Use Passion To Energize Your Talent

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

Use Passion To Energize Your Talent

PASSION carries people to the top of their professions. It is passion that makes champions take risks, go the extra mile and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Which is why passion is more important than talent. Passion is more important than planning. We are yet to meet a passionate person who lacked energy, firepower, for passion fuels talent. Passion keeps champions going, enabling them to make the most of their talent. A passionate person with little talent will outperform a passive person possessing greater talent. Passion energizes talent. When a person acts with boundless enthusiasm, you should recognize him as one with passion. And such a person is bound to succeed.

  Authors Robert Kriegel and Louis Patler ate a study of 1500 people over 20 years that shows how passion makes a significant difference in a person’s career. At the outset, the group was divided into Group A, 83 per cent of the sample, who were embarking on a career chosen for the prospects of making money now in order to do what they wanted later, and Group B, the other 17 per cent of the sample, who had chosen their career path for the reverse reason; they were going to pursue what they wanted to do now and worry about the money later. The data showed startling results. One, at the end of 20 years, 101 of the 1,500 had become what passion can do for you. One, passion is the first step to achievement. Loving what you do is the key that opens the door of achievement. You cannot achieve anything when you lacked the desire to do so. The only way you can achieve anything of substance is to really want it passionately.

  Two, passion increases willpower. One of your duties as a parent is to help your wards reach their full human potential. The best way to do that is to help them discover their passions. Thus, the secret too willpower is wantpower. While everyone possesses passion, not everyone takes the time to discover it. What we accomplish in life is based less on what you want but more on how much you want it. Those who want something very badly often find the willpower to achieve it. Champions become champions from within not from without.

  Three, passion creates energy. Passion not only energizes you, it helps you enjoy the journey as much as reaching the destination. Four, passion is the foundation of excellence. Passion often transforms persons from average to excellent. Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King asserted: ‘‘If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” When you find purpose, you find passion. Then, passion energizes your talent so you can achieve excellence.

  Five, passion is the key to success. When anything fires your soul, impossibilities vanish. The American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: ‘‘Every great movement in the world is the triumph of enthusiasm.” Six, passion is contagious, writer and publicist, Eleanor Doan remarked, ‘‘you cannot handle a fire in any other heart until it is burning within your own.” Seven, prioritize your life according to your passion. There will be many things that will catch your eye, but a few should catch your heart. It is those few that you should pursue. Don’t ever allow yourself to be pressured into thinking your dreams aren’t prudent, they are never meant to be limited. Your talent is meant to bring you joy and fulfillment. Finally, protect your passion. If you have ever built a fire, then you will know that the natural tendency of fire is to go out. But then you need to fuel it to keep it burning. Then you protect it. You have two kinds of helpers in life: the firelighters and the firefighters. The firelighters will help you keep your passion for success burning. But the firefighters will throw cold water on your passion for success. It’s your duty then, to protect your passion by not listening to your detractors.