There are many career consultants today that communicate the mantra: “Follow your passion”.
Sounds good right?
“If you follow your passion, you will be able to develop your strengths and talents” said a spoke person I’ve met on a self-development event.
That guy followed his passion and has built a house in the country yard worth more than 150 000 €.
He shared his knowledge with others, trying to help them achieve their dreams.
But there was something else, that made him successful in pursuing his passion and dream.
He followed his passion to build, but the money invested in his passion were coming from his talent.
This guy is part from scientific society in Frankfurt and one of the respected minds in his area of expertise. He teaches classes in Business and Leadership full of young to experienced leaders. He has established a consultancy company that during the last 20 years has helped more than 800 companies to better perform and grow. And he is good at what he is doing.
A colleague of him told me: “He is a successful consultant that can outreach most of the consultants from the big consultancy firms. And he has never lost a client. He has always found the best solution for each client.”
As much as I analyzed this person life, as much I realized that it is not the passion that makes him successful, but something else, and that something else is his talent.
Because what separates passion from the talent are time and focus.
Your talent is what makes you successful. It is that in what you are good. People take recognition about what they do. Because talent:
>Drives your willingness for growth (focus);
>Pushes you to the limit and far beyond(focus);
>Defines your path up in the profession (focus);
>Helps you plan development and achieve results(time);
>Makes you unique;
But then, if talent is so connected with your work life, then what is passion?
Passion is what:
>Makes you more happier and satisfied;
>Challenges you to dream bigger;
>Fuels your enthusiasm;
To pursue your passion you need resources.
And resources are the connecting link between passion and talent.
Accumulating resources from your talent helps you pursue your passion.
There are clear examples for this in multinational companies’ founders behavior.
Every founder has a talent to accumulate resources (time, money, followers etc.) to ensure his passion:
>Elon Musk started Tesla, to accumulate earnings for his passion – cleaner planet and curiosity on other worlds;
>Richard Branson started several business enterprises, to ensure he will accumulate enough resources for his passion – making people braver happier and more successful.
>Bill Gates started Microsoft to accumulate enough resources to finance his real passion – philanthropy and helping world make people’s life better.
>Jack Ma started Ali Baba and developed it to accumulate resources and finance his passion – to change the world by teaching people how to believe in success.
And these are only few of the successful people who never stopped pursuing their passion and used wisely their talent to ensure they will feel happy. And their talent is one and the same – sales. They are good at selling their talent to the right people, ensuring funds and market growth.
And after they accumulated enough resources through their talents(companies) they started pursuing their passion.
And that is true for everyone.
Look at the person who says: “My passion is traveling”
Then see his/her profession. They work something else that creates the opportunities and resources for them to pursue their passion…
…The book lover who starts his own bookstore business to be close to the books he/she loves and ensure enough resources to further pursue his/her passion of buying and collecting more and more books…
…The coffee lover who opens his/her own coffee shop to have the opportunity to touch as more brands and blends of coffee he/she can find and afford…
…or the programmer, who starts writing a new software to help others save time, or make their day more organized or more fun…
And these are only few of the uncountable examples of people using their talent to help themselves easily pursue their passion.
IN CONCLUSION:
In today’s world talent and passion go together. If a person wants to feel satisfied and successful he/she must focus on both. Because by focusing on talent only comes the burnout and focusing on passion only come the empty dreams never made to happen. But the symbiosis of both ensures the emotional balance in a person life.
So, are you ready to grow your talent to live your dream?…
The Human place 