thing. Did you KNOW you enjoyed riding your bike or roller skating before you did it? Nope. You might have imagined you would love it, but you don’t know till you do it.
And once you do it, then you found out if you liked it or not. One of my friends loved roller skating. She was really good at it, and she begged her Dad to take her ice skating, as she imagined if she could do it on land, she could do it even better on ice. She hated it. Lol.
So, she never did it again, but the roller skating – well practice made perfect. And there’s the lesson really.
Passion comes from activity.
The first time you do anything you are not going to be excellent at it. You might be poor, you might be OK, you might even hit lucky and be good. But you won’t be excellent. The only thing that makes you excellent is DOING IT. Effort and action make you great at something.
If something gives you joy, you will do it more. You only know if you enjoy it by trying it. The more you do something you enjoy, the better you get at it and the more passionate you become.
So, what should you be doing? What is your purpose?
Well, a good start is thinking about those times you forget to eat or go to the loo. What is it that you do, where time literally flies and you find its 7pm and you don’t know where the day has gone? Those are the things you are passionate about. And at the basis of those activities often lies your purpose.
Of course, there is a bit more to it. But thinking about what gets you into action is a good place to start. And if you’d like to have a chat about it, click on the link below to get the conversation going.
https://calendly.com/cheryl-29/life-purpose-exploration-call