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/