Finding Your Passion

Passion—where do you find it? There is not a pat answer to that question. I have Googled ten pages deep looking for a Passion Roadmap. It doesn’t exist. I have, to no avail, exhausted “Bible Search” looking for God’s Five Steps For Finding Your Passion. I couldn’t even find a one step formula. Why? Because passion is not something you find, rather it finds you, or catches you, or calls out to you—take your pick.

The heart is where passion resides, catches fire, burns hot and leads to action. There is a phrase we often use to encourage people to greater effort: “Put your heart into it!” I’ve heard it a thousand times from coaches, teachers, bosses and preachers. However, where there is passion, it’s not necessary because the heart is already into it.

Although there is no formula for finding passion, there are some things that will help you recognize your passion—that thing you must do:

More than it can be done, or would be good to do, passion is something you intensely feel should be done and must be done. Your passion will really matter to you and you won’t be able to escape it.
True passion, when in action, will fill your tank, not drain it. You may become physically exhausted, but emotionally and spiritually you will be energized.
Do you have a sense that if you don’t act on your passion, you will have deep regrets later in life?
The embers of emotion go cold quickly, but the embers of passion stay warm for a long time. One squeeze of the bellows is all it takes to stoke up the fire. How long has this thing you must do had a grip on you?
The people who know you the best and love you the most—what are they saying?

I have passion for leadership. How do I know?

First, a leadership vacuum drives me crazy. I do not have to be in charge, but put me in a setting where no one is in charge, I can’t stand it, I’ll step in.
Second, abusive, self-centered, ineffective leadership drives me up the wall. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” my heart screams.
Third, I believe that in organizations, leadership trumps everything. No organization ever rises above the level of its leadership. If leadership is that important—and it is—then leaders better have passion for it.
Finally, I love to help a group of people pull it off. It doesn’t much matter to me what the it If they have a mission and a vision, I want to help them get to the finish line.

One thing is certain, if you are in leadership, you better have passion for it. It’s too hard to lead without it.

What’s your passion? If you don’t know, I hope you’ll discover it soon.

[The above is an excerpt from chapter 2 of 16 Stones. 16 Stones Book ]

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