I’ve just come in from an early morning run. En route I saw a man walking in the street and greeted him. He could barely push out a greeting from his mouth – it seemed to be there but at the same time it wasn’t.
It was early in the morning and yet this person looked frustrated, down, dejected and almost as if he had given up hope.
Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever been paralysed by your negativity? Have you been unable to find your passion? Perhaps you tried and tried and tried and just couldn’t find your mojo.
Is passion really that important?
Some experts say that following your passion is a trip to winding up earning less and being unhappy. There is a feeling among some people that the “follow-your-passion” mantra has led people blindly down paths of no return.
Passion can also be another name for energy. How do you find your energy? What can you do to motivate yourself? How can you lift your spirits?
I know one friend who uses humour all the time to break out of negative patterns of thinking. This technique, often unconscious, helps him snap out of the negative spiral thinking that so often can entrap us.
Others say they find pursuing their desires helps them snap out of a rut. They do mall things like going for a walk, taking time off to go read the paper at a coffee shop, having a long bath or just simply getting a pleasurable early night’s sleep. For some this is enough for them to break away from that part of themselves that gets them back into inspiration and excitement. It helps them rekindle and fire up their vision and goals.
These days you hear a lot about meditation. Some individuals find taking time off to meditate whether it’s 10 minutes or 40 minutes to just change their state. Sitting quietly, they are able to let their negative thoughts into their mind and feel a sort of detachment towards them. They say meditation helps give them perspective, quietens the mind and re-energises them for action.
There are just so many ways to energise yourself that it really depends on what you as an individual find works for you. What works for some people is visualisation and theatre of the mind. Some people will sit down and relax and visualise images of their past, present and future. They will use their energy from past successful and energised periods where events in their lives helped propel them forward.
One person who believes that passion is key to success is Martyn Dawes who sold his British start-up for £23 million. He believes that entrepreneurs can be ambitious, clever have enough money to back them but without “raw passion” for their business idea or business concept the entrepreneur will fizzle out.
Dawes recently told this to a briefing, “There will be obstacles that everyone who has ever started a business or had a business idea encounters – something that will test you and test you, and there is no doubt about it that if you are not passionate – if you don’t have the passion – for your product or your idea, then you will fail, it’s as simple as that.” These days Dawes is working with aspiring entrepreneurs and teaching them that there are no overnight successes. Success is the result of hard work and passion for their business idea.
If you feel the same as that dejected man walking down the road this morning, then take some time out and reflect and think about how you can light up a fire inside of yourself. Yes, passion may not be the only ingredient vital for success but it really has to be there if you want to accomplish anything at all.
