Whenever I meet someone successful I always like to dig at the very beginning. I’ve heard plenty of success stories about people taking something small and turning it into something huge. But the piece I’m missing is the one before that.
The beginning.
The very beginning. Where do I start to build something small. I’ll worry about turning it into something big later!
One of my favorite resources to help answer that question is the biography channel. It’s a chance to get a behind the scenes look at some of America’s most successful icons. The best part is the first 15 minutes when they talk about the how it all started.
The starting place is never a “Eureka” moment when they discover an untapped idea that could never fail. They weren’t gifted a secret formula from the heavens. And they were rarely born with a super-human quality that predestined them for unmatched greatness.
More often than not the starting place is passion. Milton Hershey fell in love with candy making as a teenager. Jack Daniels was obsessed with distilling a better whiskey. Beyonce Knowles loved entertaining. Bruce Lee was determined to be in the best shape possible.
Passion is the foundation on which to build success. Whether you choose to be an employee or strike out on your own passion for you work is what separates the truly successful from the just really good. It’s the fuel that will drive you harder than anybody else.
- Working for money is not enough.
- Working to attain a prestigious position is not enough.
- Working to support a lifestyle is not enough.
To truly separate yourself from the pack you’ve must do work you’re passionate about.
- Do your work because you can’t not do it.
- Do your work because the world needs your work.
- Do your work because it’s who you are.
Are you passionate about your work? Do you think it’s possible?
Passion is huge. It doesn’t matter so much as to what the passion is aimed at, as long as it is there. You mentioned four hugely successful people above, and yet their passions are/were all wildly different. Good post!
Thanks Tom! Even knowing this lesson I’ve messed it up. I started a personal finance coaching business that was great, but I soon learned that just liking something a lot wasn’t enough to sustain all the hard work that goes into it. Since then I’ve been diligently seeking out things I’m truly passionate about (which isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, hah).
I love those beginning stories! CNBC has a series now called “How I Made My Millions”. It’s usually fulfilling a need or pursuing their passion or both for the best scenario!
There has to be a passion for it to sustain the ups and the downs for sure!
I haven’t seen that show (yet), thanks for the tip! I’ve tried things in the past that I thought I had a passion for. When things got tough though I realized it was not -really- a passion, but just something I really really liked a lot, hah. Lesson learned!
I agree with that! I’ve had blogs I thought I was passionate about but in the end just realized I liked it a lot but not that passionate about it. My last one was a running for weight loss blog. I think I lasted less than a month.