Run after your passion – Really?

A married businessman has been unfaithful to his wife. He thinks the young girl is his passion and he loved pleasure more than the commitment to his wife.

One afternoon, the businessman and the girl couldn’t contain their passion, so they rushed over to her place where they spent the afternoon and overslept.

The businessman knew he was in trouble. He told the girl to take his shoes outside and rub them on the lawn. The girl did not know why but she did as she was told.

The man finally got home and his wife met him at the door. Upset, she asked where he’d been.  The man replied, “I cannot tell a lie. I was with a girl and I am having an affair. Today we left work early, went to her place, spent the afternoon being intimate with each other and then fell asleep. That’s why I’m late.”

The wife looked at him, took notice of his shoes and yelled, “I can see those are grass stains on your shoes. YOU ARE A HOPELESS LIAR! You’ve been playing golf again, haven’t you?”

Some people’s passion is golf. Other people’s passions, however, are undesirable.

The word “passion” has been grossly misunderstood and it has practically led many young people to make wrong decisions. They think that “pursuing their passion” will find them success in life. They might be very mistaken though!

Passion is an overrated word. It is spoken without understanding and is felt without reason. It definitely sounds nice and seems to tickle the audience’s ear, that’s why speakers use it liberally.

But if only you knew the real meaning of the word passion, you would have second thoughts about using it. The literal meaning for the word in its Latin origin simply means “suffering.”

It is not some mushy word which some speakers even describe as the “fire in your belly,” which may not be passion at all, but just gas, as a result of eating too much lanzones.

The word “compassion” contains “com” meaning “with” and “passion” meaning “suffering.” So, when somebody says he has compassion, it means the person is willing to suffer with somebody. Get the point?

Many people mistake hobbies and desires for passion. Some have even neglected their family and loved ones in pursuit of their “passion.”

Listen to their words: “I am running after my passions. And if I run after my passions, success will run after me.” These are stupid clichés that do not work at best or have destroyed people’s values and potential at worst.

This misunderstood word appeals to a lot because it offers a philosophical license to do what one likes, and perhaps, even desires.

Let me offer something better.

If you want to be successful, you need to sacrifice certain comforts and be willing to suffer a lot of personal inconveniences in order to achieve success.

And this is why there is something better than passion, whether we talk about personal growth or even business: “Systems beat passion anytime and every time.”

Systems and goals are better than passion. When you are in a system that is directed towards your goals and you experience small successes along the way, you are actually experiencing rewards for the work invested into it and fires up your interest and joy. This, therefore, increases your passion.

But life, unfortunately, is not one beautiful, romantic adventure you see in the movies. Not everything turns out good at every turn and tide of events.

Once you hit failures it affects the degree of your “passion.” And many times failures make your passion disappear. And you end up injured with your responsibilities neglected, relationships hurt and you wonder why success seems impossible to attain.

But when you stick to a system of acquiring knowledge, working hard, asking questions, taking the initiative for action, then you earn small wins and this increases your passion and enables you to go to the next level.

This is hard work and it takes a long time for the system to reap the results you want, but it certainly comes.

Let’s go back to the businessman in our story. He is playing with fire because he has the wrong passion. And many great men and women have failed in life because of untamed passion.

We need to understand the words we use and more importantly understand the difference between duty-responsibility with hobbies-desires.

Untamed passions can be dangerous. I guess a game of golf is safer.

(Connect with Francis Kong in www.facebook.com/franciskong2. or listen to “Business Matters” Monday to Friday 8:00a.m. And 6:30 p.m. over 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch,’ the classical music station.)