Should You Follow Your Passion?
There are varying opinions about whether you should follow your passion. There is a group of people that believe people should follow their passion while another group kicks against people following their passion.
Some people are confused about whether to follow their passion or not. The aim of this article is to tell you why you should follow your passion but before that, the need to establish what passion is cannot be sidelined.
What is Passion?
According to the urban dictionary, passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is an ambition that is materialized into action.
Passion is a powerful force in achieving anything that you set your mind to. It’s the driving force behind success.
If you are thinking of starting a business, choosing or changing a career path, it is important that you venture into something that you are passionate about. Talent, ambition, discipline, and persistence all contribute to career success but following your passion can make the biggest difference.
Why Passion Is Important
When you are passionate and enthusiastic about what you do, you will be more resilient when you encounter obstacles. People who have passion for what they do, do not just do it for the monetary benefits or recognition attached to it but for the satisfaction that they derive from doing what they are passionate about.
Why You Should Follow Your Passion
There are different reasons to back up why you should follow your passion and the reasons are:
- Creativity: The ability to be creative stems from doing what you are passionate about. You will be more creative at your workplace when you are passionate about the work that you do. Performing a task that you have little or no interest in can be exhausting and boring. When you follow your passion, you are more creative. You will always come up with creative ways to perform a task in your workplace when you are passionate about what you do.
- Motivation: Motivation is an essential tool that helps an individual to stay true to a course. There’s nothing as disheartening as waking up every morning during the week to pursue a career that you have no passion for. Following your passion gives you reasons to stay true to a course even when there are challenges.
As an employee, following your passion gives you the motivation to keep working hard. When people see that you are able to accomplish tasks because you are passionate about what you do, they will also want to be better and produce better results at the workplace.
- Time: Time is a valuable asset. You will not want to invest your time into something that you are not passionate about.
- Fulfillment: Over time, l have come to the conclusion that people who do not do very well in certain careers or businesses are people who are not passionate about what they do. If you want to experience unadulterated happiness, and gain fulfillment out of life, you need to follow your passion. You see that burning desire in your heart to become a doctor, nurse, lawyer, fashion designer, make-up artist, etc allow it to materialize; don’t let it end up burning you.
One of the regret people have on their deathbed is not being courageous to fulfill their dreams.
- Self-improvement: One of the easiest ways to improve in all areas of your life is by doing what you are passionate about.
- Productivity: Do you know that the reason why most people feel that they are stagnant in their careers or businesses is that they are not passionate about it? Most times people are more productive when they are passionate about what they are doing.
- Concentration/Attention: How you feel about your work will show the level of concentration that you will put into it. If you don’t like what you are doing, you may not give it your full concentration and attention.
When you are passionate about what you do, you will always produce excellent results.
- Sacrifice: Every organization has a season where they have a lot of work to do. This means that employees will exceed the normal working hours in order to accomplish a task. If you are not passionate about what you do, you may be unwilling to sacrifice your time to complete the task.
- Confidence: Following your passion is a confidence booster. You build your confidence by doing what you have passion for.
Here is what foremost people said about following your passion.
- Steve Jobs: Steve Jobs who is the founder of Apple, one of the most successful companies in the world in an interview noted that the first principle of success is to do what you love. He went further to explain that people with passion change the world for the better.
Steve Jobs belongs to the school of thought that believes that for an individual to succeed at anything in life, he or she should follow his/her passion.
Steve Job’s work is recognized globally because he is passionate about what he is doing and that made all the difference.
- Mark Zuckerberg: Mark Zuckerberg who is the founder of Facebook birthed the idea of Facebook because he was passionate about communication and networking.
In one of his interviews, Mark noted that the secret to his success was following his passion.
- Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett is an American business magnate and an investor. He is one of the most successful investors of all time. In an interview with Parade magazine, Warren said that the importance of finding what it is that brings true meaning makes each day important.
Regardless of the path that you have chosen as a career or a business person, the key to achieving success and deriving satisfaction from what you do is PASSION. You can have all the money in the world and still feel unfulfilled. Despite the fact that you need to take care of your needs and that of your family, do not let what someone else tells you stop you from following your passion and living a fulfilling life.
