Yesterday, I wrote a graduation dedication to my son who is a senior in high school. Of course I told him how proud I was of him and extolled his character and virtues, which was easy to do as he truly is an amazing young man and I am indeed blessed that he is my son. In my search for a meaningful quote to include with my words, I found many quotes that spoke to the importance of passion, belief in self and success. According to Albert Schweitzer, "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." Having already launched two of my daughters off to college, I am well familiar with the emotional process of graduation-- graduation into life's next phase, that of seeking one's life work.
I whole heartedly concur that one of the most important aspects of life is to find one's passion about a given subject. Passion is key in that it makes it possible to become proficient. Passion allows for intellectual exploration and creativity that wouldn't be accessed without passionate pursuit, so being passionate about what you do each day makes room for success.
I believe that the importance of passion makes sense to everyone; books have been written, seminars offered and motivational speakers abound. As I look at my son and see the eager anticipation with the combination of anxiety and excitement, it is clear that passionate pursuit is what it is all about.
For those of us that have been around for a while, it is clear that what is also key is the ability to sustain the passion. The everyday logistics of life and the business end of your chosen field can take its toll on the ability to sustain your passionate attachment to your life choices.
When starting out, we all feel the thrill of pursuit of ideas, beliefs and intellect. The long hours are accepted and in fact welcomed because of the passion felt and expressed. The "expressed" component is important in that it is the shared experience of ones pursuit that brings it into the realm of a career or your life's work.
So, how do we sustain the passionate attachment to our life's work? When the logistics threaten the passion, how do we stay charged? The answers are fairly straight forward; remind yourself what it is you love about what you do. It is when the degree of separation between what we do each day and what we feel passionate about becomes too great that problems arise. Now for the take away:
- When your chosen field feels like lack luster remind yourself that it is the logistics that stand in the way.
- Allow yourself to not like what you are doing without a need for a solution. You can coast for a bit.
- Go back to the roots of what you do and integrate them back into the current.
- Select out the aspects of what you do that drag you down and delegate; take on a partner, intern or assistant to take on those aspects.
- When you feel that that you do not want to do what you are doing, give yourself permission to not do it. This usually leads to re-owning your choice or re-inventing your choice.
One of the most meaningful things you can do for yourself is re-choosing your life's work, whether you renew you passion or reinvent yourself and head in a new direction.
