Why ‘Passion’ Is One Of The Most Overused And Overrated Terms Used Today
Passion is overrated.
“What? Okay Harv, now you’ve gone too far!!”
Let’s be clear, here. When it comes to the people we care about, or a cause, a mission, or…let’s just be honest here…sex and intimacy, then of course passion is good!
That’s not the kind of passion I’m talking about. What I mean is this whole idea that “If I’m not living my passion, then everything’s wrong!”
Let’s first of all take this heavy load off of the word “passion.” It used to be a good thing, now it’s frickin’ overrated! I can’t tell you how many people have a problem with their “passion,” as if it’s some holy grail to happiness and success.
All we really want to do is what we enjoy and makes us happy, yes or yes? But in everything we do…everything…there’s going to be some things that are really positive and some things that are not so positive.
Passion is something that people talk about because of its enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm comes from the Latin word theos, meaning spirit. So passion is really a connection to Spirit, and the word “alignment” in the context I’m using it in is aligning with your spirit.
So passion is not the be all and end all, but we do want to find out as best as possible what we are most in alignment with. We all have elements in life that we are more aligned with and others not so much.
The goal is to align as closely as possible with what resonates with your natural gifts and talents in an area you enjoy and helps other people in a way where they are willing to pay you.
Marsha Sinetar wrote a book called Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. Half right, half wrong. Do what you love and the money will follow as long as you do your business intelligently, you market intelligently, and you handle people properly!
That’s not that hard, and it’s all learnable, but you want to be in an arena that aligns you with your nature, with who you really are. Those things usually come from what you were born with, and sometimes it just takes a while to find out what you’re naturally good at.
So not only is searching for that passion a mistake (it’s already in you; just calm down, be patient and let life unfold those answers for you), but the importance placed on the word tends to be overstated or simply misunderstood.
You don’t have to be “doing” your passion in order to be a passionate person and see that enthusiasm in every aspect of your life right now, if you chose that.
So, how do you uncover what best aligns with the interests you’re most passionate about?
I say start by going to a retail store like Barnes and Noble and buy any four magazines you like, the ones you would read anyway. They might be varied, but that’s why I want you to buy four of them. If you don’t want to go to the bookstore and buy magazines, just write down what you know your interests are.
Now you say, “Well, how can I make a living?” Look inside those magazines to see what’s hot, what’s not, what’s going on, what’s new or what you want to be part of. If you are in a situation where you have a job and you know this job is not your field of passion, then get a job in your field of passion for goodness sake! Try it out. See if it’s actually a fit for you. If it’s not, then move on to another area of interest.
If you find your passion and structure your business and career properly, you will increase your income.
Could you think of a better blessing than doing something you love and getting rich while you’re doing it? I can’t.
But back to the point of living in alignment is not that you’re 100% stoked about every aspect of every part of your life, including how you make money. The point is you enjoy life, yourself and the people you care about right now, whether you’re living your passionate dream career or not.
Tell us what you think. Share your stories and experiences, we want to hear from you!
We have an ENCORE class happening this Friday, January 20th.
For Your Freedom,
Well said T Harv. Sometimes it is right there in front of your face. Personally I lime to say that it lies between that which most excites you and that which enrages you. We’ll never overcome the obstacles, setbacks and challenges if we are not moved by something deeper than just income, fame, or some other motive other than divine purpose. Look forward to the webinar.
I’ve also heard several people say they are motivated by “passion” and “commitment.” I think these are more by-products of ones purpose and convictions in life. “Purpose” that is, a person’s calling in life that never changes and “convictions” being the very core and few beliefs that never changes.
Hi Harv, another excellent post that made me think. I agree that the passion-hype gets a bit too much. Things may get a bit complicated sometimes, even when you things you like. In my case, I am a researcher and teacher at university and I love it, and prosperity has come with it (not always money-wise, but also in gratitude of students, or freedom to talk). However, with the succes, requests have come to do ever more administration, which I abhor and am not good at. My main parts of the job get overshadowed by the constant pressure of meetings so much I start losing passion of what I look of the job. What to do in such a case? Just changing to another university job does not make sense: the package comes with administration at this point.
Thanks for noting the underlying cause of passion – enthusiasm from the spirit. I agree that the word and perception is over-used.
Commitment comes from beliefs and values as well as action. The more in alignment all these factors are in, the easier it is to make creative choices and take the needed steps.
Well…
Theos is a greek word and means God!
–> from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein, to be inspired by a god, from entheos, possessed
When we talk about the etymology of a word, it’s good to talk about the actual word (passion) and not of its synonym (enthusiasm) to stay on subject. The root of the word ‘passion’ is the Latin word ‘passio’, that means ‘suffering’. Suffering is the keyword to understanding why passion is overrated. For example, love is passionate when we have a belief that we are not complete, not whole without the other person and that we aren’t good enough and can never be happy without them either. If people are chasing after their passions like maniacs, thinking it is the holy grail, the single answer to all of their problems, it’s because of the same thing why they fall in love passionately with someone. They have a core belief that they are not good/lovable enough, followed by a compensating belief, telling them unconsciously that what makes them good/lovable/important enough is…(fill in the blank with the name of the loved one or the passion). Truly, when we come to a place of complete self-love and can remain in our own presence blissfully without feeling any impulsive need to do anything whatsoever other than just Be, passion will drop away to give way to the simple truth: we are good enough. Then we can create balance in our lives and meet our needs naturally, without compulsive attachments to any particular idea.
I think it is a little more complicated that simply “discovering your passion,” and waiting for life to reveal your talents to you. Although, I can say that I can agree that you will not always like every part of doing your “passion.” Often we have talents that we are unaware of and often we get dragged in the other direction of MONEY MONEY MONEY… I can say from personal experience, that money is not happiness; yet, this is where we allow society to push us. Sometimes we need to sit and question our character, traits, and desire to interact with others. My free mini E-Book “Ultimate You – Awaken The Sleeping Giant Within,” is helping people learn how to slow down a little and gain a sense of mindfulness, a sense of self – to then cultivate this understanding of their true nature and the way they want to spend their time living their lives.
Thanks Harv. Great post as always. I have your course “Getting Rich Doing What You Love” (plus MDBS and TWM) and I have finally figured out my real path. I had skirted around the edges for years but it was the ‘write with my left hand’ exercise in Module 3 that gob-smacked me. I looked at what I wrote and asked out loud ‘where did that come from?’. I had always known I wanted to write and have several books (different topics) mapped out. But what I really want to do is teach – or better put, to channel people to do what they are good at and to grow exponentially, as you have done for me. Writing is just the vehicle. Sounds simple but is a major breakthrough to stop procrastinating and get going (which I have now). Thanks again Harv for everything.
Money may not be happiness, but if there’s a choice between having it and not, you might as well have it. True, money doesn’t make you happy, but it makes you comfortable, it gives you access to experiences that you want to have. Experiences make you happy so it’s all a cycle. I love that Mr. Eker focuses on being passionately abundant.
Many years ago I had a boring summer job counting fish on a patrol boat in Alaska. My partner was a biology major from my college and, to alleviate boredom, he was classifying these fish according to species. I asked myself, “I am a philosophy major. What am I doing when I see these fish?”
I realized that I was physically excited by the form, movement, and flash of silver sunlight on the backs of these fish as they surfaced momentarily and then dove into the darkness…. I asked myself: WHO THINKS LIKE THIS?
Instantly I knew: A DANCER! I AM A DANCER! I knew I was already a dancer, that I just had to get the dance training to bring out what I already was.
Along with this 100% convincing revelation came another thought I knew I would need someday or that somebody else might benefit from. That thought is: IT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK BUT HOW YOU THINK THAT TELLS YOU WHO YOU ARE!
How I thought: form, color, movement, physical sensation. From the “how” to the “who” or the “what”: dancer–dancers are excited by movement, form color. The “how” comes before the “what.”
Discovering one’s passion is first finding how one already thinks–visual images, sounds, words, emotions, sensations….
It is eery how a profound self-revelation like this can seem to change events so that they cooperate with one’s newly discovered destiny. When I hitched back from Alaska and was in Vancouver, British Columbia, a taxi drove up and the driver said to get in. I told him I had not called a taxi. He insisted I get in! For some reason, I did. He asked me where I was going. “San Francisco, but not in a cab,” I said. He asked what I was going to do there. I told him I was going to take dance training and maybe some amateur acting. We had driven a block-and-a-half. “Over there, tomorrow night, is an audition,” he said.
I tried out, got the part, was told by the director that I waved my arms too much. This told me that I did not want to pull my energy in and instead should leave acting and pursue dance for sure. When the show was over, I took my first dance class in Vancouver. Guess who was there? My Taxi Driver from Destiny!
I went on to become one of Canada’s pioneer modern dancers and enjoyed the most passionate years of my life. I got there by “riding on the back of a fish.”
If any tiny detail had been different–if I had not asked myself that simple, revelatory question,…if I had not been on that street corner at precisely that moment,…if I had not got into that cab,…if I had gone to any one of the city’s other dance classes,…I would not be here in Vancouver now writing this post tonight.
My point is that we have “crossroads” in life. We can go this way or that. If we think in a conditioned, reasonable way, we may end up being conditioned and reasonable. What would I, a philosophy major do? Perhaps go on to become a teacher. But no! I made an unreasoned discovery about myself, a pure perception rather than a conception. I saw how I functioned mentally–and then I knew who I was…right now,…not tomorrow.
I acted on a single insight instead of a lot of reasoning. And events began to collaborate with my new direction. Some might call this “manifesting.” On the other hand, I could have built my future on my education which, while interesting, would not have been my passion.
The question remains: how many “crossroads” do we miss because we are too busy thinking, planning, and not simply asking: “HOW DO I THINK?” and “WHO THINKS LIKE THIS?”
Great, but great article that touches a vital point of life.
This phrase … “I can’t tell you how many people have a problem with their “passion,” as if it’s some holy grail to happiness and success”….Incredible. It is so.
I loved! Thank you very much!
Great information and passion discussion – thank YOU! Check out Strengthsfinder2 and, to find your innate talent themes take the Top Five Assessment – truly effective in depth tool. https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/
Yes, I think passion is: You want to learn more and more about subject that turns you on; you feel happy doing and you do more so get better and better at doing. And thank you Harv for clarifying aligning your passion and talent with your “work”.
Yes, and… don’t forget that “passion” comes form latin “patire” and this last one from greek “pathos”:
they both mean “to suffer”… 🙂
Dear Harv
I was reserved on yesterday for this class
my class’s time was today at 9 Am; thanks for sent me unique join link for watch the class, unfortunately I can’t connect to this link because when I click this link, direct to “yahoo.com” page
could you help me? how can I connect to your class?
thanks.
If you want to email our support team at support@harveker.com we can help you quickly!
You are right Harv.
I cannot find my passion yet.
But I know that I love my loved ones.
Wonderful counsel. Thank-you, I’m moving on it….
passion is the Dream , but that’s not the one you see it during your sleep it’s the Dream that will not let you to sleep .
with regards to T. Harv Eker