Article
for February 2007
Recently I was speaking with an attorney; talking about
their business and what they wanted from their networking.
We discussed the idea of focusing their initial dialog on
their preferred aspect of their business and an interesting
thing happened. When I asked what really set them on fire
- what passion fanned the flame – they answered, "It's
not Law."
Understand this: this person is successful by all standards
as an attorney. They have a wonderful, engaging personality
and I would trust them to handle any case. They nearly froze
when I asked that question. As the conversation went on,
we discussed the fact that many people hold the idea that
one cannot be financially successful doing what one is passionate
about.
As I see it, that's the one true way to really be successful – to
live a full life; to really make a contribution to the world.
To
make money there is some transfer of energy. It can be
either goods or services, yet, although
I have both to offer, the concept that I’ve struggled
with in the past is that it’s about the selling. I’ve
been taught that I need to be able to close the “sale;” I
need to be able to move in that arena in order to create
abundant wealth. If nothing else I’m selling myself,
my concept.
As much as I've hated selling in the past I have discovered
a different way of thinking about it.
*IF I believe in what
I do, I'm driven by my passion and my passion is the driving energy behind what
I do…
*IF I know that what I
bring to the banqueting table is honorable, viable, and beneficial to human kind
and
*IF I know that I am on
the right path…
*THEN I am morally bound
to pursue that passion
*AND I am bound by that
same moral code - that same integrity - to be sure that
everyone understands what I have to offer and give them every possibility
to "get it."
That means that it isn't about the selling at all. It's
about using every resource I have to speak the language of
my clients – using skills that I may or may not have
developed yet to be sure that I've exhausted every avenue
in order to educate them about the benefits and options my
company brings to them.
An recent article in The Kentucky Kernel speaks about the
decline in job satisfaction among employees between 35 and
44 and the power of passion to create positive results. Another
article in CNN quotes Explorer Robert Ballard, who has spent
most of his adult life exploring the ocean floor and combing
the deep-sea for lost shipwrecks (notably he was the discoverer
of the Shipwreck Titanic), as saying, "Follow your passion.
Chase your passion whatever it is. If you don't do what you
love you'll never get where you want to be."
Following a passion, believing in your dreams, has been
a successful model for a multitude of individuals: Walt Disney,
Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill
Gates, just to name a few.
When we fan the flame on our passion, move toward our freedom,
doors open. Opportunities are created out of what seems to
be thin air.
If you find that your activities are neither in line with
nor support your passion, take some time today and let yourself
dream. Ask yourself what your world would look like if you
were doing what you were wildly passionate about. What would
it look like if you were as successful as you knew you could
be? Give yourself the gift over the holidays; imagine how
you might achieve a passionate life and know that it all
starts with being who you really are from the inside out.
USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE.
You can use it as long as you agree to include the following
blurb at the end of it: Kira Wagner is one of America's "most
persuasive and entertaining speakers!" She is the creator
of Freedom's Formula and author of the book Handbook for Freedom.
To contact Kira for a speaking engagement: visit: www.yourfreedomguide.com. |
You
can't STOP time :) 