TEDxSalford

Passion Overload

 

Patience and time do more than strength or passion.”

-Jean de La Fontaine

It seems as if we can’t get enough of telling everyone how passionate we are about what we do. The final of Masterchef was case in point – the three finalists were all very passionate about following careers in food. It’s no doubt they were telling the truth, passion oozed out of every moorish morsel they prepared- yet of late the word seems to be so over used in everyday lexicon that it seems to have lost its meaning. It’s not just the word either, people who aren’t following their ‘passion’ are seen as somewhat inferior to those that are. After all, however much someone wants to follow their inner calling and spend the rest of their years meditating atop of a picturesque mountain (for example), there are certain obstacles that make it impossible to follow their dreams…

…. or are there? Larry Smith in his 2011 TED talk, ‘Why you will fail to have a great career’, argues that for the majority of us, these obstacles are little more than self made mental barriers, constructed out of excuses we make to ourselves for not following our passions- rather than anything truly insurmountable. He certainly has a valid point, and as he says, no matter how many times you download and listen to Steve’s Job’s Stanford Commencement speech, you won’t get any nearer to following your passion as long as you don’t put into practice what you’re listening to. And he rightly explains that following your passion is by no means the easy option – you will fail along the way, and sometimes look like an absolute idiot, but at the end of it, the hope is that your undivided focus will lead you to the absolute best you can achieve in our chosen field.

Now back to the word itself – a look at it’s etymology takes to us (like with many words in the English language) to the Latin pati meaning ‘to suffer’- a term closely associated with Christian theology, denoting Christ’s suffering on the cross. The modern day meaning is much broader in the sense that it can be used for a powerful or compelling emotion towards something or someone, which suggests something much deeper than a mere interest – as Smith explains:

“Passion, interest — it’s not the same thing. Are you really going to go to your sweetie and say, ‘Marry me! You’re interesting.’ Won’t happen. Won’t happen and you will die alone”

Besides the fact that you won’t get very far with a marriage proposal if you’re only ‘interested’ in the other person, the same goes for your passion – you might be interested in twenty different fields, but only one of them can be your true passion, your ‘highest expression of talent’. So how about those that have found their passion – will they have great careers? Smith doesn’t think so. Why? Because they’ll be too afraid to follow their passion, too afraid they’ll look ridiculous, too afraid they might fail. You might find Smith’s tone quite judgmental to say the least, however, he isn’t trying to be condescending, he’s merely giving us a reality check. Making us ask difficult questions of ourselves and examining whether, at the current stage of our lives, we are where we set out to be.

So there we have it folks, refrain from overusing the word, but make sure to follow yours’ without fear.