Passion?
Passion it has been around as a “hot take” coffee talk term of personal development gurus for years! When you lack substance and depth in the “how to” world, go to passion, you can fill an hour easily! Everyone talks about passion and its presumed importance in finding a profession and building a business: You are told to “find the passion in your work,” “find what you are passionate about and you will find your career satisfaction,” “turn your passion into your business”. If you are looking for passion to help your business succeed then you are looking in the wrong place.
The 5 “why nots” of Passion:
Why not number 1: The problem is that passion, by definition, is a marketing term, a construct, exactly like the word love. It’s an emotional word we employ to elicit a strong reaction or create a strong emotional picture in the minds of our listeners. Strong marketing terms alone will not help your business succeed.
Why not number 2: On a physiological level, passion implies something hot, ‘caliente’; with sexual overtones. The problem here is that, in nature, anything that’s hot will eventually cool down and then turn stone cold. And so taking a career path because of your love and passion for it will inevitably bring you to a place where the passion will cool and then where does that leave your career and your business when things get tough?
Why not number 3: The word passion keeps us prisoners within a fixed mind-set and at a certain level of proficiency; it doesn’t let us develop and grow as professionals because we somehow believe that the passion is and will be enough to succeed without the sweat equity involved in achieving success.
Why not number 4: The word passion gives you false expectation that your passion is enough to succeed. Passion cannot fire up (and keep those fires stoked for) the drive and determination you must have to get up every morning and move mountains to succeed or the impetus to work the 10,000 hours to become experts.
Why not number 5: Passion is too emotional to get you through the mind-numbing tasks, the difficult clients, the all-nighters, the screw-ups and the days when you should never have gotten out of bed.
I have a passion for music and need music around me continuously. But I cannot carry a tune or play an instrument, and so 10,000, 20,000 maybe 50,00 hours of practice would make me an expert – technician – in a music field, but it would not give me a career or a business that I would be able to grow and develop through in thick or thin.
Take passion out of the equation:
It’s time to take passion out of the equation and remove the rose-colored sunglasses. Start considering your career and business choices in terms of ability, capability and deep-seated respect for your profession.
The long haul
Your business, just like marketing your business, is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to keep on working at it, moving one foot in front of the other. Determination, inspiration and dogged willpower will get you out of bed in the cold morning, not passion.
Now, ask yourself: will it be passion or determination that will move your business forward?