Follow Your Passion

If you deliberately take steps to work on what you love instead of work you don’t enjoy simply for the financial payoff, you will reap the benefits. Each night you will rest your head upon your pillow and go to sleep easy, eager to start the subsequent day. Each morning, you will wake with a smile on your face ready to attack the world. Conversely, if you do something you don’t enjoy merely for external incentives, you’ll wake with misery corrupting your mental outlook, work performance, and ultimately, stress and health level. It can’t be simpler said. Follow your passion.

If you are one of the millions looking for a job, do something in the realm of
a) What you are good at; and
b) What you enjoy doing

Everything else will fall into place. If you follow those two requirements, you'll find success, both internally and fiscally; but the former is what is more important. Extrinsic motivation such as financial incentives is not enough to push you to excel at your field. Internal motivation is the only compelling force that will make you want to be better. What’s more is that you’ll actually be hurting your wallet in the end. It is a lot harder to be successful if you are not doing something that you are passionate about. Success takes time and commitment. Those things are easier to pour your heart and soul into if you actually enjoy the work. If you are happy with your occupation, you’ll be more committed and put more time into it.

A majority of the male clients that request to be trained by me want to get fit for a girl. I always definitively reply and say to them that they should never physically train or go on a diet with the sole objection of attaining a girl. I tell them that because although it appears to be a good idea, the intent behind the action is not compelling enough to make you fit. You might scratch your head and think that this instance is the ultimate motivator, but view it another light. Once you get the girl, your motivation to train dissipates just as quickly as it came on, because you don’t need to impress her or get her to notice you; and if you don’t get the girl, that motivation dissipates as well, because you’ll attribute your physical appearance as offering no advantage to your “game”. Therefore, you can see that motivation has got to be internal.

Similarly, if you acquire a lot of money from your job, the motivation to excel at your job will dissipate. Great professionals do not perform their job solely for money. It is certainly a bonus and something everyone loves to have (and I mean everyone…anyone who tells you otherwise is simply being illusory). Any Fortune 500 CEO got to the position they are in today because of the enthusiasm and zeal they have to better the company, to better everyone around them, to better the world, and to better themselves. Bill Gates became a multi-billionaire, yet he still makes computers. Why? He is the best at his profession not because of the money he has made, but rather because he has a devout love for improving his computers. He wants to better the public with his ideas and experience. Why does Alex Rodriguez play with the incessant vigor he encompasses on a daily basis? He does so because he loves baseball and he wants to be defined as the best player ever when he walks away from the game. He did not get there because of money; although it was a bonus (he already makes his guaranteed 26+ million dollars a year and could play like crap every day and still be the richest man in baseball), nor did he get to where he was because he was satisfied upon his prior achievements. He is always looking for more out of himself and his passion is what drives him. That zeal is from within.

If you’d do something just for money, odds are you won’t be great at it. I’m a firm believer that life can be related to sports in every situation. The best athletes in this world are those who are the most intense. You look at guys like Brian Dawkins and Ray Lewis; and it’s the intensity they bring to every practice, weight room session, and game that propels them to be so far ahead of everyone else in terms of their performance. I’d just like to shed light on the kind of intensity these guys bring by sharing an excerpt from an article I read regarding Ray Lewis in addition to a video highlighting Brian Dawkins. These guys are future hall of famers and Ray Lewis will go down as one of the best linebackers in the history of the game and Brian Dawkins will go down as one of the best safeties to ever strap up in a uniform as well as be the one athlete who encompasses the most passion to perform his best on every single play of every game. Look what Brian Dawkins did to that Denver Broncos defense in just one offseason. He transformed that defense from one that allowed a boatload of points every game last year without him into one that only allowed 10 points in the second half through the first 6 games of this season. Consequently, they are undefeated at 6-0. Dawkins is a playmaker himself, but it is what he brought to that defense that they are seeing the success they are seeing. While Josh McDaniels and Mike Nolan have done a heck of a job with that team in terms of coaching, Dawkins is the leader that the players can actually relate to. His pregame speeches are testament to the intensity he brings and his teammates respond to it wholeheartedly. They get fired up off of his lead, whereby he leads by example, both on and off the field. He never gets in legal trouble. Instead, he is a humble man who will never use profanity. He always does the right thing and teaches those around him to act in the same mild-mannered tone. Moreover, he brings a certain intensity to the game that is looked up to by his peers. He teaches them the intricacies of the game to make them better as athletes and teaches them about his life experiences to make them better people in the world. He simply makes everyone around him be better, not because of their fear that he'll get on their backs for acting in defiance, but because of their own self-righteousness to give it their all "on every 'doggone' play". That is the impact he has on them. He makes his teammates want more out of themselves. His passion for the game is unparalleled and it was apparent in Philadelphia and now the city of Denver is experiencing it first-hand.

Similarly, Ray Lewis is of the same stature in terms on intensity, although he has a questionable off the field persona. Lewis was in the weight room one day with the team during a voluntary practice. Brian Billick, the coach, was on the Stairmaster (because Lewis only felt it was right that the entire team participate regardless of the voluntariness) and got off before the allotted time was completed. Lewis immediately began to scream at him for his forfeiture of effort and exertion. Lewis got so angry he wanted to attack him and it took 6 guys to hold him back. While we all know that this is an extremity that no reasonable and prudent man should engage in (never put another’s life at danger), it’s what it represents that I share this story to you for the positives that can be brought out of it. Billick took no offense to the posed danger, because he understood the intensity that Lewis brought to the table every single day and how it affected everyone’s game play surrounding him. Other coaches would have brought charges, while Billick embraced it because it was the sacrifice he was willing to make to have the hardest working man in the NFL on his team that would ultimately make the rest of his players and team better off. It brought the team closer as a unit and propelled his teammates to push their hardest in practice so they could perform their best on the job, out there on the field. Lewis was adamant about what hard work stands for, how to achieve it, and how it translates to performance. But his intensity is driven by his passion for the game and enthusiasm to be the best at what he does. Would he be as motivated being a stockbroker? While we don't know for sure, we can assume not. Lewis did what he loved in terms of pushing his body to the limit, whereupon his profession wholeheartedly comprises of that one trait.

Similar to the aforementioned story, you need to bring intensity to your job each and every day. You need to push to your outer limits to get everything you want to get done and more. However, you’ll only be able to do it if your passionate about what you do. Usually you are passionate about something you have an interest in; and usually you have an interest in something that you have an innate ability to be good at that activity. For instance, if you are good at logic and reasoning and like to defend your answers, then maybe you should consider becoming a lawyer. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit where you like new challenges, then open your own business. If you are good at communicating and can properly deliver information to others, become a professor. If you are good at convincing others to buy into your beliefs, become a salesman. If you are good at science and math, and you enjoy helping others, then consider becoming a doctor.

The better you are at the traits that are inherent to the profession, the better you will be at your profession; but the reason why you are good at those traits is because you've enjoyed performing those traits and fostered them into what they are today. I've always been good at logic, but only because I've enjoyed it. I used to fill out books and books of logic games because of my enthusiasm for it. It also got me better at it. Therefore, I have now pursued a law career, where logic is involved in every aspect of the legal profession. As you can see, doing something you enjoy will make you better at that activity, because you'll have internal drive to be better at it.

Furthermore, if you do not enjoy what you are doing, you'll get burned out very easily. You'll dread waking up in the morning and you'll be wishing for the weekend to come every Monday. Essentially, you'll be wishing your whole life away, instead of living in the moment and enjoying each day. Life is too short to be hoping for days to pass.

So, do what you love. Follow your passion!

This is Muscle Prodigy…Do YOU Have What It Takes?