Credit: Reader’s Digest
Passion is not something you follow. It's something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world.
Source: Cal Newport
Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something. Passion is a result of action, not the cause of it.
Source: Mark Manson
Many of the best things in life grow along the way. Start hanging out with someone and love grows along the way. Start exercising and motivation grows along the way. Start writing and inspiration grows along the way.
You will love whatever you pour your heart into. Passion follows commitment.
Source: James Clear
At least once a week I come home to a smiling wife eager to tell me about her day."I love my job," she blurts out before delving into a detailed synopsis of the day's events. She takes breaks only to catch her breath or to ensure I'm still paying attention with impromptu quizzes. Occasionally, even though I’m dutifully listening, my brain can’t help but wander. Often, I sit there and wonder to myself, ‘where did her passion for this new job come from?’ It’s not like she grew up dreaming about this job. In fact, there’s such a small segment of the population that knows exactly what they want to do from a young age, actually do it, and genuinely love it. So what about the rest of us? How do we fall in love with something like my wife has? A possible solution - we commit to our craft and let the passion follow. I believe there are two driving forces behind the power of commitment. One, commitment leads to competency. And one of the key determinants of happiness is competency. We need to feel competent at what we do. During her Master’s program, my wife devoted most of her time to researching the new nurse retention issues in Canada. Now, she works on the new nurse retention program for a healthcare network. She’s extremely knowledgeable about that particular field, she feels competent at what she does. One box checked for her. Two, humans crave feeling necessary, we all need to be wanted. Competency leads to necessity. People come to you when they have questions because they know you have the answers. And as your reputation grows, more and more opportunities emerge. You become highly sought after. My wife often has colleagues or nurses reaching out to her for guidance because of her background and specialty. Box number two checked off. Commitment preceding passion stretches beyond your profession as well. For instance, I begrudgingly signed up for the Vancouver marathon in May. The first two weeks of training were filled with expletives, but I stuck with it. During my last two long runs I've felt the elusive runner’s high. Yesterday I even woke up excited to run, despite the inclement weather forcing me to run 40 laps around a 250 meter track. The passion is starting to emerge. Commit to the craft, and patiently wait for the passion to follow.
I enjoyed reading about young people showing passion and commitment. Well written!