Passion is a choice
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Here’s how to fall asleep:
Turn off digital devices, go for a walk, brush your teeth, put on some comfortable pajamas, find a dark room and a comfortable mattress, and then lie down and pretend to be asleep.
Prepare for it and then fake it
Once this becomes a habit, you’ll discover that soon after you feign sleep, it actually arrives.
Few people fall asleep for the night instantly and accidentally. It’s usually a choice.
And the same thing, it’s surprising to learn, is true for being passionate.
It couldn’t be any other way.
Being passionate leads to change, and earns connection and respect. Being passionate opens the door for the very thing we hoped would happen, the thing that if it happened, we could be passionate about.
And so, like falling asleep or eating a bar of chocolate, passion is a choice.
This helps explain why some people manage to be passionate about many of the projects in their lives — almost no one succeeds and then becomes engaged in their work.
It’s tempting to be cynical about this. To determine that passion should be a special case, a gift from an external source, something too genuine to be simply coaxed out of us.
I actually think that ‘passion as a gift’ is the cynical thing. That it’s reserved for a few. It’s not.
Passion leads to impact, and a self-fueling cycle begins. Persistence is the often-overlooked cousin to passion. With both, you have a shot to make a difference.
Go make something. With passion.
[Inspired by The Practice. Today is the last day to sign up for the Creative’s Workshop that the book is based on. Time to get passionate.]
