Passion @ Work?

Copyright © 2004 by Don Blohowiak
Don@LeadWell.com www.LeadWell.com

Passion for the way you pursue your livelihood may be overrated.

If you have passion for your occupation, great! At the same time, if you don't you are not defective.

But you wouldn't know that from so many motivational minstrals' over-wrought exhortations to "Pursue your passion!"

Yes, well-directed passion surely can be a great force of positive action. But passion is not necessarily a virtue. And it isn't a requirement for either a successful career or a fulfilling life.

Not too long ago, I had a fascinating, and slightly disturbing, conversation with two very bright people who had recently entered their twenties. Feeling adrift in their university studies, they expressed deep concerns that they had not yet zeroed-in on their occupational passion.

These two capable and articulate youths unmistakably exuded both promise and fear as they confessed imagining themselves poised at the precarious precipice of an empty life.

Whether you are young or not, recognize that having an imprecise notion of your "true calling" may well be a good thing.

Consider for a moment the great number of highly frustrated folks who, in mid-career, find the burning passion of their early twenties dimmed or totally extinguished. Even highly compensated, successful professionals such as lawyers and doctors often make that tragic discovery. Many in their forties find themselves shackled in career captivity where it is very difficult to shake off both the obligations and the trappings accumulated from a couple of decades plying their now not so psychically rewarding profession.

Perhaps, in direct opposition to the common wisdom, it is a gift if one does not discover a deep passion until later in life. The passage of time can afford you many experiences and benchmarks against which to measure the enduring authenticity of your inner stirrings.

All things considered, it may be better to have more peace than passion in life.

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Copyright © 2005, Don Blohowiak, Lead Well Institute

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