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Give Your Passion Purpose

Passion is the difference between success and failure. The enthusiasm to drive an idea from start to finish with conviction, purpose and meaning comes from your passion. Sure, you can power through on tasks that need to get done but it isn’t the same as completing something that you just need to do. You know those things that you think about first thing in the morning and get you started scribbling down ideas? Those are the things that I’m talking about. What do you do to give your passion purpose? {click to tweet}

Passion: (as defined by Merriam Webster an abridged version)

  • intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction
  • ardent affection : love
  • a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept
  • an object of desire or deep interest

There are people who exude passion and, to me, this is what makes them stand out and be heard. You can't help but be attracted to someone discussing their passion even if you aren't interested in the topic their passion creates an irresistible, magnetic pull.

One of my favorite passionate people is Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love. She's a writer and is dedicated to her craft. Her journey in Eat, Pray, Love was a very private one as she examined her life and shared intimate details that I'm sure she didn't realize that millions of people would read. I'm not sure how many people read the book but I'm guessing millions and then, of course, it was also turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts. While all these things are huge, Elizabeth or Liz as she calls herself, seems to be the same down-to-earth, magical person to me. She posts on Facebook about her life, what she's thinking, and is a real person. Not Elizabeth Gilbert, world-famous author, but Liz, the writer posting on Facebook. Elizabeth's passion for life is always evident.

I love the  Happiness Jar project that Elizabeth started on her Facebook page where she shared her own jar that she fills with bits of paper with the best moment of each day. I've created a Pinterest board for Happiness Jars. People all over the world started sharing a passion that was shared on Facebook and this sparks joy in each person that makes a jar and records their own special moments. Passion can spread like wildfire.

Read more here: What Will Fill Your Happiness Jar

“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

Another person who exemplifies passion to me is Daria Musk. If you're on Google+, you already know who Daria is but if you haven't had the pleasure of watching one of her hangouts live or recorded hangouts, you're missing something special. Daria's passion is music and she jumped in the Google+ to share it with the world. From Daria's story on her website, “Before the summer of 2011 Daria Musk was a young singer/songwriter with big dreams, an entrepreneurial streak, a global-sized heart. A weekend of lugging her guitar amps through the rain and an invitation to Google+ sparked the idea to perform a live concert via Google+'s video chat feature, “Hangouts”. Girl in the woods of Connecticut turned early-adopter and went global overnight. An instant world-wide hit and inspiration to coders and engineers, Daria became the voice that launched a thousand lines of code and the model for major tech innovations and Google engineering evolutions including the new “Hangouts On Air” broadcasts by Google.”

Daria is now a global music sensation but still connects with her G+niuses, the name she uses for her Google+ friends, on a regular basis. Here's a great interview David Deal did with Daria at Social Media week: Daria Musk & Google: Social Media and the Rock Star

 

What do these two ladies have in common? Passion. Being passionate and living their dreams to the fullest extent has made them what they are today but they have remained true to their dreams and appear to be genuine, lovely people. Part of their attraction is that you can't fake passion, sure you can copy someone or something briefly, but passion, nope. It must come from the heart and be purely expressed. It isn't easy to make that leap and share your thoughts, dreams, or music. Every word and note is a leap of faith exposing your dreams and makes you vulnerable. Be brave: take the lead from these women and act on your passion. As Wayne Gretzky said “You'll miss all the shots you don't take.” Take the leap and kick-start your dream into action. {click this to tweet}

Do you have the guts to pursue your passion?  What will you do to give your passion purpose?

Featured image courtesy of JoePhilipson via Creative Commons.

Article by Peg Fitzpatrick

6 Comments

  1. Is passion simply enough in your opinion Peg? Great post! You always write about things that make others stop & think 🙂

    1. @jaredeasley I think you need more than passion, you also need talent. But I think that everyone has some special talent that they can excel in and many people have more than one. I think about what people like Michael Phelps would have done if he never started swimming. Would he have been the world’s best in something else? Talent is such a small piece of success, it seems like practice and drive fueled by passion are all needed. The 10,000 hour of practice that Malcolm Gladwell talked about in Outliers is a really interesting concept.

      1. @PegFitzpatrick Well said. Hard work beats out talent every time that talent does not beat out hard work. @PegFitzpatrick You are talented & working hard! I am proud of you Peg. Thanks for the great example & using your platform to point to others who are great models for passion & talent. I am enjoying your posts & appreciate what you are doing.

  2. To give my passion purpose, I’m reaching out to help organizations I believe are making the world a better place. I also write about things I’m passionate about.

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