by Tricia
You have may heard of Chris Gardner. He’s the gentleman who was homeless with a two-year old son and he managed to work his way up and become a very successful business man. His journey was even shared with the world in the movie, “In the Pursuit of Happiness”.
I haven’t seen the movie yet (I’m waiting until it goes to 99 cents at my local video store), but I have watched Chris Gardner in interviews. Something always struck me about him. You hear him talk and you want to listen. I thought it was because of his rags to riches story. But after reading an article on Yahoo today, I think there’s another reason.
Passion
Passion defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is
Intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.
Chris Gardner was so intense when he spoke. You could tell that he loved what he accomplished and he loves what he does. He credits everything to one simple thing…passion.
Quoting from the Yahoo article
“Passion is everything. In fact, you’ve got to be borderline fanatical about what you do.” Gardner says he was fortunate to find something he truly loved, something where he couldn’t wait for the sun to rise so he could do it again.
After reading the article, I started thinking about my passions. I had an opportunity to follow one of them, but I let money affect my decision and I didn’t pursue it. I followed dollar signs instead of my heart. Of course, if I followed that passion, my life would be completely different today and I wouldn’t have my husband or son. So I am glad life turned out as it did.
Sometimes, though, when I close my eyes at night I think about that passion and try to brainstorm ways to make it come to life. It would be difficult at this point in my life, but still possible.
If you haven’t already, read the Yahoo article. It is a very good read.
Tricia, you’re up late too, I see. I hear you about the passion. I’m about to finish my book, after years of effort, and I would like to add one thing: PASSION feels exactly like WORK. People need to know that!
I couldn’t disagree more with the posting above – passion does not feel exactly like work. Of course, there are tough days with any job. And most people put a lot of work – in terms of time and effort – into jobs they are passionate about. But, if it regularly feels like work (in the negative or utilitarian sense), you need to switch jobs in the long-term.
My job is my passion…it’s interwoven with my personal identity, my values, my core beliefs and my interests. I almost never feel like I’m “working” in the traditional, semi-negative American sense of the word. I go to work every day feeling good about what I do and knowing I’m contributing to the world being a better place. I would do many parts of my job for free if I didn’t need a paycheck, or at least I would donate money to the same cause! I think everyone should strive for that over the long-term. Money really does follow passion, and you become a much more effective employee/worker and a happier human being.
I’ve been amazed to see my friends earn plenty of money in their fields of interest, even when people assumed they would be low-income earners over their career. For example, I have one friend who works on domestic violence issues and another who works with children in the foster care system. Both started out earning normal salaries. They got promoted and are now earning very good salaries in supervisory roles. They have also, just by virtue of loving their jobs and learning a ton over the years, naturally become “experts” in their fields and are able to earn more money by publishing, speaking at conferences, doing consulting work by the hour, getting asked to help the government out (at a great rate of pay) with reviewing grant applications, etc. There are all sorts of ways to make money that they never anticipated by doing the work they love.
Working in one’s passion is one of the best reasons to 1) live below your means and 2) not get into debt or get out of it immediately. To the extent you feel like a financial slave and are ruled by your finances, you will have less freedom in your life to follow your passion and take leaps of faith. The guy in Pursuit of Happyness was dirt poor. But, imagine if he had also been strapped down with a mortgage, a car payment and credit card debt…there’s a huge chance he wouldn’t have taken the unpaid internship he did that launched his career and changed his life. People pass up opportunities like he had every day because they aren’t willing to sacrifice in lifestyle or they get tied to personal possessions and debt used to acquire personal possessions.
I think it’s worth making all sorts of financial sacrifices (choosing a smaller home, driving the same car for 20 years, etc) in exchange for having the freedom to do the work I love and for having a financial cushion that allows freedom in terms of making career decisions.
On a side note…I don’t think debt is ever necessary to pursue one’s passion. Instead, use creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and go slower.
Tricia: I hope you still pursue your passion (eventually). It seems like you are pretty good at accomplishing what you set your mind to doing. And you still have a lot more years on this earth…it would be sad to spend them just dreaming about your passion and “what could have been.” There are all sorts of creative and non-traditional ways to get started in a new field. And there are usually ways to do it slowly (3 hours a week, then 5 hours a week, then 10, 20, and all the way to 40 or 60 or whatever) so that you can do it in a financially responsible manner.
Thank you for this post. I have been mulling this subject over for a couple of weeks now. I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my family is my passion, but my youngest will be in school full time in another year. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my life at that point. I guess I need to figure out another passion to keep me busy while the kiddos are at school.
My passion is very simple. I don’t want to have to work hard!
Passion is something you can do day in and day out and get immense satisfaction from it.
In response to Tricia: Why not pursue your dreams. You are excellent at creating something from nothing and your debt is very low. In response to Lynnae: I was a full time mom. Many of my friends went on to become teachers’ aides (volunteering at first and then into paid positions) and teachers. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money. We charged both kids’ deliveries, however they got full scholarships to their universities. That was my passion; scholarships and it really worked. Kristina’s post was very insightful.
Articles like that really bug me when I read the articles like that. While it’s a great story and I’m sure will make an even better movie the fact that is it’s not realistic for the rest of us, if anything it makes you feel more like a failure than anything. Anyone who’s read an Anthony Robbins book will know the feeling. You’re told that if you only follow your passion your pension (along with fame riches and wealth) will be sure to follow. Problem is, that’s not true. Would they have made a movie if Chris Gardner had simply worked at the brokerage house instead of starting his own business and becoming a multi millionaire? If passion is all that is required to become successful and wealthy than legions of sports fans would be millionaires. The simple fact is they set the bar so high that you are destined to fail.
It’s not that following your passion is wrong but that you need to understand what success means to you and more what your values are. Besides that not everyone is going to be a multimillionaire or even a successful businessman/women. I have searched for years to find a way to “follow my passion†but it never seemed to work the way everyone said it should. I read every book written by every self appointed self help guru out there and it only discouraged me more. It was only once I sat down and really looked at what my values were that things started to change.
The funny thing is that inspite of lot of career success for my Wife (she’s gone from Waitress to being on the executive fast track) our life felt imbalanced. It was either she had a job she loved and I hated or she had a high pressure high, high stress job that paid great but took its toll, while I was a bored stay at home house husband. Neither felt right. Sure she had the “title†to go with the wage but it wasn’t what we wanted.
It was only I sat down and really thought about what our values were that things started to change. (for an excellent article on finding ones values go to “31 days to fix your Finances†over at thesimpledollar.com) I realized although my passion is investing, the stock market, financial planning and politics, my values are family and friends and not having to work too hard (more on that in a minute). I realized that by following my passions I was violating my values and setting my self up for failure. No amount of hard work can make up for the fact that I don’t have the skills nor the aptitude to be another Warren Buffet nor the interest to put in the work that is required. Besides that my passions (or my way of following them) went against my values. It set me up for failure every time I tried. It was only once I understood what was important to me that I could really start to follow my passions.
So this begs the question, How is it possible, that your passions and values aren’t one and the same? Well it’s very simple, as passionate as I am about investing and the stock market and I have no interest in running my own blog, or starting my own brokerage firm. More importantly I don’t want to take the time away from family that doing that would require. On the other hand I can spend hours reading and researching stocks and responding to everyone else’s posts and comments on loads of blogs Even occasionally spending all day writing a guest post. I enjoy that, but running my own blog, no thanks, too much work. If I want to spend all Sunday afternoon at the beach I can, I don’t have to worry about having a post ready for Monday morning, or having to work all weekend putting fires out at my own business.
as an afterthought
How does this impact our finances?
First off them probably means I never be a famous millionaire, with beautiful actress on each arm, but do I care, no. Secondly my wife and I have fallen in love with Spain and decided that we want to put roots here. This means buying a house and paying off the mortgage as quickly as possible. While it’s our passion to live in the mountains near Madrid and we’ve seen some beautiful houses their my values tell me that I want my wife out of the corporate world as fast as possible, and buying that dream house represents 3-4 years more work, not counting lost investment time. So instead we’ve settled on buying an apartment close to the mountains. Would we have been happy in our dream house? Unlikely as it violate our core values. Its only knowing your core values can you make decisions that make you happy and successful.
I guess I meant: don’t think that the heady high of passion will keep you going. Passion is great. You should do things that you feel passionate about, but passion is an emotion. After a while, the headiness will fade away, and you have to rely on the fact that you know, on a more intellectual level, that you’re doing something that you’re proud of. At that point, just like any job, it’s nose to the grindstone, get it done to the best of your ability. Everyone is wired a little different, but it is the rare person who is wired such that they feel passionate about every minute of every day. I’m certainly not. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life and wouldn’t trade it for any other… but am I driven by passion every day? Nope. I hope you can sustain that, but it’s not in my neurochemistry. I worry that people who are hardwired with an influx of passion, or those who can fake it, inadvertently deceive others into believing that they have to feel a constant emotional response to their profession of choice.
I don’t have a passion for much nowadays. Does watching football count?
Anyway, I found the movie disappointing in the theatres. You may want to lower your expectations if you think it’s going to be really good.
I agree with Lazy Man… the movie was really, really disappointing. I was depressed the ENTIRE way through, and the only good part was the end because it was over, and it (clearly) worked out for the best.
At any rate, my passion really is just working with others. So my field is perfect for that, and I get to work hard, be organized and socialize within reason 🙂 I also have a passion for owning my own home with a garden and my very own Husband-free study…
Regardless if the movie was good or not (:-)), I think the ideas of perseverance and holding on to your dream are the important part. We’ve got to know where we want to go, and what we need to do to get there. And as Nike says, “Just do it!”
Passion is not a strong feeling or just a wild emotion. It is actually following your soul. Your passions will animate you, your life and your soul. This is why when we come across passionate people they seem different in a sense, as if they are more ‘alive’.
Emotions rise and fall but your passion is something more constant, it immerses your entire life. They only way to deny your passion is to deny your soul. This is why those few who truly embrace their passion seem almost touched by a heavenly energy, something transcendent, it’s because they are living through their soul, instead of denying it. In doing so they become as the soul is, something greater, something that strives upward through the sky towards the heavens into eternity.