Passion, forget what you think it is.

Passion is tricky.

It seems that so many coaches and self help gurus toss the idea around as if it is easy to discover, easy to cultivate, and easy to live.

Many people I talk with have become convinced that they must have passion to be able to move forward with their lives after listening to these well meaning self help gurus. They often believe a necessary ingredient to life is passion and when one feels it lacking in their life, one can be left to feel as if they are lost. Even though they keep looking, spending time journaling, contemplating, and other activities to 'discover' their passion, it remains elusive.

Passion, like so many other inner qualities, needs to be cultivated. When someone comes to me looking for help finding their passion, we may discuss their interests, what they liked as a pre-teen. or some other thing to discuss. Money either has to be removed from the search, or if money is the passion, it must be owned, not justified.

All the above is great, but rarely creates results because passion is not a destination.

If one has attitude issues, those must be addressed first. If one has issues with willingness, this must be addressed. Both desire and commitment are necessary ingredients to passion, if one lacks either one, passion will be impossible. Passion is not a single idea, but rather many ideas, attitudes, behaviors, that when seen together are often identified as passion.

I tell people who are struggling with discovering their passion to start with what they like. It does not have to be what they love, it does not have to be altruistic or grand, it just has to be something that are willing to commit to and have enough desire to carry them through the difficulties of seeing it come to fruition. As long as they have the willingness, and as long as they practice the behavior, they will develop the skills it takes to turn likes into loves, and they will create the neural pathways that support the habits that not only passionate people possess, but successful people as well.

Disappointingly, I have discovered that most people don't have the willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to create the changes that support not only success and passion, but true wealth creation and personal freedom as well. As Morpheus said in The Matrix, "there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."

This video is a rare example of passion and the kind of desire and commitment it takes to make your passions become realities. I have adopted a line from it that really resonates as true; "The difference between the poor man and the rich man, the poor man plans for the weekend, the rich man plans the next four years."http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Fighting-your-passion-Inside-Look-4788872.S.251801863?qid=2d96cc09-1eda-4c8c-9d4a-84d3daa6df66&trk=group_most_recent_rich-0-b-cmr&goback=%2Egmr_4788872 

I have found that most of passions did not come to fruit until 3-5 years after I embarked on the journey. Patience is one of the other ingredients often over looked.