Dance with passion, love with passion, talk with passion, argue with passion, LIVE with passion. And of course, work with passion! Why? Because it’s fun enjoying the “process”. Otherwise it’s worthless – especially considering that we only have one life each.
“You work so hard because you get a higher pay check than I do” said to me a colleague some 8 years ago. I was astonished by his comment and I calmly explained to him that I worked the same passionately even when I got one third of the money I was paid at that particular time (which was absolutely much less than what he earned then).
I always worked passionately. Regardless the amount of money I was paid. Was I being silly? Was I a “victim” of the capitalist system? I did not feel so. I still don’t. I just like my work, so it is natural to try to do my best. ALWAYS, even under the most obscure conditions.
I’m definitely in fond of working with passion both by nature and by experience. And I selfishly do it for myself. I feel better this way. I feel fulfilled. So why not? Why am I supposed to spend my invaluable hours pretending that I’m doing something? To achieve what? To punish whom? To support which extraordinary idea?
“You get exhausted, poor lady” some other people told me once. Oh, really? Are you not getting exhausted, trying to “push” the hours and the minutes while doing something totally indifferent and irrelevant to you? Who gets really exhausted? I’m getting tired, yes. But I’m also having fun and I’m experiencing a unique feeling of fulfillment when doing what I like. This re-charges my batteries instead of consistently emptying them.
It’s personal, but it’s organizational, as well. Organizations are also selfish for themselves. They try to get the best out of people. They need to get the best out of people. It works positively both ways. Organizations need passionate people to achieve great results; people need to be passionate to lead an interesting life.
I have seen teams and companies achieving miracles that no one could imagine before, I have seen people stretching themselves and accomplishing the impossible, I have seen eyes full of passion for creation and contribution. And I have seen the organizations of such people thriving!
I believe in this principle more than in anything else. And I would advise everyone (especially the younger generation) to put their soul into everything they do. Without expecting an immediate “pay-back” note. It will undoubtedly come multiplied someday.
Working with passion gives meaning to life, substance to action, vent to thinking. And in the end, it brings results. Do not expect anything big to happen if you follow conventional methodologies, renowned as they are, unless there is passion, unless there is the fire of creation and contribution, the giving of mind and soul.
Behind each achievement of human civilization lies a smaller or larger piece of some souls who believed in an idea, a vision, a dream, a purpose. And therefore they did their best. And consequently they achieved something really big.
Do feel jealous about those people and do follow their example, even if it did not result in a “classically acknowledged” success. Keep in mind that they did live with passion, they offered without hypocrisy, they were burned by the most sacred flame, and they experienced a unique, irreplaceable communion of vision and life.
Do not be seduced by the bombast of arrogance and the pomp of the temporary float. These are not truly worthy. If you want to live a full life, rich and dative, bother to look deep within yourself and put your soul into your work. It’s worthwhile. And it pays off at a rate unknown in the money markets but insurmountably comforting for the souls of ordinary people.