Don’t be a Slave to Your Passion

There is much talk and discussion in coaching circles about passion and how pwople should be encouraged to find their passion. The belief is that by following your passion, you will lead a happier and more fulfilling life.

I want to challenge this belief and I’ll start by calling it a load of ‘twaddle’.

First of all, let’s look at the nature of ‘passion’, what is it and what do we mean by it? Passion is something that takes over you, it motivates you, it makes you do things you might not otherwise do. It becomes a cause, a belief, a goal that you believe in. In everyday terms we think of passion in terms of love and romance, we accept that passion exists and we accept that it makes a person do sometimes strange things.

However, we can also see that passion is not always a good thing. It can make a person pursue another person even though that other person does not want or welcome the attention. It can make a person spend money excessively or foolishly in pursuit of winning a person. It can lead a person to neglect other people and other aspects of their life. It can become unhealthy, obsessive and even life threatening.

While we can accept passion in terms of love and romance, we do so in the expectation that the person will usually get over it (whether the outcome is successful or not). It is not usually considered to be a permament state or condition but a transient one that will fade with time, maturity or experience.

Passion is often driven by the desire for pleasure. This maybe a pleasure that has not been experienced before or a desire for more or increased pleasure. It is perhaps once this pleasure has been satiated that the passion starts to decline.

All this may be acceptable in love and romance but what happens when we apply passion to other aspects of life, such as work, finance or politics? Does passion really have a role to play here?

Passion is the opposite of action. Where passion is involved, a person is often passive and allows the passion to drive and steer their actions, the passion is in control. When a person is active and motivated, they drive and steer their own actions, it is the person who is in control.

A successful person is one who is in control of their life, rather than one who is governed by desires or passions. That is not to say that passions are wrong but it is to say that passions are something that need to be recognised and controlled. That is also not to say that passions shouldn’t be pursued but rather that they should be pursued with caution and with an eye kept on all other aspects of your life and work.

So when you read articles that tell you that you can improve your life or become successful by finding and following your passion, read them with caution. Are they simply implying that you can achieve your goals by doing nothing except allowing passion to take over?  Are they presenting you with a mythical ‘quick fix’ approach, something that may be too good to be true? Passion should not become a substitute for action, planning and motivation. Do not allow such articles to fool you into becoming a slave to your passion, rise above it and take action to achieve your goals.

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Tags: belief, Goal, goal setting, Life Coaching, Life Purpose, Motivation, Passion, Romance