Passion is fuel, Passion is not business. - Sam Obafemi
Passion is a very important aspect when it comes to self mastery. It is important that you realise that a key element to Lead Your Life intentionally is to leverage on your passion.
I do not believe passion is just God's way of programming you to just go emotional. I know passion should be focused to solve a problem.
There is something you love doing. You know those things you have a strong burden for. You know deep within those areas in the society you are drawn to.
You have been taught and preached to about the importance of following your passion.
You might have taken the path of passion but experiencing frustration. You do not need to settle for less.
You have to understand that just living by passion alone can bring great chaos.
The old belief that finding your passion will help you live the life of your dreams is partially false.
Follow me closely and you will see my perspective.
Here is the truth.
Passion is not an end itself but a means to an end.
It is not the destination but the vehicle to convey you through the journey.
There are three areas where you can experience frustrations.
1. Visibility
2. Impact
3. Income (Financial return)
In the area of visibility, the challenge might be getting more people to know about what you are doing. If the application of your passion is for profit or even Non-profit, you can't deny the fact that it is crucial to be visible.
You need more people to know about your NGO, business, brand, startup, company or event.
In the area of impact, the challenge can be that the amount of influence you have on certain persons. Are your target audience always on the look out for you?
Impact will directly mean that the solutions you are offering through your passion is credible. You get the job done. You get results.
These make people perceive you as someone who knows his/her onions and you end up getting recommendations.
In the area of income, the challenge could be that there is little or no financial value exchange for your passion.
You might mutter that "it's not about the money but the value."
Yes. That's correct.
Also remember, no one will pay your bills for you.
It is true that value is very important. I usually say "VALUE IS KINGMAKER."
When you do not know how to convert your value into a monetary form, it can be frustrating.
There are several reasons why your value doesn't convert to financial freedom. I won't delve into that today.
I know a lot of people that left their corporate jobs or other jobs just to start doing what they love.
Some had it figured out after sometime while others are still struggling.
I will share 3 differential factor between those successfully living the life of their dreams and those still struggling.
I am quite glad that I had not stepped my entire foot into the waters before I learnt this secret (truth). Though I fell victim of some of this reasons but the effect is still minimal.
3 Authentic Reasons Passion will fail you
1. No clarity2. No System/Platform
3. No smart goals/Vision
I discovered the first two points recently while learning more about growing my business as a young entrepreneur.
#1. No clarity
It's important you clearly define what you are are doing and specifically how it helps people.Clarity narrows your focus. It helps you have a well defined target. This is the principle that makes a laser beam powerful. It can cut through metals because it is coherent in nature. The laser beam is also monochromatic (one coloured) in nature.
Focus your passion on one thing at a time. See how Steve Harris puts it below.
God told Habakkuk (2) in the Bible to write the vision and make it plain. It's not enough to be excited by passion. You have to be really clear and sure of what/how you intend developing your passion.
For example, you might be passionate about music but you will just be everywhere and nowhere if you do not have clarity.
You are supposed to ask yourself questions like:
- What kind of message/lyrics do I centre my music around?
- What is or will be my unique style?
- What kind of genre of song will I adopt?
- What legacy do I want to leave with my music?
- How do I achieve this?
There are more questions you need to ask yourself so as to be clear of who you are and what you do.
I am a fast learner, so I can do so many things. This became a problem because I was everywhere and could not be named to one thing.
Multi-potential people have this challenge. It's easier for a serious person who is good at just one thing to break forth faster. This is because that's the only thing they have to offer.
Without clarity, you would be scattered around. When people ask "what you do?" or other similar questions, you will be thrown off balance.
Clarity will help you solve the problem of visibility/impact because you will be reaching out to the right people. The very persons that needs your message.
#2. No system/platforms
This is one great secret (not really a secret) I have been introduced to recently.I know you really want to make impacts with your passion, earn a good income as well as bring many other dreams to reality.
So you need to create systems/platforms that will act as the stage to your target audience. I see people looking around for someone to give them an opportunity. There is no such thing as that.
Whatever it is that you want to offer, you have to start from somewhere with what you have to create a system or platform. If you intend to make more money as you offer services doing what you love, the key to achieving that is to create a system of income.
Honestly, I wasn't conscious of this. I was just acting randomly about money and hoping it will grow.
So, since I learnt this important ingredient from one of the 12 Facebook Communities for Smart Entrepreneurs I belong to, I have been planning and developing my system of income.
In this world of technology, I don't think you have a genuine reason why you can't send your message out there. There are so many platforms you can leverage on.
I met someone who said, she was interested in being an On-air-personality.
After the discussion with the lady, I thought to myself that this days, you don't need to be employed in a radio station before you have a show. Platforms like Podcasts, and teleseminars can help you own your space.
Think about the various platforms that can help you send your message around the world and leverage on them.
Building systems/platforms will help you handle the issue of visibility, impact and Income.
#3. No Smart goals/Vision
Every great leader always begin with the end in mind. This is true self leadership. Every action you take should be aligned with your smart goals and vision.I have discussed about smart goals and vision in previous articles. Visionaries own the future.
How does this relate to frustration? Without vision, you don't really have a target. You have no picture of a desired end so there is nothing to really focus on. So you end up just living in imaginations and fantasy.
What makes you a Visionary?
You have a picture of your desired end. You have a strong conviction to follow through and you start moving towards that direction.
Don't be scared to envision big things. As long as you conceived it in your mind, you can achieve it.
You can create a vision board.
What is a vision board?
It's a board where you place pictures of your desired end. It is a physical representation of your imaginations.
One key to achieving results, is to always create a physical model of the things you want to see in your life.
You can place pictures of your desired house, workspace, company, book title, family, speaking engagement and even private jet.
The next step would be to set goals (long term & short term) that will gradually take you towards that envisioned end.
It might be a course, certification, training, writing a proposal, designing the book cover, registering the company, building a team, going to a business school or even volunteer works.
Remember that the purpose of setting a goal is to have a score that will take you a step further towards your desired end.
Take execution seriously. Ruthless execution is important.
I used to procrastinate a lot. I set goals and I do not keep to deadlines. This had been responsible for some setbacks I experienced in the past.
I have moved on. I hate mediocrity so I take my God inspired goals seriously.
This is truly what it means to have integrity. When your thoughts, words and actions are aligned.
I crave your indulgence to detest being average and envision great things that will make a difference in the world.
Then follow through with ruthless execution.
I shared a book by my friend Tobi Adesanya on Vision. It's free. You can download the 3 V's of Vision: The Ultimate guide to become a Visionary.
Bonus Tip:
Don't ignore the space between seed time and harvest.
Every action you take is a seed. Don't be in a hurry to take the fast lane. You must understand times and season. If you fail to realise that the space between seed and harvest time is the waiting period you will be expecting quick fix. When it doesn't come, you can get angry over yourself for no reason.
The farmer patiently wait as he waters and removes weeds so that his labour won't be in vain.
Conclusion
To clear the air I will resound that your passion is only a means to an end. As important as its discovery is the need to develop it by the 3 tips I gave above. If you need help with any of the three things I mentioned above, you can reach out to me using the contact page.
Over To You
What is your perspective about this post? Do you a have contribution, recommendation or observation? Are there anymore reason why passion can be frustrating. Reply with a comment below.
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P.S: If you are an entrepreneur and you are looking forward to learning more about building your personal brand online, you should register for my masterclass that will hold on Friday 18th, March 2016. Hurry, there are limited space.
