(If you have stumbled across this post, you have found me blogging my upcoming book “Getting to Did: How To Lose Your Big But and Live a Life Without Regret.” In the last installment, Sam met the coach. If you need to catch up on the whole book, you can start with “Sam’s Crumbling World” which has an index of all the posts or you can follow the successive links.)

PASSION

“First, we have to start with PASSION.”

“I think I have that one down,” Sam interrupted. “This goes along with what the PROFESSOR taught me. She said she was stepping on your field a little bit. PASSION means doing what I am PASSIONATE about, what I enjoy and can really get into. It makes sense to teach this while we talk about motivation as well. After all, it’s a lot easier to be motivated doing something you love than something you hate.”

“Allow me to illustrate,” the COACH added. “When I started off in college, I was majoring in Business and Marketing. My plan was to make big money in some Fortune 500 company. I had it all mapped out. You may love that sort of thing Sam, however, about half way through my junior year, I realized I hated what I was doing. That explained why I was always on the verge of getting failed for missing too many classes and why I started getting low C’s when I was usually a pretty solid A and B student. I was talking to an older friend of mine who worked as a high paid accountant for a local company. I asked him how he liked his job. He said, ‘I hate it. But it keeps the family fed.’ He looked miserable. In that moment, I decided I didn’t want to live like him.

“Getting to where I am now was a bit of a journey but this is where I SHOULD be. Most days, I can’t wait to get to work. It’s more like playing than work to me. I love what I do. I love the practices, the games and I love working with the kids. I feel like I’m making a difference in their lives. Sure, there are some down days. But most of the time, being motivated comes naturally because I absolutely love what I do. I have PASSION.

 “One of the areas where PASSION is most helpful is in accomplishing those self-discipline habits that are so easy to overlook for a few days and then stop completely. I love to exercise and I love to be healthy. I start most days with running, swimming or something to get my heart pumping. That’s easy for me ‘cause I’m PASSIONATE about exercise and health.

“My sister, on the other hand, hates exercise. I helped her get started running. She got so upset, wondering when it would be fun, natural or easy like the running magazines said it would. As I was helping her get into the habit I tried everything. I tried systems of rewards and punishments. I tried getting her to read about healthy people and unhealthy people and what their lives are like when they’re older. I tried guilt. I tried praise.

“Then one night she had me and my family over for dinner.  I was in a slightly grumpy mood over issues at the school. Therefore, regrettably I was being a little short about everything. As usual, the issue of the kids growing quickly came up and she said something about her seven year old’s graduation being just around the corner. Without any real intention of trying to impact her health and mostly because I was irritated anyway I somewhat caustically said, ‘I hope you’re still around for it.’

“The conversation that ensued was life-changing for her. For all we had tried, she never made the connection between her health and her relationship with her children. If she is not PASSIONATE about her health or exercise, she is extremely PASSIONATE about her family. When she made that connection, the PASSION for health and exercise was suddenly in place. She can’t run circles around me, but she’s sure trying.

“Work to tie those pesky habits of self-discipline about which you can hardly be PASSIONATE to something about which you are PASSIONATE. Then be amazed at how much easier those issues become.”

“That’s powerful,” Sam replied. “I’ve never thought about that before. The health and kid thing, that is. Maybe all of this is going to help me with more than just my financial life.”

“Let me explain the other benefit of PASSION. Not only does it help you get up in the morning, it also helps you strive for excellence. There are coaches who are just making a paycheck. They played football in high school and thought it would be an easy job. You can tell their teams; they have the losing records. The ones with PASSION push that extra mile. Since they are so PASSIONATE about what they do, they want to be the best they can possibly be. Good enough is never good enough for the PASSIONATE. They don’t settle for minimum job requirements. They go above and beyond for the sake of their PASSION.

“If you’re going to Make the PLAY, Sam, you’ve got to have PASSION.”

“PASSION. Got it,” Sam responded.

“Listen, I have some exercises for you to work through this week,” the COACH said handing Sam a piece of paper.

“Why am I not surprised?” Sam asked as he looked at it.

(Come back next Thursday when the coach teaches Sam to Look to the Future.)

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