Success and passion go hand in hand – the drive to come up with new ideas, better solutions and innovative products and convert it into a thriving business. The most successful people are just not hard working, they’re extremely passionate about their work. In absence of passion even working 80+ hours every week won’t help in succeeding or reaching the breakthrough point.
In a parallel universe where one side we’re stuck up doing jobs we hate, there are people earning millions by following their passion. Ultimately its passion that makes you work day and night to achieve your dreams. Get rid of the job that merely pays your bills but gives no excitement. To become one among those lucky lot who loves every moment of work, follow these 4 ways to use your passion to succeed.
What stimulates your heart?
Only after being inspired yourself can you inspire. Passion is the crux to this. It is not a hobby or creativity, it is intensely meaningful and makes up your identity.
What is that last thing that you think off before sleeping and the first thing striking your mind as you wake up?
Successful entrepreneurs are highly passionate, not about their product but the mission. For them, passion is about how the product changes or affects the life of the users. They are abundantly passionate about disrupting the industry and bringing a change in the world. Steve Jobs was not passionate about selling computer hardware. His passion and mission lay in creating tools to simplify the life of others.
What is your mission? Do you want to disrupt an existing industry (Uber) or solve a pain point (WhatsApp)? What is that burning desire you’d love to transform into a business? Ultimately your mission will have a much deeper meaning than the idea, product or service.
Make your passion your business
What after figuring out your passion? The next logical step is to turn it into profit. Easier said than done! Money doesn’t follow passion, it takes a lot more. You’ve to figure out how to convert the passion into a profit making business. Beware, the path is not rosy, but the journey will make you wiser.
Entrepreneurs who made business from what they love:
- Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York – After losing his job in 2010, Brandon took to capturing candid photographs of people on street in New York. Each photo is accompanied with a small story (ranging from one liner to a paragraph) shared by the person. His Facebook page has more than 1.5 million fans and the profits earned from the sale of HONY prints go to charity.
- Rosanna Pansino of Nerdy Nummies – For all those who think that the only way to showcase your cooking passion is via opening a café or bakery, think again. Pansino’slove for baking made her start a YouTube channel that now has more than 3.5 million subscribers.
With social media being the primary mode of content consumption, people are using it as a mode to display their talent and get noticed. Be different from the others, add to the existing knowledge of your audience and your passion will undoubtedly convert into profits.
Find the right people to work with
Behind every successful leader is a team who believes in his ideas, executes them, keep him motivated and on-ground. Think Apple, think Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack. Think Google, think Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
The best companies out there have co-founders and a core team who share common passions. Although each brings to table what the other lacks, the qualities add up to make a complete team. Often even the best ideas fail because the team lacks a common passion.
It is hard to find people who share common interests and passions.
The world becomes a much better place when you work with like-minded people who share common interest and passions.
Be the best in your field
“Be the best at what you do”. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success says “10,000 hours is the magic number of greatness”. Artists, writers, entrepreneurs rise above the average because of the excessive amount of hard work they put into their specialty. Ultimately its practice that makes you the best out there.
The notion of prodigies is no more existent, the exceptional work harder than others.
If you really love doing something, skip the theoretical learnings and do get your hands dirty doing it. Focus on mastering that subject, being open-minded and flexible about that idea and always eager to gain more knowledge. Follow these steps and everything else will fit into the puzzle.
