Pursue Your Passion or Just Do With Passion

After reading about all of the articles on “finding out what you love to do” and “pursue your passion” I am beginning to wonder about it.  It leads us down the path of postponement, continues a cycle to discouragement, and provides no clear answer.    

Even if we are in a job at McDonald’s, it can be done with love and passion.  If you adopt the attitude that you despise or hate the situation you are in, it will be the mind’s job to prove you are right.  The mind will filter out any people or opportunities that are right where you are.  We could be in the perfect job for us right now, but we may miss opportunities everywhere in it because we convinced ourselves that we are not pursuing our passion by wasting time at this job.  

Even after all of the reading, skill inventory exercises, listmaking and journaling, I still don’t know what my passion is.  So instead of pursuing a passion or finding what I love to do, maybe I need to realize that I am already in something I love to do, but just have not realized it yet.  I can make use of the wealth of people, excitement, and opportunities right where I am.  

Work is always the same.  A cup of water in a glass will still be a cup of water even if you put it in a bowl.  It is the same water taking form of what contains it.  The use of the water to purify and refresh is not altered by the container.  It is the same with our work.  If drudgery and apathy persist, a change is required.  The worker.

Will this lead me to be the next Bill Gates, Walt Disney or Oprah Winfrey?  I don’t know.  Years ago my uncle worked in a sewage plant, slinging the muck around as a laborer.  However, he did it with such enthusiasm and determination that it made him stand out.  He was quickly noticed by a VIP and was quickly promoted.  Would this have happened if he was so discouraged and down that he was not pursuing his passion by slinging sewage all day?

We can rise only as high as our thinking.  Not passionate about anything?  Start today to be passionate about whatever you are doing now, no matter what it is.  Don’t put off passion until you can someday find it.  You may never with that attitude.  I am committed to working like no one else at what I do, even if it is cleaning toilets, pushing paper or sanitation engineering.  Opportunities don’t just appear.  There is no such thing as magic.  Opportunities are always right where we are.  Our attitude determines whether we see them or not.