Got Passion? Get Paid.

 

It’s Monday morning and you wake up before the alarm clock goes off.  You can’t wait to get to work and start your day doing what you love.  You have in your possession that positive, innovative, motivating force called passion.

Does that sound like you?  If it does, you’re a fortunate one who has found the kind of work that brings out the best of your attributes.  Plus, you’re getting paid to do it.  You have drive and passion for the work that you do.  Passion makes you want to maximize your time, use it to be productive, and go above and beyond the call of duty.  You arrive early to get started on your day and you even stay late, not because you are finishing an important presentation.  You simply loss track of time due to passionately working, doing what you love.

Then there are some of us who believe wholeheartedly in TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) and live for Fridays, dreading Mondays, in need of passion.  Monday is a good day to call in and report to the boss that we have contracted some sort of sickness over the weekend that we know is as fake as a $3 bill.  If you’re really not passionate about this job, you don’t even try to sound sick anymore.

The passion for the job is just not there so sitting through boring, time wasting meetings is a real challenge.  You’re there because you have to be, not because you want to be, or you have some positive input you’re itching to share on the topics discussed.  So you try to kill time by sending text messages to all of your friends during the meeting.  You daydream about the vacation you want to take to the Caribbean islands and the notepad you brought in was used to doodle or write your grocery list, not taking meeting notes.  Sound familiar?

Being passionate about your job means you always put forth your best efforts and produce quality work.  You are proactive and want to do the job to the best of your abilities to see growth and success.  You feel good about what you do and you enjoy it.

When you are passionate about what you do for a living, you volunteer for projects.  You look forward to the meetings and when you eagerly share your optimistic thoughts, it motivates and encourages others, as you inject your positive energy into the room.

I discovered my passion a little over a year ago.  I auditioned for a stage play and got the part.  I figured I wasn’t going to be paid for it, but I didn’t care because I was just going to do it for fun anyway.  To my surprise, I was going to be paid and it was a whopping $7 an hour for rehearsal time and production time.  Still, I didn’t care about that. 

I absolutely loved it!  I showed up at rehearsal times early and left late chatting with the playwrights or my fellow cast members.  It was awesome!  I even discovered I have a talent for acting and got a chance to use my singing gift as well.  Everything came to me so naturally.  Remembering my lines was easy.  I read through the entire script once, but somehow knew all of my lines without blunder and the funny ad libs I came up with just enhanced my performance.  Being on that stage acting, singing notes I never sang in rehearsals that just seemed to come from the soul, made me realize that was a place I belonged.  I found my passion.

What are you passionate about? 

Credits: www.careerplanning.about.com, Stock Photo