Passion and Purpose

For the longest time I was blinded by understanding what motivated me to be successful.  A key component to success in business (or life) is simply illustrated in the following Venn Diagram.

It focuses on making good money (providing for your physical self), skills (your knowledgeable self), and passion (your emotional self).  The center of the circle being that "Happy Place" encompassing all three areas.  Can you identify where are you at?

Passion is the most intimate of of the circles. Passion is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling  (emotional belief)*  It motivates, or gives you that burning desire that makes you jump out of bed every morning.  That LOVE of doing what you do.   Passion is pure energy.  People that are passionate about their business will find an abundance of energy even if they are deprived of sleep and food.

Purpose is the natural ability that you are talented with.  Your talent could be playing a sport, communicating, entertaining, an entrepreneur who creates new things for world, etc. basically that natural (God given) skills you posses.  That specific purpose that you have has value.

Money - any circulating medium of exchange.  In the United States it is the almighty dollar that pays for food, shelter, clothing, bills, and anything your heart desires.  The focus of money is that takes care of your physical well being.

Throughout our professional careers we trek all over the Venn Diagram above, trying to achieve or stay in that "Happy Place".  I was fortunate to find myself there several times.  Not knowing why or how,  I would state at time was "good week/month/year" for me.   Until a few years back I found that I lacked energy for my job.  Clients were more than satisfied with my work and the pay was exceptional.  But, I was missing something... I could not identify what it was.  I looked around for reasons.  Career was doing well, I was making money... so what was wrong?  I was blinded by my job and its pay to miss the fundamental thing that makes us run as human beings.  Emotional well being.  I wasn't happy.  Work politics and policies, clients egos, less free time, were all straining my relationships with family and friends, my energy, and health.   I was between the purpose and money circles.

I turned my focus from looking for external excuses and focused inward.  What did I enjoy doing and made me happy?   Having a few pints with friends popped into my mind, but I knew there was something much deeper. After some deep realization, mediation, and chatting with peers I found I enjoyed helping people over come limiting beliefs.  I truly understood what I would enjoy doing, what makes me happy... my passion.  The current challenge is now how to move back to that center. What needs to change, and opportunities that will arise as I push myself outside of my current comfort zone, to make my way back to the center of the diagram. 

The point is mapping where you currently are, where you want to go, and create steps on how to achieve it.  We often look externally on where we are in our career (how much we make and what's our status).  Looking forward we must not forget to do an internal check on how do we feel, think, and survive.