Is it possible to have passion in one’s life when circumstances are less than ideal?
In his book, Awaken the Giant Within, Anthony Robbins writes, “Everything that happens in your life – both what you’re thrilled with and what you’re challenged by – began with a decision… I believe it’s our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny.”
When I think of my passions, I come up with this list: my husband and daughter, my friends, my dog, dancing, singing, performing in any sense, playing word games, getting moving, movies or better yet live theater, travel, reading, my spiritual life, and time together with fun clients who honestly want ideas about how to make more money. Those are the things that add the juice to my life.
Then there are the obligations: the have tos, the gotta dos. We all have them. But perhaps the key is to keep a balance between the passions and the obligations, and consciously, to decide to stop the obligations from consuming the entire day, week, month.
I was exposed to a notion years ago that still floats into the front of my mind from time to time: quality isn’t “the best I can do.” It’s “the best I can do in light of the requirements and the time constraints.”
Let’s think about that for a moment. If we did everything to the very best of our abilities, isn’t it true that we’d get much less done?
I was once married to a fighter pilot. Before he flew, he’d spend quite a lot of time walking around the plane, completing checklists, making sure everything was perfect.
That’s because a mistake, in his line of work, could mean death.
By contrast, I’m in business. A mistake means … we make less money today. We’ll be back tomorrow! Those are not the same stakes!
In fact, I’ve often said that, from time to time, it bothers me that I seem to be doing everything in a good way, even an above-average way, but almost never as well as I could possibly do it. (Read: “given unlimited time and resources” there!) I’d like to have a few things that I could really devote the time to perfecting – really doing as well as I possibly can.
Perhaps I should learn to sell that level of work – or learn to be content with a scope of work that matches the quality my clients feel they can afford. And when I’m done, turn my attention to my passions!
I think it’s discipline. I’m always amazed when I suggest to coaching clients that we
have a choice about how we react to whatever happens, good and bad. .jpg?Action=thumbnail&algorithm=fill_proportional&width=450)
I’m
convinced that people are more afraid of selling than they are of public speaking – and surveys say people are more afraid of public speaking than
they are of DEATH!
