Stoke Your Passion For Better Performance
by Steve Smith

Every business, organization and individual needs passion. Without it, we are like robots... just doing a job and getting through the day. Passion is energy. Passion is dreams. Passion is what moves us to act. Passion is living life to its fullest. For some, it is a little more buried within than for others, but the capability for stoking your passion lies within us all.

Unfortunately, there are some obstacles that we encounter from time to time that hinder our passion and limit our results. In order to live our life with passion, we must recognize these barriers and break them down. Here are some passion blockers to watch out for:

Fear is possibly the biggest passion blocker of all. Regardless of how passionate we may be about doing something, there is always that fear that we will fail. The funny thing is if we don't try we can't ever succeed! Ignore that fearful voice inside your head and listen instead to that quiet voice of passion in the background.

Overthinking:  If we were to act on something straight away without thinking about it, we would be acting out of passion. But rarely do we act without thinking, and that's a good thing. But over thinking a situation to the point where we ultimately do nothing at all, is a bad thing. We need to include both passion and thought in our day to day decisions.

Conditioning:  Having passion means being able to express our innermost feelings. It means being able to demonstrate, and act upon, our enthusiasm. Far too many individuals have been conditioned to believe that showing emotion or enthusiasm is a bad thing. The classic example? Boys don't cry. Never be afraid to express how you really feel!

Pessimism:  Passion breeds on success. Far too often we focus on the negative rather than the positive things in our lives, emphasizing what we haven't done rather than applauding our accomplishments. If we focus on negative events, we're bound to get negative results. Too much negativity will eventually squash any and all of the passion within us.
 

To really love what you do and be a top performer, you must have passion- That ‘fire in your belly’ that fuels the desire and energy to keep moving forward.  If your passion is smoldering, take a good look at what maybe trying to extinguish your flame.  Passions usually don’t fade by themselves and revitalizing your passion is just a matter of getting back in touch for what you really love.

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