Work Reimagined by Richard J. Leider & David A. Shapiro

Author:Richard J. Leider & David A. Shapiro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2015-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Reimagining Passions

What are you curious about? What issues or causes really move you? What problems in the world or work world do you think need solving? When you lie awake at night obsessing over the state of the universe, what obsesses you most? In the answers to questions like these we discover our passions. Our passions are the issues we care most deeply about. When we connect our gifts to our passions, we have a clear reason to get up in the morning. Passions are what inspire us; they are, in artistic terms, our muses, the force that inspires us. When we are passionate about something—a cause, an endeavor, a project that speaks to us—we are driven to devote time and energy to it. We become creative in unexpected and unprecedented ways.

Passions can take many forms. They can be quite specific: you may be passionate, for instance, about bicycles. You may feel that the bicycle represents the savior of humanity and may spend a good deal of your free time working on bicycle-related causes. Passions may also be rather broad: you may be passionate, for instance, about the environment. You may feel deeply committed to expanding people’s environmental awareness. You may spend your free time devoted to causes that seek to create a more just and sustainable world. Passions may be somewhere in the middle, too: you may be passionate, for instance, about community. You may spend your free time working to strengthen the connections between people in your neighborhood or town. You may be drawn to any number of organizations or activities that share this driving passion of yours.

What is important to realize about passions is that they are only passions if they are “alive.” That is, they only count as passions if we feel them deeply. This does not mean we have to monopolize the conversation whenever their subject comes up; it does mean, however, that we have to feel strongly about them and have an inclination—realized or not—to act in their support. It does not make sense to say, “Oh, one of my passions is the environment, but I don’t feel any desire to do anything about it.” Our passions have to move us or else they are not really passions. Moreover, they must ignite us consistently; passions run as an undercurrent throughout our lives.

So, to get a better sense of your own passions, ask yourself: What keeps me up at night? What do I think is worth doing with my time? What do I obsess about? What challenges do I think need solving? What am I constantly reading about and talking to people about?

The common themes that emerge from this inquiry will give you a better sense of what your passions really are.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.