Passion: the Fast Lane to Success

To-Do List - Win - Dry Erase BoardLast week we took a look at loving what you do for a living as a means to getting rich. Unless you’re passionate about what you do, it is very difficult for you to be successful or happy.

When you are not thrilled with your work, what are you doing unconsciously? Looking for a way out, yes or no? You’re always thinking “If there was something else …” You’re constantly searching.

Imagine driving on a highway. You’re looking for your exit. What lane would you drive in? The slow lane, because you don’t want to miss the exit. But if you weren’t looking for an exit you’d be flying down the fast lane. Unconsciously, you wouldn’t even know you’re doing it until you see a cop or traffic jam or something. But when you’re in that mode of looking for a way out, you never fully commit. You never get any momentum.

When you’re engaged in what you love to do, it’s like driving in the fast lane. Time flies by and more roads open up to you, alternate routes you may not have even known existed.

So why don’t we do what we love? You’d think it’d be natural, right? Natural talents are gifts from the universe, gifts from spirit, gifts from whatever you want to call your creator. You can refine your talent but it’s something that makes people say, “You’re a natural at that!”

The reason a lot of people don’t find or create work that they love is fear, of course. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of rejection, fear of looking foolish, fear of disapproval. It’s a story you make up about what might happen or what could be in the future.

In conjunction with fear is obligation. Obligation to memories of the past, obligation to other people, obligation to the freaking mortgage! If your mortgage is hampering your life, which one do you want to release? You’d think the logical answer is the mortgage, but guess which one most people release? They release their lives. Isn’t that wicked?

Whatever obligation it is, it’s nothing more than a fear that ‘If I don’t do this, something bad will happen to me.’ Obligation is a ‘should’. It’s a ‘have to’. It’s an opinion, though, and every one of those obligations is made up. You made it up. It’s not true that you have to or that you should. It’s your opinion based on some other stuff, interpretations that you made about who you are, who others are to you, what’s important, what’s not.

Forget the obligations. If they are not supporting you, give up the ‘shoulds’. Don’t wait! Life is too short to work at something you really don’t love and have a passion for. When you do, you will promote it like crazy. That’s how you’ll know. Before you know it, you’re flying down the fast lane. Do what you love and the money will come. You have to trust yourself.

Now we want to hear from you! What are some ways that you’ve found to balance responsibility to others—like taking care of the family, for example—with responsibility to your creative side? What are some resources that we all have that people may not think about that could help them get over the hump of “shoulds” and “have to’s”?