What Is True Passion?

In general, we misunderstand passion. This idea was highlighted in Angela Duckworth's best-selling book "Grit". The way culture glamorizes passion is through hot steamy romance and big defiant action steps. It focuses on the intensity of the experience, and it represents the topic unfairly. 

True passion is more consistent. It is delivered slowly and surely over time. Don’t mistake enthusiasm for passion. Enthusiasm is great but it’s often not sustainable, it’s a high intensity emotion. Passion doesn’t come in bursts, it isn’t as sexy as it is made out to be, but it in this way it is more enduring and more effective.

So let’s get critical and think about what you’re really passionate about? Maybe you suffer from shiny object syndrome, where you see something new like a new project, relationship, or hobby, and get so excited about it, only to leave it behind in a few days or weeks. That’s not passion. What you have showed up to do, what you have prioritized and will continue to prioritize, that’s what you are actually passionate about. Things like being there for family events, working on projects for months or years, or interests that you’ve been able to dive really deep into throughout your life.

I bring this all up because tapping into your passion can be one of the strongest factors in discovering your purpose. And when you’ve identified what that thing is, you can create opportunities to bring more of that passion into your life.