PASSION – Is this a skill?

No, this article is NOT about Passion relating to personal relationships.

In actual fact, it is about Passion in relation to work or education. So, the key question to YOU is “Are you passionate about the job you currently do?”

The reason I pose this question, and why I decided to write about this subject  this month, relates back to some coaching I was doing recently. I was working with students from a school in Brixton, and in conversation with two of them, I found out that they wanted to be a Solicitor and Make-Up Artist respectively.

I asked them whether this was their choice of career or their parents. Why? It is my view that young people should choose their career based on what they have a passion for, and not doing what their parents think is appropriate for them.

Here are some examples. Dad is a Doctor, so son will become a Doctor. Mum is a teacher, so daughter will be a teacher. Do this son and daughter want to be a Doctor or Teacher? No. So, why don’t parents work with their children to help them follow their passion and give them some empowerment and encouragement?

The coincidence about my chat with these two students was that my son at one stage wanted to become a Barrister, but eventually went down the Solicitor route (N.B. His decision), and I had wanted to be an Actuary when I was in the Sixth form. However, my dad had wanted me to go to University, and my life followed a different route.

Do I have any regrets? No, of course not, because I have loved all that has happened in my life. We could all write our book called “If”, and how many times do we hear this word in conversations? We make lots of decisions every day, and those decisions take us down different paths in life.

So, in today’s economic climate, with jobs not being stable and some disappearing daily, start thinking about the following question, “Am I truly passionate about the job that I’m currently doing and what job would I love to be doing that I know I’d have a real passion for?”

The other day I was reading some articles by Angela Maiers. One of her quotes on her website was, “There are no limits for learners with passion, foresight, and a desire to grow”.

I believe that another of her quotes is definitely moving me to answer the question posed in the title of this article, viz. “We are impacted by those who we spend time with. I am energized and motivated most when I am surrounded by passionate people. Even a single hour spent with those who live life as observers rather than participants, going through the motions without purpose and passion, drain me physically, mentally and emotionally”.

I can recall a few years ago speaking to my auntie, who is now 96, but still has a great memory. She was telling me some stories that I had never heard about my granddad. The latter had a very successful engineering business, and apparently he was just totally passionate about the work he did.

He was also a people person and never had lots of money. Why?  Because when customers came in to collect the work he’d done for them, they started to tell him about their problems at home financially, and so he would never charge them what he should have done.

Pulling all this together, it is my view that Passion, in relation to work, is definitely a skill, and the sooner you acquire it, the sooner you’ll not only be successful but you’ll enjoy greater happiness. What do you think?

If you want to contact me on Life Skills, then simply email me on eric@coachandcourses.com