How Do I Find It?

I facilitated a workshop yesterday for a group of high school students. It was absolutely amazing! There were truly some brilliant minds in that room - the intensity of the questions asked, the comments and solutions offered were truly above and beyond what some adults can even articulate. Let me say this - whatever you do, we have to give back to our youth. They deserve to know the truth about themselves, their hopes and their dreams.

The question was asked by one of the students, how do I find my passion? Immediately I thought of Farrah Gray's Get Real, Get Rich:

1) What comes easy to you, but harder to others? (Think of things you're complimented on, this may be a special talent that you are called weird for like cooking amazing meals, flower arranging, or talking - like myself! This is your natural talent, that you might be taking for granted.)

2) What would you do nonstop and never have to get paid for it? (The joy of making money is fleeting, imagine having a great time making the money for whatever you're doing but the money is just a bonus.)

3) How can you be of service and give back to others? (The more we give, the more we receive. Giving back can include giving money, volunteer hours, etc. You can add value to society simply by operating in your talent and fulfilling a need that exists.)

A few years before I had read Farrah's book, I'd spent a lot of my free time trying to figure out what some of my key talents were. Though I had a knack for numbers, I wouldn't exactly say I was passionate about them. This is where another valuable resource came in:

Do What You Are by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. It's a book of career suggestions based on a personality assessment. You can take a quick version of the assessment here.

Based on the four letter code you get as a result, you can then go to this website for more information on potential careers and a strengths and weaknesses assessment.

Honestly and truly, this book worked wonders for my life. At the time, I had just gotten fired from my accounting job and I was really looking for something meaningful to do with my life. I knew accounting wasn't it, especially since I had just spent the last month or so looking at myself in the work bathroom mirror at work and saying "I am not an accountant. I don't look or feel like an accountant. I can't believe I'm working in corporate america for some company that does nothing for my community. I should have went to law school." Literally, these were the thoughts I had been having. So when I got fired, it was a blessing. I would finally be forced to find out what my interests were, to find out what I was really interested in and what I truly wanted to do with my life.

On February 14, 2007 my car slid on black ice and was hit by 2 semi trucks. Though I was in graduate school at the time working on leadership development, which I loved - that further solidified the fact that I had to work in an arena I was passionate about.

As much as we'd like to believe we are independently thinking creatures, sometimes it really does take a literal PUSH to get you where you are destined to be in life. That's why I can't really hate on the family I was raised in, the haters I endured, the horrible teachers and managers I've had, the accident, etc. Because had it not been for them, I would be complacent. I would have been okay staying in the same places I had always been in, never moving forward, never getting better.

What is Passion?

I mean I hear all the motivational speakers discussing it. Every once in a while when I see people who are studying the arts, they discuss it. It seems most people are missing it. There are movies about it - think Passion of the Christ. But really what is PASSION?
For different people, it may mean different things. For me however, it means wanting and yearning to do something. Case in point: I'm passionate about education. Educating myself, educating others - it really doesn't matter. I feel literally driven to educate through googling random ideas I've had throughout the day, reading new books, being nosy - ahem, inquisitive- about others' lives and ideas and their reason for living. I can honestly say I'm passionate about learning new things. I recently read an article about passion that stated if you're passionate about what you're doing on a day to day basis, you won't have to set goals. That makes a whole lot of sense.

I currently work in a metrics driven environment where we are constantly reminded of the goals and metrics we have to meet. You have to make X number of phone calls per day, you have to contact Y number of students, you have to register Z number of classes, your shift time should be this number, your lunch time should be this other number and so on and so forth.

But what if we were truly passionate about serving students? What if we were driven to connect to each of our students because we truly loved the work we were doing? Would the numbers and metrics then take care of themselves?

I wonder about this as I sit in "ready" status, not really feeling driven to make another phone call. Instead, I feel extremely led to share and chronicle this real life experience in written form.

So the question that I constantly pose to others who find themselves in similar situations is: So what are you going to DO about it?

Good question. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm not very passionate about the job that I do full time. The job that pays my bills. So what action am I going to take? I could easily say, well this job pays my car note. I already have a second job, I don't have time to look for another one. I could say there are so many people unemployed right now, I'm happy I have a job. And all of that would be true. But none of those EXCUSES would be solving the situation at hand.

The situation is I'M NOT PASSIONATE ABOUT MY JOB, SO WHAT NOW? Well let's see. What am I passionate about? I already mentioned education. I love educating others. So I began this blog so that others could hopefully read about my experiences and learn from them. I've also enrolled and start next week in a Master's program so that I can become more educated about the nonprofit field. That will help me become more confident and well versed in a field I have TONS of interest in. It will also prepare me to run my own business. Am I passionate about writing? I'm still figuring that out. One thing I know for certain is that I love talking to people, so every chance I get, I'm talking to others about their passions. Trying to reveal something new to them. In the meantime, you'll never believe what's happened.

The passion that didn't exist for my job has now evolved. Though I'm not all that passionate about the duties so to speak, I find passion in other aspects of my job. I love talking to people right? So call that student. Especially the few that I actually enjoy speaking with! One bite at a time, I find a way to eat the elephant. One segment at a time, I find things that I actually enjoy about my job and it becomes a lot more enjoyable. So look at that...I direct the focus on the good things (my passion) and magically the focus is removed from I don't particularly care for.

Inspired by the following article: http://www.alistercameron.com/2007/04/28/if-you-dont-have-passion-and-purpose-greater-productivity-wont-help-you/

Follow Your Dreams

I began in my mind as a paralegal. My math teacher pushed me toward making an attorney my journey, but since I really liked Math and counting, being an accountant literally sounded like the perfect choice. I mean, counting, accounting sounds similar so if I like one, quite naturally I'll like the other right? Right.

Attended a vocational high school, majored in accounting. Went to a community college, majored in accounting. Went to a Big Ten University and guess what? Majored in accounting. Graduated and went into the accounting field. Somewhere along the way of falling asleep while reading course descriptions while a student, falling asleep while in class and falling asleep while at work it never dawned on me that maybe my dream had changed.

I mean, true, I'd spend all this time thinking, planning, wanting to be an accountant. So now that I'd discovered a new ME, what now? I mean I'd already spent all of this money on this prestigious degree. I'd moved from one side of the country to the other for this profession. Do I simply walk away from all of that and decide on something else? YES! But what about all the time and effort I'd placed into it? In accounting, we call that a sunk cost. That means money spent in the past should have no bearing on future decision making. Instead, the focus should be on the future and what you plan to get out of the decision you made. In my case, my accounting degree would do absolutely nothing for my future so the fact that I'd spent so much money on it in the past had no bearing on how happy I would be in the future. Makes sense? Good.

Motivation

What is it? Where did it come from? Why do some have booku amounts of it, whereas others have none at all?

I ask myself this question as I return from my trip down "Reading Lane", not memory lane mind you...at least not memories of my own. I'm coming down off a high of reading about others' stories. About their lives, their destinies, their travels and their downfalls. I've been kicking it in the blogosphere, jumping from one person's favs to another.

And it makes me think. Why am I so motivated to improve? I mean from what I can tell, I grew up in your average working/lower class family. Single family home, 3rd child of 4. Both brothers have been incarcerated more than once. Yet I'm the only one who went to college. Some reports say that children who are exposed to more, who experience more, who know more in turn want more for themselves. Hmm...something to think about definitely.

So as a child who's mother spent more time building her son's activity repertoire than her daughters', where did my motivation and thirst for more originate?

More than likely from reading. My family tells me that even as a child more days than not you could find me doing one of two things: talking your ear off and asking a gazillion and one questions or in the corner reading a book. I mean there was no in between. So much that I got the nickname "Radio". Funny how some things DON'T change.

Nowadays, you can either find me questioning the hell out of your motivations and your eventual goals or reading some blog, newsletter or book. So while some blame their single parents for who they've become, I thank mine. Without me constantly moving from one state to another, I may not have ever become accustomed to change. Without being read to as a child, I may not have ever learned how to use my imagination to the extent of becoming an idea MACHINE (literally). Both of those things led to MY motivation...a thirst for new things, ideas, concepts and my ability to jump in feet first without regard for fear - most times.

What motivates you?

Day One

Welcome WWW :D Well here I am...though one of my long term goals is to one day get paid through my blog, I've decided to start this one if for no other reason than to keep track of all the blogs I enjoy reading on a daily basis. A little bit about me...i'm passionate about pursuing your purpose and passion in life. I mean I'm so bout it, bout it that if given the opportunity I'll do my best to encourage even the strangest of strangers to just GO FOR IT! In any event...in the coming months I'm sure we'll get quite cozy with one another. For now, just know that I love ME, music, cultures, MEN, food and life. Probably in that order too, lol. How do you do?