Follow Your Passion

Henry Ford’s father was a farmer who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. His father gave him a pocket watch in his early teens. At 15, Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends and neighbours dozen of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman. Ford was devastated when his mother died and his father expected him to eventually take over the family farm but he despised farm work.

Young Henry’s heart was with the motor engine and similar things with which he tinkered. After furious arguments with his father, he left to chart his own course to create history by becoming one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs.

What is Passion? It is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense, compelling feeling, enthusiasm or desire for something.

According to a recent survey, about 75% of people do not know what their true passion is. E.M. Forster firmly commented, “One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.”  Field Marshall Ferdinand Foch added, “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

The great John Wesley rightly pointed: “When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.”  
Some examples of followed passion are contained in the stories of Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Jack Dorsey. Bill gates left his Harvard Studies midway to follow his heart and that turned him the richest man in the world. Sometimes back, Bill Gates made Steve Ballamer the CEO and designated himself Chief Software Architect in order to focus on his real love, software design.

Michael Dell, whose passion was for selling computers and competing with IBM, formed Dell Corporation while he was only 19 years old.

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, told the story about his growing up in St. Louis and his passion for maps. This passion led to him later working for the largest dispatch software company in the US wherein he found great pleasure in mapping out the status updates of police and emergency vehicles. This passion for dispatch, maps and status updates later led to him co-founding Twitter. In 2010, Twitter had over $140 million in revenue including over 600 staff. Jack Dorsey’s net worth in 2010 was $300 million.

Why Should You Follow Your Passion?

1. Fulfillment: Dale Carnegie simply puts it this way, “You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.” Following your passion will keep you enthusiastic and happy along the way. The temptation will come for you to give in to social pressure of going for a course in vogue, but does not guarantee fulfillment. I for one has seen poor Doctors and Engineers. It’s never in the aptitude. 
2. Expertise: Your uniqueness is needed in the world. Don’t follow the crowd to do what seems to ‘sell’. Unleash your potentials and save the world. 
3. Wealth: If you place value on your passion, it will bring you money like it did for Jack Dorsey and others.

How to Discover Your Passion

• What puts smile on your face?
• What do you find easy?
• What sparks your creativity?
• What would you do for free?
• What do you love to talk about?
• What makes you unafraid of failure?
• What would you regret not having tried?
• What do other people admire about you?
• What topics are you curious about and would like to learn more of?
• If you were guaranteed success to change anything you wanted to in the world, what would you change?
• If it was an absolute certainty that you could achieve any goal you set for yourself, what goal would you aim for?
• Who are those you greatly admire and why?
• How would you like to be remembered?

My personal list of 5 things I like is stated below. I like you to also make your own list because it is an indication of your passion in life

My Likes

1. Reading and Writing
2. Public Speaking
3. Establishing businesses for others to run
4. Being on the move (love travelling) and
5. Enjoy working on the computer.

Now make 2 lists. Make a list of 5 things you are passionate about e.g. computers, research, dogs, working from home, independence AND another list of 5 things you are good at e.g. good at surfing the internet, writing, talking to people, being sincere, being helpful.

The result is an indication of your passion and what you should run after. It’s never too late to start!

“Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy you have nothing” Donald Trump

“Chase your passion, not your pension” Denis Waitley