Like any great recipe, leaving out a key ingredient will affect the outcome. Passion is necessary for any great accomplishment. There are actually two kinds of passion. One is self-serving and the other is about making a positive difference in our world. In this page, we’re looking at that more important second type of passion.
That type of passion seeks to inspire, motivate, and lift others to higher levels. The recipe that follows is the one we used to build our Pewamo Protect Life Team. We still use it.
1.) Inspiration fuels passion. Why do we do it? What are we looking to create and where do we see it going?
It’s important to keep adding new inspiration into the effort to keep the passion from slipping away. Adding new people to the team is one way we add new inspiration. Seeing the next level of leaders step up adds inspiration and increases the passion to do the work.
“We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.” Hebrews 10;24
Seeing the “What if?” adds inspiration. We started our team with set goals and a solid plan to reach those goals. But things happened along the way.
As we got rolling we had three people step forward with bold ideas and courageous vision. It didn’t take long for me to realize we would be expanding our goals. What if we can really do these things our three leaders put on that first white board? Our vision expanded and more passion was pumped into our group.
It’s vital to seek the advice of experts in the field. We knew what we wanted to do, but to expect it to be easy was foolish. We have to be truthful to ourselves and to everyone else. So we needed to get the expertise of people who have been where we want to go.
“Ability without honor has no value.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
2.) The enemy of passion is stress. The reality of life is that there are people who will try to steal your passion. It might not make sense why, but the why isn’t important as long as you know it will be coming. Stress has a physical effect on us. It suppresses our immune system and just plain wears us out and breaks our spirit.
I have the scars to prove these next three steps as accurate. The first one isn’t easy.
-We need to wait to worry. When those attempts to steal your passion are thrust upon you, there will be a temptation to just quit and worry. That’s where all that added inspiration becomes even more valuable.
-Next, never lose your integrity. Even when those trying to steal your passion have abandoned their own integrity.
-And third, stay in the game. Remember why you started everything. Remember what inspired that initial passion. You’ll find a way around the challenges.
"For what I feared overtakes me; what I dreaded comes upon me." Job 3;25
3.) Fear deflates passion almost as quickly as the stress mentioned in the last section. Fear of failure is always there, but in a later page we’ll give you a better definition of failure.
Fear of success is also likely. Will we be able to handle the responsibility? There is some security in staying on the sidelines, out of the important work.
The next ingredient will help with this fear.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.” William James
4.) Perception and an attitude of gratitude will help you add inspiration to your passion, reduce stress and eliminate fear.
On our team, the gratitude I have for all the members of our team brings me constant inspiration. I see their enthusiasm and their innovative ideas and anything causing stress just melts away.
Which leads to perception. What happens to us isn’t as important as how we handle it and how quickly we get past it and back to the goals we set in the beginning. And it doesn’t hurt to laugh. Easy and often.
The stress isn’t worth the worry. Maybe just decide to worry later. And later might not ever come if you are grateful for all the good things that have happened for you. It’s all about perception.
Nothing significant is ever accomplished without passion. Don’t leave out any of these ingredients and you will succeed. If you're looking for a mentor to hang around to learn about passion, you are welcome to meet our team. We have a team full of people to show you how to put passion into important work.
If you’re looking for inspiration, our young team leaders can help you. And your attitude about anything being possible with some good planning and courage will grow as you hang around our people.
You’ll be grateful and stress will not have a hold on you. Just follow the recipe.
Ralph Willemin
Advisor to the Pewamo Protect Life Team
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