Often, we lack motivation and resort to looking for excuses why something is unnecessary, why the task should be done by someone else and why we can wait till tomorrow to do it. In the meantime, we search for tips and tricks all over the place to help boost our motivation. Most of the suggestions seem useless and even if one of them worked, it would be short lived.
If this is happening, you are lacking passion. At work, we talked about this subject thoroughly. My boss no doubt wanted us to have it for the business our company was in. He told us
If you are passionate, then you wouldn’t think about the time you spend doing it. It wouldn’t matter if you were working on it in the day time, night time or even on the weekend. All you think about is how to accomplish the task and not how not to do it today. Things become fun, because you are thinking about the result and not the time spen.t
When I heard this, I thought to myself how wonderful the feeling would be but I didn’t quite understand it. I didn’t know how to gain this “passion” and I didn’t know what I could do to achieve it.
After a couple of months, I finally realized something – We are either passionate about something or we are not. It is very difficult to develop passion for something if you don’t feel passionate about it already. Sure, the feeling is possible to develop, but it’s a long process and we cannot force yourself along the way.
Another realization was that even if we aren’t passionate about a particular subject, it just means we haven’t found the right subject. For example, we can be passionate about cooking but not golfing, or we can be passionate about politics but not stocks. So unless you really want to develop the passion for a particular subject, it is much easier to just find the one that you love.
If motivation is lacking, then find something you are passionate about. Once the passion is there, it is very easy to get things done.
Like my boss says, “time is never a problem, you are just having fun”.
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Passionate people are the best business people to work with and truly change the world. Just look at Steve Jobs. I recently watched the PBS documentary about his life entitled ‘One More Thing’. Fascinating though all to short life lived to the max.
Excellent post, congrats! 🙂 I felt it on my own skin that until one finds their true passion, they don’t find their place. Like you’ve said, you can learn and force yourself to be passionate about something, but it just won’t be the same with something that you love instinctively. When someone finds their passion, everything will just flow naturally and, as you’ve mentioned, time won’t be a problem. 🙂
Thanks; I needed that. Your post came on a day when I am struggling with exactly that. I have diversified myself to the extent that I no longer am passionate about any of it. It’s drudgery and brain slapping just to eek out a post. And it’s very clear in my writing..
I shall reevaluate what my passion originally was, how I lost that and how I can get that back.
Thank you so very very much.
This explains the looks of my desk this morning, for sure 🙂
While I feel I am passionate about this job itself, with all the oddball benefits it allows me to take advantage of, I am not passionate about some of the paperwork – haha. And it shows…. just need to kick myself into a higher gear and remember that it is all a part of the package that I do like, one that fits my lifestyle and allows me the flexibility and time off I need for my grandkids and for the other things in life I AM passionate about 🙂
Most people spend years and sometimes their whole lives trying to figure out what their passions are. Passions are simply the things that you are most enthusiastic about in your life. In order to figure out what your passions are, take note of the times when you felt the happiest, on target, and most connected with others and yourself. Figure out what you were doing in those times and what you were experiencing. Remember that the “…key to passion and enthusiasm is to reconnect with your original purpose for doing anything that you do.” These experiences are signs of how to bring passion to your life, excluding your everday work.
Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com/
From what I know, with passion, one does not even need motivation of any sort. If you are unmotivated, trying to develop passion can be an impossibility for you.
If you can just be and remain positive, you will look for any possibility and opportunity to motivate yourself. When that motivation moves you towards constant enjoyable actions, the passion then flows in.
Chris: What you are going through is very common. In fact, I was in the same boat not long ago. I was pretty unmotivated at my job since i found it quite boring. I finally decided to change positions at the company and it was much more exciting. It was a much more challenging job and it gave me more satisfaction.
I suggest you to figure out if you care too much about the company you are working with. If you still want to work there, then try to speak with your boss about a different area of work. If not, then look for something else.
Regarding your hunch. If you feel that it’s what really excite you, then I say go for it. Changing is usually less risky than people think but if for some reason it is very risky, then maybe you can see if you can get some travel time wi your current job for you to try it out? Say you are an engineer, perhaps you can request to be a field application engineer so your profession stays similar.
This is something I’ve been thinking alot about over the last year or so. I have neve been passionate about my line of work, and it definitely shows. I procrastinate and my quality suffers, but I have tried and tried to no avail to get motivated to work harder. Some people say you should always do your absolute best no matter what, and I agree to a certain extent, but my work drains the life blood from me. How can I give that my best? Do you have any insight about how to find your passion? My problem is that I haven’t had enough varied experiences in my life to know what I’m passionate about. I have a hunch though. I haven’t done much travel, but if I imagine myself traveling to other countries, I get extremely excited inside. Maybe that’s my passion.