Photography is an amazing way to learn about focus. This is because the very act of viewing life through the lens of a camera can help us develop a truly empowering skill.

We call that skill focus, and learning to use it properly can transform our perception of the world around us and the people in it.

I believe that the power to change your reality is equal to your ability to focus your attention in the most beneficial direction at any given time.

3 things photography can teach us about focus

1. The higher the magnification, the narrower the field of vision. This principle is what allows you to use a telephoto lens to pick out a single face in a very large crowd. As you focus in on that one subject, the rest of the crowd disappears from view. Why does that happen? Because your field of vision narrows until the entire frame is filled with that one face.

When you take the picture, the crowd is excluded. It doesn’t mean that there is no crowd. It simply means that you don’t see them in the picture because that is not what you were focused on.

Application: Your perception is determined by what you focus on. This means that we can use our ability to focus our attention in a way that causes an empowering shift in our perception. It doesn’t matter whether we are looking at a person, situation, or an experience. We can control what our picture looks like by controlling what we choose to focus on.

If you focus intently on the positive aspects of any person, place, or thing, the negative aspects will fade into the background. They will still exist, but they will be outside of your field of concentration, and will have little or no influence on the picture you see.

2. Lighting has a huge influence on how you see things, and your ability to focus. If you set your camera on a tripod and focus it on a single object, the lighting will determine how you see that object.

Imagine that you have decided to photograph a magnificent tree that is standing alone on the top of a hill. If your camera remained stationary, and you took one picture every hour from sunup till sundown, what would you have? You would have twelve (or so) completely different photographs. Why? Even though the subject remained the same, the variation in lighting changed its appearance.

Application: The degree of value we choose to assign to anything we focus on can be compared to lighting. If it is something of great importance, we put a spotlight on it so we can see every detail. If it is relatively insignificant, we dial down the light so it doesn’t distract from the things that really matter.

If we assign too much value to (shine a spotlight on) things of little importance, they will overshadow the more valuable aspects of our life.

By assigning increased value to thing like gratitude, relationships, health, and honesty, we bring those things front and center in our life. This means that they move higher on our list of priorities and capture more of our attention. As a result, less empowering aspects of life will be relegated to a lower priority and receive less attention.

3. Shutter speed affects the quality and clarity of any photograph. Under glaring conditions, exposure time needs to be reduced to avoid overexposing the picture. When the lighting is poor, a slower shutter speed allows enough time for the available light to properly expose the image.

If you use a fast shutter speed in a low light situation, the image will not register. Your picture will be underexposed and worthless as a result. Using a slower shutter speed when trying to capture an action shot will give you a blurry picture devoid of details, also worthless.

Exposure time needs to change to fit the requirements of each situation. If it doesn’t, then quality and clarity are compromised.

Application: In life, we need to make choices about what we are willing to expose ourselves to, and for how long. We only have so many hours in a day. Learning to manage the time available is really a process of deciding how much time we spend on each activity.

If you stay too long at unimportant activities (overexpose yourself), you will end up underexposing yourself to the really important ones. Once again, exposure time needs to change to fit the requirements of each situation. We also need to acknowledge that some things are not worth exposing ourselves to at all.

Making positive changes in the quality of our life requires that we assign meaningful amounts of time to meaningful pursuits. If we don’t control our time, mundane activities will expand to fill the time available. By managing your time and adjusting your exposure, you will be able to give greater focus to activities that make a solid contribution to the quality of your life.

Auto focus, is it good or bad?

For most of us, photography is a point and shoot process. Automatic cameras require very little skill to produce fairly nice pictures. Truly exceptional photographs however, still require a skilled photographer to manually control the focus and shutter speed, and to recognize or create the perfect lighting.

High quality photos are still produced by those with enough skill to make the best use of the tools available. They want above average results, and they consider it worth their time and effort to develop the necessary skills.

What Kind of results do you want?

For a lot of people, life is just an average experience, it’s a point and shoot affair. Generally, this is not because they don’t want an exceptional life. It may be because they haven’t taken the time to develop the life skills required to produce exceptional results. Or perhaps, they never had an opportunity to learn those life skills in the first place. Whatever the reason, the skills are available for anyone desiring to live a truly exceptional life.

How about you, is average good enough, or do you want exceptional? When you look at your life, what kind of picture do you want to see?

Do you find it difficult to control your focus?
How much influence do you think focus has on perception?
The lines are open!

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What do you want to be? The simple answer to that question is the same for every single person on the planet. We all want to be happy. At the core of every other possible answer is that one underlying truth. Happiness is what we want!

It starts when we are children

When you were very young, did anyone ever ask you “what do you want to be when you grow up”? Of course they did. How did we respond? We looked around at the adults in our world to find examples of possible answers to that question. And instinctively we gave more consideration to those whose lives seemed to bring them happiness.

Have you ever considered that the question “what you want to be when you grow up” might have some built-in limiting beliefs attached to it? To our subconscious, the subtle message behind that question is “these are your choices and choosing the right one will bring you happiness.”

The programming begins

Right away we begin to believe that our own identity, and our future happiness, will depend on what we decide to be when we grow up. So, we start to look around at the choices that others have made in an effort to figure out what we should do. This becomes a reference point for our perceptions about life.

If the people around us are rich and get other people to work for them, then that’s the way we think life is. On the other hand, if the people in our world struggle just to pay their rent, are always stressed out, and never have any time off, that’s the perspective we adopt.

Reality vs. fantasy

Whatever a child sees in the world around them is what they are subtly programmed to expect from life. This all happens very early in our life, by age six. We may or may not want the reality we see, but that is what forms our perceptions and expectations of how life is.

So, while the question “what do you want to be?” may seem to represent “possibilities,” it only does that within very narrow parameters. The limits are based on the choices available to us within our immediate environment because that’s what we see as reality. The subconscious anchor here is: if that is reality, then everything beyond that is just fantasy.

Welcome to the real world

Now, here’s where the real limits get put in place. No matter what kind of hopes and dreams we may entertain his children, sooner or later we are expected to stop living in a fantasy world and start living in the “real world.”

The closer we get to adulthood more pronounced this pressure to conform. Eventually, those limiting beliefs that were programmed into us as young children are reactivated. Those subconscious messages defining a limited reality instilled in us years earlier now go to work convincing us to quit being a dreamer. That hidden program starts telling us to assume our rightful place in the established order of things. And of course, we believe that doing so is actually the road to true happiness.

Internal conflict

Is it any wonder that people find it difficult to manifest their dreams and follow through on their goals and aspirations? We’ve all got these hidden programs and limiting beliefs about what is possible and what is just fantasy. They are operating behind the curtain and silently directing our lives.

Sure, we all want a life that is more meaningful and enjoyable, but we are programmed to believe that’s not very realistic. On top of all that, we start feeling guilty for not being happy and satisfied with the life that we’ve created.

This huge contrast between the kind of reality we fantasize about and the reality we have been programmed to accept creates massive internal friction. Somewhere inside of us we all intuitively know that more is possible, and that intuitive knowledge is in direct conflict with our “real world” programming.

What’s the solution?

The only way to create inner peace and find real happiness is to find a way to harmonize our internal programming with our intuitive self. Trying to ignore our true nature will not lead to happiness. So the one viable option is to rewrite our internal programs.

We need to get rid of the limiting beliefs contained in those old programs and replace them with empowering beliefs that support our intuitive, creative nature. We need a radical program upgrade.

We need to change the question

The first step in this process is to change the premise of the original question. Instead of “what do you want to be?” which implies that what we do is the key to happiness, we need to start asking ourselves…WHO DO I WANT TO BE? When our identity is tied to “what we do” it sends a message that “we are” our job, career, or role in life. That is not what we are; it’s just one of the many things we do.

Who we are as a person is more about our values, passions, relationships, and other personal qualities. Those things are much more important than what we do. Until we tie our identity to our true self, we will never create internal harmony or experience true happiness.

First things first

This is why I believe that the path of personal empowerment and inner peace must begin by discovering our true self. Upgrading our internal programs requires that we get very clear about who we are on a core level. Once we do that, the “what we are” will unfold in a truly amazing way.

Whether you are a high powered executive, stay-at-home mom, bus driver, or brain surgeon, it really doesn’t matter. We have all been programmed to believe that what we do defines who we are. That is completely upside down! What we are should be the natural expression of who we are. When you understand who you really are on a core level, then you can be whatever you want.

So many people are pursuing money, prestige, power, or position, in an attempt to find happiness and fill the void they feel inside. Sadly, this approach never works. In fact, more often than not, this just leads to frustration because they never find what they are really looking for. They never find true happiness; they only manage to further define what they are without ever discovering who they are.

Don’t fall into this trap!

Discovering your true self is not as difficult or time-consuming as you might imagine. Locating your core values, passions, and guiding principles for internal harmony is fairly easy if you know how to go about it. It really makes no difference how long your current programs have been running your life. Within a very short time you can upgrade to a program that leads to inner harmony, personal empowerment, and yes…even happiness.

Your fantasies actually serve a useful purpose. They are the voice of your true self calling out for recognition. They are a message from your intuitive, creative nature, reminding you that true happiness really is possible. Now the question is, are you ready to answer that call?

Have you ever felt guilty for wanting more out of life?
Has the search for happiness left you feeling frustrated?
Please – speak your mind, your thoughts really matter!

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Productivity is a good thing, right? That wonderful sense of accomplishment we get from getting more done in less time can be a genuine source of joy and satisfaction.

I think most of us are on the lookout for ways to ramp up our productivity. At the same time, it’s easy to get so caught up in the push that we forget why we are striving to be more productive.

Have you ever wondered…

What’s really behind our drive for increased productivity?

Isn’t the real reason we want to accomplish more in less time because we have other things we want to do besides work? Aren’t we all trying to create more time for all those “other” enjoyable activities that we keep putting off?

If you had the money and you had the time, what would you do? I’m guessing that listing everything that fits into that category would provide you with a good sized list, right? In fact, chances are just thinking about it brings a smile to your face.

The endless pursuit of happiness!

Anything we would attach to: “As soon as I have the time and the money I’m going to…” is something we really want to do. Consequently, there is a lot of good feelings linked to that list. But in reality isn’t it happiness postponed rather than realized?

So what do we do? We convince ourselves that increased productivity will ultimately result in a happier life because it will allow us to do all those wonderful things on our list.

Is that the way it’s worked out for you?

Here’s the downside to that kind of logic. It is way too easy to lose track of the big picture and become obsessed with just being more and more efficient for the sake of productivity. Instead of spending the free time we have created with our families or friends, we use it to get more done. We get locked into the mindset of doing more for the sake of increased productivity.

Why does that happen? Is it because we all want to work our lives away without taking time to stop and smell the roses? Probably not!

Making happiness conditional

The real problem is that somewhere along the way we managed to confuse accomplishment with happiness. Those happy feelings attached to our list can become so closely associated with being productive that we start to think they are the same.

Happiness started as the inspiration for achievement, but somehow things got reversed. Happiness became conditional. When being happy gets anchored in achievement, we can easily fall into the trap of projecting that happiness into the future. We put conditions on when we will allow ourselves to be happy.

I’ll take some time off just as soon as:

I pay off that last debt.
I solve this one problem.
I close this next deal.
I get a little more money saved.
I have a slowdown at work.

Being more productive is great. Getting more done in less time really is a good thing. But those are not legitimate reasons for missing out on happiness now.

Happy and productive

There is no inherent conflict between being happy and being productive. Actually, the two go together very nicely. The only danger lies in getting out of balance and obsessing over productivity. So what is the take away here?

Don’t lose your balance and allow the desire to accomplish more become an obsession. If this is what’s been happening in your life, take some time to think about your priorities. Make sure that you maintain a healthy sense of equilibrium between living in the present and planning for the future.

Don’t allow yourself to get so caught up in compulsive accomplishment that you forget who and what are really important to you right NOW. Make sure to take some time to enjoy your life in the present instead of waiting for someday, because all too often, someday never comes.

Has productivity ever become an obsession for you?
How do you stay balanced and productive at the same time?
The lines are open!

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Have you ever envied people that are able to easily make gobs of money while doing something they really enjoy? Sadly, most people have a completely different financial reality. How do you feel about that?

Money occupies a very unique place in our lives for several reasons. When making it is something that we struggle with, then we can end up spending huge chunks of our time and energy doing things we don’t really want to do, just so we can pay the bills.

On the other hand, when we enjoy what we do and are well compensated for our efforts, money comes to represent greater freedom and life feels easier and more enjoyable.

Is money your friend or foe?

Obviously, making money is how we support ourselves financially, but it also has a direct effect on every other aspect of our life. And I am not just talking about the house we live in or the car we drive.

In a very practical sense, money can either support our personal growth or challenge it. The state of our finances can also make us feel free from financial stress and frustration, or it can leave us feeling like a slave to the almighty dollar.

Money has emotional leverage and influence

The reality we live in requires that we make a certain amount of money. The need is real and without adequate finances things can get very uncomfortable. Is it any wonder that it is almost impossible to avoid forming an emotional attachment to money? In fact, there is no other inanimate object that is as emotionally charged as money.

What happens to those emotions when the economy is floundering and personal assets start evaporating? Our sense of security can easily turn into panic and leave us wondering how in the world we are going to cope. That’s a lot of emotional leverage and influence.

What’s the solution?

So, how do we structure our life in a way that minimizes the emotional rollercoaster connected to money? There are basically two ways. One way is to live so modestly that very little income is required to sustain our lifestyle. For those who choose to embrace a minimalistic lifestyle, less really can seem like more.

The other solution is to find a way to earn a great living doing something we love to do. This is my preferred choice and I have a feeling that the idea probably appeals to you also. Of course, the real challenge is figuring out how to do that, because if it was easy you would probably already be doing it, right?

Maybe it’s not as hard as it seems!

I have found that actually making money while doing work you love is not really all that complicated. What is complicated though is the challenge of sorting through all the so called “expert advice” and determining which information will actually teach you exactly what you need to know.

To put it another way, I feel that confusion and misinformation are two of the biggest obstacles preventing intelligent, motivated people from creating financial freedom. You see, the people with the real knowhow are not usually in the spotlight. Instead, they are quietly enjoying their lives and the freedom that a lucrative income has given them.

Be very selective when choosing whose advice to follow

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of garbage in the marketplace when it comes to this subject and all that does is add to the confusion and frustration. Many of the techniques being offered probably worked well in the past, but not now. So, their creator recycles them for profit and the results they produce are mediocre at best.

This is why it is wise to learn from those you already trust. Choose someone who has demonstrated their integrity and not just their ability to sell. I’ve been thinking about creating a realistic solution to address this situation for awhile now and I would love to get your thoughts on it because I truly do value your feedback.

Can you relate to any of this?
I would love to hear your thoughts!

Personal change is both an internal and external experience. It stems from a change in mindset and branches out from there. In truth, we are constantly moving toward some things, and away from others. But in order for noticeable transformation to occur, we must pass through a series of tipping points in succession.

This does not mean that a personal change can’t take place quickly, because it can. What it does mean is that all meaningful change, regardless of the time required, will follow a certain sequence.

On the path of personal transformation

We see an excellent large scale example of this sequential process in a typical life span. We all begin life as infants and progress through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, and finally old age. Some pass through these stages at different rates, but the sequence is always the same.

Note also that these stages of life are not limited to physical change alone. There is a complete metamorphosis on all levels. Mental and emotional change is present in conjunction with the physical. A very similar order is in involved in the process of personal growth and development.

The 7 stages of personal change

1) Awareness. The initial motivation for change starts with a sense that something is no longer working as well as it once did. This awareness can be extremely subtle at first. Maybe you feel uncomfortable with a long held belief, or with your current way of dealing with certain situations. Perhaps you realize that you no longer feel as resourceful or effective in certain areas of your life.

These feelings are the beginning of your personal recognition that something needs to be adjusted and precede any change in mindset. Even before you can put your finger on the source of this internal discomfort, you feel it on some level. Something is just not right and your conscious mind begins to investigate.

2) Discovery. This is the stage where your conscious mind has located the source of discomfort and is attempting to alert you of its presence. At this point you may run into resistance from your own ego, and the whole process of growth could be cut short.

The ego seeks refuge in denial, pretending that your discomfort is from an external source rather than an internal one. For personal change to progress past this stage requires that we accept that the source of our uneasiness is from within ourselves. The ability to override the denial tendency and adopt a new mindset is a prerequisite for moving to the next stage.

3) Ownership. In this stage we take responsibility for our own discomfort. That means that we fully accept that we are the source, rather than some external force. At this point we consciously acknowledge that it is our feelings, habits, perception, emotions, limiting beliefs, or faulty reasoning that needs to be adjusted.

This is a very powerful and key step on the path of personal transformation. It is the realization that we are actually in control, and therefore have the ability to facilitate a change. Accepting complete ownership of the situation opens the door to a new mindset of personal empowerment.

4) Exposure. This is the stage where we expand our search to identify the emotion or belief that is no longer serving us. This can be difficult for several reasons. For one, logic is not usually a very effective tool in the emotional arena. For another, we tend to view our beliefs as facts of life, and will always look for ways to justify them.

Rather than a direct confrontation, it is much easier to look at our behavior patterns to see how different beliefs have affected our lives. Once we recognize that we have been held back by, or suffered because of, certain beliefs, we will have both logic and emotion supporting our desire for change.

5) Intention. This is the threshold of personal change. You have identified an obsolete belief or behavior pattern, and you are now motivated to replace it with something more empowering. You are ready to move away from your former stage of development and embrace the next level. It’s time to choose a direction.

By the time you reach this tipping point, it is fairly easy to see where you want to be. The same comparison process that exposed the original source of discomfort has probably already revealed your next destination. All that’s left is to embrace a mindset that affirms your resolve to go there, and to formulate a plan of action.

6) Action. In the world of personal transformation, this is the only way to achieve results. If you don’t act, nothing will change. In fact, your discomfort with the current reality will increase because you have a much greater awareness of it. Before, it was just a subtle sense that something is no longer working. Now, it has a face.

Taking action is the only way to reestablish internal harmony. Any other course will require that you relinquish control and accept the mindset of a victim. When people feel helpless and depressed with their life, failure to take action and move toward a solution is often the cause.

7) Integration. This is the final stage where you have fully adopted the new belief or behavior. What started as a subtle awareness that something needed to be adjusted, has resulted in new milestone on the journey of personal change.

You have now reestablished your internal harmony on the next level. You have also successfully let go of an established, but obsolete, belief. It has been replaced with something much more empowering.

Choose personal growth

The more you experience this process the more natural it becomes. For those who embrace change, personal growth is a way of life. Never fool yourself into thinking that resisting change is the easier course; it’s not, because it robs you of the happiness and sense of purpose that you deserve. When you embrace change, you embrace life!

How do you feel about personal change?
Do you ever resist making changes to improve your life?
The lines are open!

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How good are you at focusing your time and attention toward things that really matter?  In a world full of constant distractions, how often do you find yourself struggling to maintain your focus on the things that are truly important to you personally?

The connection between what we choose to focus on and our current reality is often misunderstood. Increasingly, productivity is being replaced by busy work and as a result, feelings of frustration are overtaking our sense of accomplishment.  Learning to purposely direct your focus will make it possible to reverse this trend.

Focusing on priorities while avoiding distractions

Understanding how your mind uses focus to direct your attention gives you the ability to create a less frustrating and more targeted life experience. You control your perception of reality by controlling where you focus your attention. This is because focus brings one thing to the center of our consciousness while deemphasizing everything else.

When we focus on our priorities it also helps us to block out distractions. The less focused we are the more susceptible we become to every little distraction that comes along. And let’s face it; winning the battle against distractions is getting more challenging by the day.

Are you in command of your life’s priorities?

Many people have never actually taken the time to discover what is truly important to them. All through life our priorities are influenced by other people’s advice and expectations.  As a result, much of what we do in life is a reflection of those outside influences. And once life becomes a routine, there is a tendency to just keep doing what we have always done without giving it much thought.

Over time your mind and your nervous system gets programmed through repetition. This causes you to continue to focus your attention on the same things you have always focused on. Eventually we can find ourselves in a rut and running on autopilot. The problem with this approach is that life is constantly changing. If we just keep following our old routine, we could easily spend years putting our focus in a direction that does not reflect our true self.

Aligning your priorities with your true self

Before we can establish priorities that truly represent our core self, we need to take the time to discover who we really are. To do this requires that we step outside the programming of those external influences and connect with our deepest values, passions, and motives. But how do we do that?

As important as it is to connect with your true self, it is not something that you are taught through conventional channels. Consequently, it’s a process that you may struggle with. In fact, recognizing this need is what moved me to lay it all out in a step-by-step home study course called Find Your TRUE SELF. Only when you discover who you are on the deepest levels can you succeed in directing your focus toward the truly important things in your life.

Putting it all together

So, just to be clear, let’s look at how you can focus your attention in a way that helps create a more meaningful reality. Whatever we focus on the most will eventually manifest in our life, but that will only be meaningful if it is in harmony with our true self. Because we have been influenced by external feedback all our lives, our concept of true self is skewed toward the strongest or most unrelenting of those external influences. On top of that, the constant barrage of distractions we are exposed to on a daily basis further clouds our perception of who we really are.

Having the right priorities in life is how you buy out the time and energy to focus your attention where it will do the most good. For those priorities to be right for you as an individual, you must take the time to find your true self. Once you do that, you put yourself in a position to align your priorities so you can focus your attention on the thoughts and activities that lead to a more fulfilling life experience.

Unleash the power of focus

Focus is a very powerful tool, especially when it is used in a way that aligns with and supports your authentic self. I encourage you to take the time to discover your unique inner person. Before you can harmonize your life and the amazing power of focus, you need to distinguish the person you truly are from your response to outside influences and expectations. In other words, find your true self.

How do you deal with distractions?
Are you finding it challenging to keep your focus?
Do you feel truly connected to your true self?

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In case you haven’t noticed, turning your passion into profits is the single biggest promise making gurus and marketers rich these days. What a great marketing hook. Think about it, who doesn’t want to turn their passion into profit?

It’s a dream that is shared by millions of aspiring entrepreneurs, to get paid for living on their own terms and to make a living doing something they love doing. That is probably the primary reason why, worldwide, there are approximately 175,000 new blogs started every single day.

It’s a promise that speaks to our very core

The freedom to live by our own schedule, make money while we are sleeping, and earn thousands while we are on vacation with nothing more than a laptop or iphone. How many times have you heard these promises? Too many, right?

So, why do smart people continue to buy into these promises? Why do huge product launches continue to generate millions of dollars inside of a few days? Because the thought of turning your passion into profit is an irresistible offer, that’s why. Be honest, how many books and programs have you bought over the years out of a desire to quit your day job and become independent?

If you own a library of these programs and still haven’t realized your dream, don’t feel bad and please don’t give up. Most of us have been down that road at some point, it’s just part of the learning process.

So, what is missing?

With all of these offers being digested by millions of eager consumers, why are so few people actually experiencing the freedom and independence being promised? Is it all just marketing or is there just something missing?

If no one was actually able to turn their passion into profit then we could assume the worst, but a small percentage do make it, so we know it can be done. Is it a serious lack of motivation or follow-through on the part of those who purchase these products? Certainly that is a factor, but nobody spends $1,997 on a seven module training program without trying to implement it.

So, is there some crucial information being withheld so that we are driven to buy the next product? Is the reality of entrepreneurship just so complicated that it is beyond the reach of most people? Personally, I don’t think it is either of those things.

Maybe we make it harder than it really is

When you combine a burning desire with too much information and too many choices, all you get is confusion. Trying to do everything just guarantees that nothing gets done properly. As a result, the essentials never get the attention they need because your focus is spread too thin.  In other words, we over complicate the process. Successful people follow a strategy that keeps their attention where it needs to be and filters out all the unnecessary distractions.

Logically then, any approach that can actually teach you how to turn your passion into profit would need to be relatively easy to follow, step-by-step, totally focused, and proven to work for a widest possible variety of interests, talents, and skill levels. It should also be inspiring, affordable and include some personal guidance every step of the way.

So, the next obvious question is: Where can you find something like that? Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of garbage in the marketplace when it comes to this subject and all that does is add to the confusion and frustration. I’ve been thinking about creating a realistic solution to address this situation for awhile now and I would love to get your thoughts on it because I truly do value your feedback.

How much have you spent in the passion to profit pursuit?
What passion would you like to turn into profit?
The lines are open!

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What is your passion? Come on, you can say it out loud, don’t be afraid. Let me help you: “My passion is _______________” There, all you need to do is simply fill in the blank.

Oh, are you thinking that you don’t know what your passion is? Maybe I can help you figure it out.

Try this, write down a few possible contenders, and then ask yourself the following questions with regard to each one:

1) Does doing it, or thinking about it make you feel good about yourself?
2) Is it something you enjoy doing so much that you would do it for free, or even pay money to be able to do it?
3) When you are doing it, do you lose track of time?
4) When you are talking about it do you become more animated and enthusiastic?
5) If circumstances allowed you to spend more time doing it, would you?

If you answered yes to most of these questions for one of your contenders, then you found a winner. This is definitely something you want to do. Now, here’s the tough question: Are you doing it?

Are you pursuing that passion?

You see, almost everyone has a passion they want to pursue. The problem is, we often push those passions aside in the name of being “practical.” Let’s look at the reasoning involved when choosing practical over passion.

If I do this other thing (that I’m not passionate about) first, and make some money, then I can turn my attention toward my passion. This sounds like a totally reasonable approach, doesn’t it? Raise your hand if this is your strategy!

Maybe it looks good on paper, but…

I hate to be a wet blanket here but statistics show that this practical approach rarely leads back to your passionate pursuit. Notice I didn’t say that this approach won’t work, just that most people can’t pull it off. Why not?

Because it’s far too easy to get pulled into the “practical” career and not be able to extract yourself from it later on. It becomes too easy to just keep doing what you’re doing while your passions go into the “maybe someday” file. To succeed at using this approach requires an unusual degree of focus and determination.

On the positive side, I do know people who have what it takes to break out of an established career and successfully go after their dreams. One good example is my friend and colleague Steve Aitchison of Change Your Thoughts. His article The Power of Focus is very encouraging if you are looking to break free from a career that you are not passionate about.

Society is not passion oriented

Where in your growing up experience were you ever encouraged to pursue your passions until your dreams came true? Instead, everything is designed to channel you toward a career choice that will allow you to “make a good living.” In turn, making a good living is supposed to be on a par with “living your passion,” but safer and easier. Don’t get me wrong, we all like the idea of making a good living. But shouldn’t we be able to really enjoy what we do at the same time?

Too often, the pursuit of our passions is described as “not very practical.” In fact, anything that doesn’t fit into the standard curriculum is often viewed as a long shot, or worse. Why do you think that is? Isn’t it true that most famous people became famous by breaking rank and pursuing their passions? Why does society revere them, and yet discourage people from following in their footsteps?

Don’t let fear hold you back!

We spend a huge portion of our lives working. It would be a shame if we didn’t feel a strong sense of satisfaction from that effort. The number one thing that prevents people from pursuing their passions is fear. More specifically, it’s fear of failure. My question is, Does failure really exist or is it more a matter of attitude?

The funny thing is, most highly successful people have experienced failure one or more times on their road to success. Unhindered by setbacks, they continued to pursue their passion until they succeeded. Often, it was the lessons they learned by not succeeding right away that allowed them to finally get it right. So, what’s standing in your way? If it’s fear of failure, maybe you need to shift your focus.

You have a right to pursue your passions

Don’t ever let anyone convince you that pursuing your passion is not practical. Passion is what brings meaning and value to your life. The very quality of your life experience is directly affected by the pursuit of your passions. With so much at stake, it seems impractical to choose any other course.

Please do not allow your passions to end up in the “maybe someday” file. Get yourself focused and motivated. Set some goals in the direction of your passion, and then pursue them relentlessly. Life is too short to settle for anything less than passionate.

Life can’t be passionate if you ignore your passions.
How are you doing in this regard?
The lines are open!

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