What Matters Most

These days life seems to be more challenging, intense and unpredictable than ever. In such circumstances it is easy to become pessimistic and fearful about the future. However, we must not forget that the most basic choice we always have available to us is the attitude we adopt to what we are experiencing in life in each moment. No-one can tell you how to feel about something, only you can decide whether you are going to give up on a situation or commit to finding a way forward for yourself.
Each day we make thousands of choices, many of which are habitual. We can change today by making a new choice in terms of our attitude to our circumstances. That is our real power in life and one we can practise as and when we choose. Assuming we want to of course!
For example in the area of career and work, being unemployed or stuck in a job you hate can cause you to feel despondent and helpless. The truth is you are never actually helpless. Changing the way you view a situation can open up new opportunities for real change. Ask yourself this question: what would I love to work at? If you can answer this question then you are at least 50% of the way to achieving it. The rest is simply leg work and determination.
In his book ‘The Element’ creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson urges people to find their “Element”, which is the crossover point between your love for doing something and your ability to do it. He is highlighting the importance of Passion in work and life. When we choose to do what we are passionate about we become more resilient, courageous, creative, determined and focused. Passion breeds success. Nobody ever got to the top of a mountain by armchair. With passion we can overcome what may appear to be impossible odds.
The good thing about passion is that it has the capacity to protect you from the cynics and critics. Passion is about trust in your ability to achieve. Passion is a natural life-force and to restrict it or repress it is one of the biggest mistakes people make in life.
It is no fun working in a job or studying a course that you have no passion for. I know this from personal experience. I studied Agricultural Science for five years and can count on one fingerless hand the number of days I actually enjoyed being there. I knew little about passion back then and no-one ever told me to trust my heart and go for what I was really interested in. After graduating I trained as a teacher. This was movement in the right direction, but I was not feeling the love just yet!
Then, just 5 years into teaching, I was accepted on to a post graduate course in career guidance. Bingo! Finally I had found something that actually interested me. I loved the guidance work. In my enthusiasm for this work I developed myself professionally and personally. I subsequently trained as a Lifecoach and went on to set up a coach training company.
Looking back I can see I was looking for my passion in this working life. I never gave up believing that what matters most is to do what you love, otherwise everything is compromised and cynicism becomes your cloak of comfort. Intuitively I knew that you can make a living working at what you love.
Consider Todd Vanderplyum for example. In the late 1970’s Todd was a successful and unhappy architect. His was passionate about sand and all he really wanted to do was work with sand, beach sand preferably. Eventually he quit his business and set up SSI (www.sandsculptors.com). He started to travel the world building large sculptures out of sand for various events. To date has won 4 world championships, 7 USA opens, and holds over 3 dozen world records including the Guinness book of records for the world’s tallest sculpture and the world’s longest sculpture both indoor and outdoor. If you had heard Todd say to you “I wanna quit this architecture business and build things out of sand for a living” you might have thought he was crazy and maybe even tried to talk some “sense” into him. Thankfully he followed his heart and today people around the world enjoy the fruits of his work, his passion.
So whatever you do, do not forget nor underestimate the power passion can play in your life. Passion is common to us all, it is up to us whether we connect with it or not. It is the gatekeeper to a fulfilling and exhilarating way of living.