Passion Plus Talent

Talent will get you noticed, passion will ensure you maximise your talents.

Have you got lots of talent and no passion?

Well there's a massive human talent pile, stacked higher than high with men and woman, boys and girls since the beginning of time who have no shortage of talent. Each and every talent they had was allowed to fade & fizzle away, because they had no passion to apply themselves and realise the talent they had been endowed with from birth. Give me a person with minimal talent, yet full of fired up passion - any day!

Talent will get you noticed and provide you with pride of place at the start line. It'll be passion though, that ensures you cross the finish line in 1st place. Not talent.

I don't think any of you will argue that passion supersedes talent. Over my many years as a Gym instructor and then a multiple gym owner I have seen many with what is called, natural born talent. Genetically, they have the total package, yet they lack the enduring drive to succeed that only passion can provide.

How's your level of passion for what you do? Take away passion and you'll have a job and not a life long conviction. Take away passion and you will be going through the motions longing for what you don't have. Time slows down, the body aches and you wish you were paid far more than you are to compensate for the day to day drudgery you endure.

When speaking with long term unemployed I would often use the statement - "Find a job you love and you will never spend another day going to work". It's likely you have heard the quote before, yet it describes the basis of a successful and fulfilling career.

Passion changes your perspective for what you do. It fuels the fire within you to endure hardships, unfair setbacks, and is found at the very core of all human resilience. Now, take that initial quote I said before and extend it even further:

"Find a job you are absolutely passionate about. One that you would do even if you were not paid to do it. Get really good at it and people will ultimately pay you handsomely for it"

Is it this that over arches all human success? Is it this that separates the "could-haves" from the "haves"? Is it this that determines the height of our success and the depths of our failings?

Show me a successful businessman, a world champion, a school graduate who passes with honors and you will find a level of personal passion in each one of them. The varying degrees of passion within them will determine their long term level of success, or not.

What are you passionate about? What turns your lights on? What fires you up or gets your wheels spinning? What? Does anything come to mind? If you had financial security and all your usual considerations and commitments have been taken care of. What would you want to do for a career? Think about it. What would you do?

Once you have answered that question. Apply yourself whole heartily to the pursuit and fulfillment of it. Let nothing hold you back. You will set all obstacles aside and nothing will stop you from succeeding. You will toil day in and day out. Others go to work and you are living your dream.

Life will ask of you to commit every fibre of your being to your passion, yet you will do so gladly. For that is what passion does, for those who find their true north in life and live out their passion. Whether it is in a career, sport, hobbie or study. Find your passion and live it. And your life will change before you.

"It's not what catches your eye as you journey through life, it is what touches your heart".

Picture: The logo at the top is of David Tua. He fights this saturday against Shane Cameron
- "Go the Tua-man!"