Today's Business Lessons 

 

                                                                                     

Follow your passion?

BUSINESS MATTERS(BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE) 

By Francis J. Kong (The Philippine Star)  

Updated June 23, 2013

At an early age, concepts and ideas have been placed in our minds that limit us from fully achieving our full potential today.

Words are powerful. Words bring forth life and even death.

I once posted the following words in Facebook: “So many men today are still trying to live up to their father’s expectations or are still trying to prove them wrong…” Words and ideas have been fed to them when they were kids. Some words built them up for success, but a great majority of words debilitated and caused permanent scars, and have prevented many from achieving success today.

Today, there are still speakers and lecturers giving seminars using words that may impede our creative process.

“Follow your passions!”

“You can do anything you want if you work hard for it!”

Teachers teach us, coaches tell us, and parents remind us. Deep down, you and I know it’s untrue. No matter how passionate I am and no matter how hard I work on it, I’ll never be able to slam-dunk the basketball the way LeBron James does. But the words still have a profound impact on us.

Optimism is good, but it has to be tempered by realism.

I’ve had someone in my Facebook thread who would refute everything I say with his cliché that “everything is just a matter of risk-taking. Just take the risk, and you’ll emerge a winner.” I wonder if that young person has ever taken the risk of doing the bungee jump? Without the ropes and cables?

Don’t get me wrong. Having that pathos of winning is good. But rather than venturing out to discover our unique strengths, shaping and honing those, and excelling in those, we go into a wild-goose chase of “following our passions” even though we’re not cut out for it. This has caused many to be undecided as to the course of life to take. And this has caused students to keep on switching courses, seemingly relishing being a “professional student.” We need to discern where we should put our efforts.

We need to figure out what’s the space that we occupy. What do we really do well? What is it that we would love to do if money, time and opportunity were not a factor?

I’ve had innumerable people ask me this question: “Francis, how did you get into the speaking business?” They look at me as an established speaker and an effective trainer. What they didn’t know is that I averaged 120-plus engagements in a year for 12 years speaking for free, spending for my own fares and lodging many times, just for the joy of the craft. I still do pro-bono talks for schools today, as I speak on parenting, student leadership and faculty development, because that’s the space I occupy. In doing so, I got to hone my craft and reinvent it over the years. And so turning professional became the natural course.

Others fake it. They falsify claims. Maybe they follow some erroneous teachings like “Fake it till you make it!” One crazy speaker raised up false hope among the audience by abusing the Biblical principle “With God, nothing is impossible.” I wish he would walk on water and feed the multitudes.

Rather than following your passion (which is greatly mistaken as doing what you love), we need to first do what’s necessary – whether we love doing it or not. Whatever it is that you’re doing, do it well. Excel, and then master your craft.

Don’t be a wandering generality, be a meaningful specific, as the late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar would say. That particular skill or specialization will reap good rewards later on. When that day comes, guess what you’ll say? “I followed my passion”? Or would it be more accurate that your passion followed you? Something for you to think about.