“Passion is our fuel.”
As I sit and write this and read it, we find ourselves in September 2021, which is hard to believe. As I get older, I realize that the days, weeks, and months fly by. And I think it’s because I’m so passionate about each day, and before I know it, that day is over. I wish everyone felt this way, but I realize some people do not, so I find myself praying for people to find passion very often because I understand that passion makes life great.
When I discuss passion, I often talk about how someone passionate about something can get others to stop and listen. I never realized this for sure until one day back in 1999. And I honestly didn’t even know it on that day very clearly, but when I looked back on it, I realized that someone’s passion was what made me stop and listen. You may be asking yourself, what does he mean? Well, here’s a story that explains it all.
In 1994 I met a guy named Jack on the assembly line at Ford motor company. I had recently started working there as a young 19-year-old kid and was told that it was a dream job. That made me happy until I started working there and realized it wasn’t as great as people made it sound. I still tried to have a good attitude every day. After starting, I soon met Jack and started working beside him, which made working a lot easier.
Over the next five years, we became good friends and figured out a way to make our environment a little happier than it was. I am grateful that during that time, Jack and a few others were there to keep me just happy enough to go to work every day.
Jack spent those first five years convincing me that network marketing and personal developments were great things and something that I need to be open-minded about. I spent those same five years telling him repeatedly that I disagreed with him and wanted nothing to do with either of those two things, no matter what he told me. Jack, like any good friend, would stop talking about it for that day. Then like any good friend would, the next day, he would try one more time. It was like the movie Groundhog’s Day, the same thing every day. Looking back, it was almost comical, and our relationship is pretty similar to this day in some instances.
Then, one day in 1999, something magical happened that I learned from, and I still look back and remind myself about to this very day. Jack came into work that day, and instead of his same old pitch about what I should consider, he instead talked about something else. He started talking about this great idea he had. He said that the world needed a liquid multivitamin and that he wanted to produce it. He spoke about why he felt this was important, but he said it with so much passion.
It went something like this: “Johnny, I have an idea; the world needs a liquid multivitamin.” Then without taking a breath in between sentences, he continued to speak. “Our food has changed so much over the last 30 years, and people are not getting the vitamins and minerals that they need!” And then “People are spending good money on vitamins, and because they are in capsule or tablet form, they are not getting proper absorption after they consume them.”
Still, he continued: “People are not getting the supplements they used to get from food.” He wasn’t stopping: “I need to make this, I can’t believe nobody is making this, I’m going to make this!”
I may have missed a few more things, but after this 60-second passionate rant, I was blown away. He was very, very passionate about this subject and this project. I will be honest with you I still didn’t think it was a great idea because I didn’t know how he would accomplish it, especially with limited financial resources. Still, a part of me wanted him to succeed, and there is a reason why: passion!
For the first time in five years, Jack talked about something with so much passion that it made me stop and listen. I had been hearing him speak about things I disagreed with for five years, and even though I heard them, I never really listened. There was something about that day, though, something about the passion in his voice and his mannerisms that made me stop and listen.
This is where I learned not only on that day but even on that day years later that passion is a powerful thing in many different ways. Of course, all of us have been told that finding our passion in life is powerful. On that day and many days since I realized that another powerful aspect of passion is making someone stop and listen.
This is why people who have passion and settle into doing something passionate about tend to have the most success. It might not be the best idea ever, and it might not be a new idea or product, but their passion gets people to stop and listen. I think we all gravitate towards passion, and we don’t even know it. As I look back on the last 25 years, this is not the only moment; many. Moments where my life shifted, and at that moment, I didn’t even know it, and I can tell you that I am grateful.
So today, I leave you with one statement that you have heard or hear all the time: “Find your passion, and you will never work another day in your life.” But there is also one that maybe you don’t often hear: “One man with a passion can attract 1 million with none.”
I challenge you this week to either keep looking for what you’re passionate about or start telling the world what you are passionate about. Here at Total Life Changes, we believe that passionate people can change the world, but we also think we need more of them.
Thank you for reading, and please try to make this week your best week ever!
