Wake Up To Success: Your Driving Passion

One of the things I mention in my book as a key to stress-free living is to surround yourself with support.  I wrote:

Remember when you were a kid and your parents were worried that you were hanging out with the wrong crowd?  Or maybe you have kids of your own and you raise a eyebrow when you see the friends they have chosen.

When we look at others, we can instinctively see the effect that the people they hang out with have on them.  It is obvious that birds of a feather flock together.

And yet we often fail to recognize the effect that the people we surround ourselves with have on us.

Every day, I join thousands of other like-minded individuals for a quick, 15-minute bolt of energy and motivation called the "Wake Up to Success" call.

Today's topic was about passion.

Sometimes we spend a lot of time try to get ourselves to focus on our goals.  I know I do this personally, using index cards, visualization and affirmation.  And I teach it as part of my weekly teleclass.

But today's leaders, Tony, Jessica, and Kevin, talked about the fact that when you are truly tapped into your passion, you don't need these external tools.  You don't need any external accountability.  You naturally do what you are passionate about.

What I have come to learn, though, is that sometimes we don't realize that we're passionate about something and so we spend a great deal of time and effort on things that we think don't matter to us and that, in fact, stress us out.

For example, let's say you agree to work on a project for someone, and you spend a huge amount of time on it--so much that you don't have time for other things and it ends up really stressing you out.

You may say that you aren't passionate about the project, but underneath what you ARE passionate about is looking good, getting praise and quick feedback, appearing perfect and put together, not disappointing others, etc.  (At least, I know those were hangups for me!)

The key, I have found, is to uncover what really is important to you.  Discover what you (yes, you) really want (yes, really want).  Once you know that, you can start walking in the direction of your own (yes, your own) desires and passion.

When you do, you'll be amazed at the joy and relief you feel.  (Unless you let it stress you out...but that's a topic for another day.)