It goes without saying: when you are ‘into’ a project, brand, idea, piece of art, etc. you give it that extra love. Enthusiasm in what we are creating, posting, or ‘celebrating’ is essential.
Alternatively, when you don’t love what you are producing or promoting your long term will be very unfulfilling.
Today, we’ve put together a few questions for consideration in the first of a mini series of posts on passion in our work.
Can you be authentic in the praise of what you are getting behind?
Authenticity is a huge value in our culture. If you are half-hearted, it will bleed through. And in a hyper over worked and advertised-to-culture, a ‘fake’ is exposed and noticed pretty quickly.
However, when someone authentically is excited about something, people will take notice. When you really believe in something it will shine through.
Is it just about the $?
We all understand sometimes you work to pay the bills, but long-term we should aim higher than that. Would you do it regardless of monetary compensation? Do you feel the following phrase is true: “I can’t believe they pay me to do this!”?
All things being equal, is there something other than what you are doing that would bring you more joy (and hopefully still pay)?
Life is too short and precious to spend it with lackluster living.
Am I still enthusiastic about it in my ‘off hours’?
I’m not saying take your work home with you. Necessarily. But people who are into what they love will show that outside the traditional work space/hours/etc.
I am the first to preach a healthy balance and yet the ability to enjoy the thing you are ‘selling’ outside of the work day can really keep it fresh.
Are you simply doing what’s expected or hoped for?
As a parent myself I want my children to desire to please me. I think that is a healthy trait …. well, until it isn’t. We may realize in time that expectations from even people we love may not always be the best thing to live for.
It could be a ‘keeping up with the Jones’ or a ‘got to show them all I can succeed’ or simply a ‘not a fit’ career we always dreamed of that we need to rid ourselves of.
Wise people assess what is healthy, what’s really ‘them’, useful, and right. For more on this read Cal Newport’s great book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You“