Good Tuesday morning to you. Most people I know were on a three-day weekend for the Memorial Day holiday yesterday and are starting the week today. It was good to spend time at home with family and friends. I have four family members who have birthdays around the Memorial Day weekend every year. This year was one of those years where I didn’t get to see three of those family members. Our lives have two of us in different states and one in a different country. We are all passionate about what we are doing with our lives and we were able to see each other in January, when the family gathered. But at birthday time this year, we missed each other.
Today’s subject is about being passionate about what you do. It’s about living your passion. For years I practiced this each and every time I took on a project. It only worked for me if I was passionate about what I was doing. Even those years I spent working for Starbucks, I loved coffee and the art of making espresso, so I was still living my passion each day while I made coffee, and talked to people over that machine.
Each of us has to know what it is that brings that passion alive inside us. Maybe, like me, you want to be able to help people improve in life. For years I was the guy out cleaning cars because I had a passion to see cars clean. I think some of that came from watching old movies and never seeing a dirty car. That made me want to see all the cars cleaned in my town.
Here are five things I had to learn in order to live my passion no matter what I did:
1. Model your life on people you look up to. I have always looked up to people in whatever business I was working in. If I found that I wanted to have a certain job or position in that field, I found someone who was the best at doing that and then I modeled myself on what they did. At first I always tried to copy them, but after a time I realized that copies could only be second best. So I made a model of them and added my own flair and personality to it.
2. Became whole and balanced. I meet and talk to many different people and I often end up sending them somewhere else first before they are ready to work with a coach. A few years back I went to a seminar in the Dallas area called “The Road.” It was there that I learned there was healing that was needed in my past. To be able to build my future I first had to have a solid foundation of the past. Once you are whole then you need to build on the future but be balanced about it. The biggest problem people have is to find healing for past experiences. Many people take on too many new things only to then become unbalanced in life because they haven’t prepared a foundation that includes that element of healing. Soon their passion is gone as they are running directions that they did not want to go or are distracted by these unresolved, unhealed events in the past. So be whole and build with balance. If you want to build a big tower out of your life, first you must have a solid foundation, then build with balance or your life building will fall back down.
3. Always work to improve. Even those closest to me have a hard time with this one. We must always be looking to improve our lives. Well, if you are working toward a passion, living a passion that you have, new things are going to come up to make it better. Every successful business that is out there now is looking at how to improve the way they serve their customers. In the same way, you must look at ways to improve yourself, to make your life better, to be a sharper thinker, or more efficient at what you do with your life. That is a must.
4. Take action towards your goals. In order to live your passion and maintain that life, you must become a person of action. There are two kinds of people: those who get things done and those who procrastinate about getting things done. When I started this blog it was a form of growth towards my ultimate goal of building a motivational and coaching company. If you went through last year’s dates it could be weeks between posts. Well, to make my passion grow I had to become a doer in life – which meant daily blogs, in this case. You see, if you are a non-doer, or procrastinator, you will spend a lot of time accomplishing nothing. You must make a change to become a person who takes action towards your goal if you want to have a chance to live your passion.
5. Be willing to lead others. As you grow in living your passion, you will find that you have opportunities to be a leader and help others get to live their passion in life. If you want to be a manager at the company you work for then you will become a leader as you grow passionate about working there. Others will look up to you as the leader to get things done and take your company or division to the next level. So be ready to become a leader.
As you work all these steps and live your passion, before you know it you are going to be a RockStar in the world you live in. People around you will notice that you walk a little faster, you smile a little more, your attitude is a positive one and you are the leader in your life. With that, I encourage you begin to live your passion today.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s your time. Live the life you always wanted, love what you do and those you share your life with. Let me help you become the RockStar in your world.
