Passion

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
John Ruskin

Passion is the closest thing we have in this life to a "magic" ingredient. With passion almost anything is possible, without it nothing is possible. Passion adds life. An absence of passion drains life. Passion is the precursor to dedication. Dedication allows us to go above and beyond the mediocre to achieve and receive greatness.

Passion and Sales

Passion generates sales unlike any other method. Passion even allows for glaring errors to go unnoticed. Passion can build a product that is exceptional, sell it in an exciting way, provide great service and involve users in a whole lifestyle. Apple is a great example with their iPods, iPhones and computers. So was Barack Obama's election campaign 2008-9. Google keeps a passion at their core that has served them very well and will probably continue to do so for many years to come.

Lack of passion will destroy sales at the same (or greater) rate. A business can survive lack of passion only so long as it has no competitors or it's competitors are as poor as it is. As soon as a more passionate competitor comes into the market every other product's days are numbered. Apple's iPod defined the genre and look how they stay constant while other manufacturers struggle for market share (normally only by lowering price). In Australia the hardware store industry was decimated by the arrival of Bunnings. Sure price had some to do with it but existing chains were so stale they were past ripe.

Signs you have lost your passion

you don't want to go to work
you don't want to spend money on promotion and improving your business
you think near-enough is good-enough
you want your product to only be as good as the competition
"the best" and "exceptional" are thin ghosts to you
you spend all your time "putting out fires"
details and technologies take more of your energy than getting closer to your goals
you think that dreams, goals, plans and passion are for the chosen few

How to get passion

I recall a sales manager saying "Get fired with enthusiasm or get fired with enthusiasm". I hate these sayings as they are often used aggressively but there is a truism here that if you don't show passion the boss will be more than happy to replace you with someone who does.

There is no simple 3 step trick process that ensures you will have passion in what you do but there are a few things you can do

Find out why you started down the path you are on. Way back when you left your job and decided to be an Astronaut you had a dream, passion and dedication. Something happened to turn you away from your goals and to stop you from believing in outer space. Look back, was it something others said, was it that you are an inch too short, was it that you didn't know how to put on your helmet? Did you give up your dreams and passions for pale ghosts? If so, turn back now. This will require some upheaval in yourself and for those around you but if you don't change the path you are on you will experience a nasty shock or two in a short while. You may try to hang on but these shocks are warning you that you need to get back in the flow.

Listen to what you say to yourself. Do you keep saying you aren't good enough, you aren't a Top Gun? Do you let others tell you to play it safe? Astronauts are never safe but they do get to the moon. Critics are left to make up conspiracy theories and try to sell newspapers to people who would be your customers if you were on the moon.

Check every action you take to see if it is part of your dream and plan. Sure you may be an inch too short for NASA but you can try France, India, North Korea or anyone else who is working on a space mission. You could start your own. You could even build a planetarium. All of these can get you into space. When you find yourself pulling back from doing absolutely everything that you could to be exceptional then you are doing the wrong thing. Do the extra work as it will pay off. Sure no-one may read your autobiography but if there isn't one then no-one can read it at all. Be different as often as you can and maybe, just maybe, NASA will revise their height limit for you seeing as you are a star already.

Keep learning. When you find you are confronted with not being able to put your helmet on don't sit there and cry. Don't start saying the helmet is faulty and buy one after another in hope there is one that clicks in. This won't work and will only waste resources. Sit and work out why you have the problem and then start learning. You may be able to learn to fit your own helmet or you may realize that this is a 2 man job. Either way the learning will never be wasted. You can use it to direct the person you hire to help you put your helmet on. That assistant will be money well spent when you are floating in a vacuum taking pictures for your website. Later in your career you can use your learning to help other astronauts put on their helmets.

Whatever you do, do it with Passion as your companion and you will always be moving forward.