PRIME MOVERS – Being Passionate

Welcome back Viphilus*

Leadership guru, John Maxwell, said, “Nothing of significance was ever accomplished without passion.”

After spending more than thirty years in public service and serving in the local church for almost forty years, I feel confident in saying, “Maxwell is right.” So let’s talk about passion. Better yet … let’s talk about what we can do in ourselves to help ignite passion. After all, passion is the deepest energy behind accomplishment.

What is passion?

Dictionaries offer some definitions. Passion is:

-       a strong positive affinity or love for something or someone;

-       a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love;

-       a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or intense, compelling emotion towards a subject, idea, person or object.

These definitions make passion sound like emotional energy, but I’m convinced that it goes deeper to something intrinsic …something triggered at the depth of the spirit. Passion is a rich form of personal and intentional energy that comes in three dimensions, each deserving a separate conversation.

Passion from Purpose Lights Us Up

Give people a purpose or mission and there’s nothing they can’t accomplish! And that jazzes us … all of us. Purpose is activation energy; it gets us up in the morning and energizes us through the day. Helen Keller reminded us that without it, life is joyless: “happiness comes from fidelity to a worthy purpose.” So it isn't just purpose, but the kind of purpose that benefits someone beyond you.

I’ve already written about the importance of purpose a couple of times in this blog, but I cannot overstate it. Purpose creates passion and life isn't worth living without passion. And while I have made it clear that I’m a Christian, it is clear that the power of purpose transcends religion, as evidenced by the following quotes … one from a theologian and one from an atheist philosopher:

William Barclay (Christian theologian) said, “There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

Frederich Nietzsche (atheist philosopher) said, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

Purpose-driven passion answers the question of why we do what we do.

Amongst the most satisfying times in my life have been when I've been involved with a team on an intense and focused mission. We all knew what we had to do and, for the duration of the mission, the mission itself almost seemed to define everyone’s raison d’être. 

I often worry for those who retire that they’ll lose their reason to get up each morning and that they will lose their sense of identity (which is very linked to the purpose motive). I have the same concern for young people. You can have a job to go to, but if it’s not clear to you what you’re doing and WHY, even the best job becomes a drudgery that drains your energy rather than rejuvenating you. {Managers pay attention: if your employees don't fully understand what you expect them to do, it is your fault if they are disengaged. You are guilty of managerial malpractice}. 

One fact worth pondering; religious people find it easier to see purpose, and therefore, generate passion within themselves. Why do you think that is?

A WISE ACTION: if the purpose of your job isn't clear, seek clarity; in absence of finding it, create it yourself (don't be a victim to a bad manager). Better yet, create meaning for yourself in all that you do.

Passion from Strengths Brighten the Light

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” Sadly, most people live with artificial limitations in their lives which form ceilings to keep them from rising to their potential. A big part of that potential is defined by our strengths: things that energize us when we do them (in contrast to the traditional definition of strengths which are simply things we do well).

I briefly referenced this perspective on strengths and weaknesses last month when talking about P.I.E. I want to give it a fuller treatment today. From the time you were a child you knew that you were good at certain things, you enjoyed doing certain things, and certain things literally seemed to energize you. There were also things which you knew drained you. As you grew older you became aware that spending a lot of time with people also either energized or drained you, to varying degrees (this describes the different ends of the extrovert-introvert spectrum). An important part of being fully engaged in life is to intentionally spend time doing things that energize you. This does NOT mean that you are to become irresponsible and shun those things which drain you … that wouldn't be living in the real world. What it DOES mean is that you must become sufficiently self-aware that you know how to fill your emotional tank by making sure that some part of each day … or certainly each week … has activities which strengthen you.

Marcus Buckingham defines “a strength” differently from most. “A strength,” he says, “isn't just something which you re good at … it is something which strengthens you when you do it.”  He gives examples of things at which you may excel, but which actually drain you; these are tasks which the responsible person has to do. There are also things which you may not be very good at, but which actually energize you; these, he whimsically muses, are hobbies. But there are those things which are true strengths which make you feel good when you participate in them, they increase your internal energy because it is effortless to do them, and you get better at them with time because you were literally made to do them.

Forgive the nerdy analogy but this is like “cold fusion”; you get more energy out than what you put in. I know that when I do work that plays to my strengths and avoids my weaknesses (things that drain me when I do them, even if I’m pretty good at doing them) I accomplish far more and feel more energized when I’m done!

A WISE ACTION: don’t be a square peg in a round hole … find or create opportunities to work in areas of your strengths at least 15% of the time; amazingly, it will energize you for the rest of your work. Really!

Passion from Callings Set Us Ablaze

I've been a keen people observer for decades and have come to a conclusion; paradoxically, the one thing we all share in common is that we each are unique. Previously, I linked uniqueness to our strengths. When those strengths are applied to a purpose that benefits others beyond ourselves, the inner light gets very bright and we come alive.

Now let me share my best wisdom on this by taking it one step further. Rather than a generic purpose, what if it’s a purpose that seems custom-made for you? This helps distinguish an occupation from a vocation. An occupation is something you choose, whereas, a vocation is something that chooses you. A vocation (from the word, “vocal”) is a “calling” and something that you feel compelled to do. In fact, it drains you (or even crushes you) if you don’t do it. If unsatisfied, a calling becomes an inner state of angst that rises up from within, signalling that there is a specific mission you've been “called” to but are ignoring. Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church describes the inner angst that comes from resisting called-purpose as a “holy discontent.” He believes this comes from resisting what God may be asking you to do. Having experienced this myself I agree with Pastor Hybels.

It is in this context that we are finally getting to the original meaning of the word passion. Our English word, passion, originates from the Latin word, patior, meaning to suffer or to endure. People endure hardships with passion and conviction for seemingly incomprehensible reasons, because those reasons reside in the core of their spirit (maybe the expression, "the passion of the Christ," finally makes sense to you in this moment). To resist such a calling crushes the spirit because it is working against called-purpose. To fight the inner calling of passion is debilitating and disorienting and renders most other things to be of little importance.

This is a lesson I learned only in the last decade, and it has progressively become my wisdom. My time as a meteorologist with Environment Canada, especially the decade that I served with the Canadian Hurricane Centre, was exceptionally rewarding. I almost always had a clear sense of my purpose, whether it was a daily challenge, a weekly crusade, or a seasonal mission. I also had great managers and directors who were savvy enough to put me to work according to my strengths.

But it was never a vocation. I wasn't called to do it. As for the man who replaced me? Now he was called to do it. From the time he was a young child he “knew” he was meant to be a meteorologist. It’s like he was created for the job. I believe that he was. For years I was known as “the hurricane guy”; that was my occupation. In my final five years I found what I was made to do and in the process became known as “the life balance guy.” I found my calling. I was made for what I’m doing now. That light inside me is like a raging fire. Although I’m retired from public service my passion has never been so ablaze. Clearly, I must keep doing what I’m doing.

Caution: you might not discover your calling just by looking for it. I think that's fine. In fact, it might be necessary that you gain other experiences or training in your time of preparation for when you do discover it. Don't be bummed out if you don't know what you were made to do ... there's still a lot to do that will fill you with passion until your calling is clear.

A WISE ACTION: my best wisdom on this is to discover what you were made to do and DO IT! But until then, purpose-driven strengths-focused work can make for a great first career and a great life.

Closing the Loop

Let's take a final look at the basic needs that I've been writing about this month (someday I may tackle writing a book just on this diagram because there is soooooooooo much to learn from it.)

The Power to Rise Above the Animal in Us – Some Conclusions

From the previous two blog posts I showed that animal needs and human needs work in a completely opposite sense from each other. Animal needs, or “needs of deficiency,” motivate us to fill them when they STOP being met. On the other hand, human needs, or “needs of growth and being,” motivate us to fill them when they START being met.

Animal needs push or DRIVE us, whereas, human needs pull us inward towards inner development and growth. The deepest of all human needs … to connect to God and the thing(s) He wants you to do… is where the inward pull is strongest; it’s what I refer to as being “called” rather than pulled. This is PASSION at its greatest.

Now please pay attention to the point I made last week because it’s the punchline … and for you, this may be all you ever need to get from this blog:

Fulfilled human needs have the power to override our animal needs 

... and the deeper the human needs that are fulfilled, the greater this power!

Clarifying the Point

This blog is about “breaking the self-sabotaging blocks of self-limiting, self-defeating, and self-destructive thoughts and behaviours.” It’s about learning how to train your elephant (if you missed them you might want to check back on the Mar 16 and Mar23 posts).

The only path, I believe, to learning how to get out of the trappings of the superficial animal-needs levels is to intentionally engage yourself in the deeper human-needs levels. GO DEEP!  At the deepest spiritual level where God meets us, we find, in Him, the power to stop thinking and behaving like an animal … all the while letting the strength of that animal do our heaviest lifting for us. One of my favourite authors, Gordon MacDonald, wrote a powerful book in the 80s called, “Ordering Your Private World.” Through him, I learned the profound wisdom that life works much better when we choose to be CALLED rather than to be DRIVEN. The former sustainably rejuvenates while the latter is exhaustible and must be continually filled.

Now don't make the mistake that too many Christians make ... that all you need is faith in God to reach your full-potential and become a decent human-being. That's simply wrong and I can cite dozens of biblical passages that refute that thinking. There is still work that we have to do ... a lot of work ... but that work can only achieve the results we want when we partner with God in our deepest character development.

A great place to start is to do whatever you do with passion. If you can't pursue something with passion, then don’t bother doing it!

Blessings Viphilus,

Your friend, Omega Man

OCA Training

* Viphilus means, "lover of life"