Another Chicken and Egg - Passion vs Effort

Steve Jobs said we've got to have passion in what we do because it is real hard. If we don't love it and have fun doing it, we will fail because that is the only sane thing to do. We don't like to do things that are hard.

Mark Cuban suggests that chances are we will not find our passion first. We have to follow our effort and develop the passion from there.

I personally think that "passion" is an overused word. Successful people tend to sum it all up with "passion". And I think many (including myself) mistaken that "passion" comes first, that we've got to love this thing before we start doing it.

I believe it starts from "intuition". Don't think too much. Just follow our hearts and start doing. From here, Mark Cuban and Malcolm Gladwell rightly put it that the more we do, the better we get. When we are good at something, people look up to us as experts, we have recognition, the thing will get easier and easier to do, it gets more fun and we love it more and that's passion. So it's:

Intuition -> Action/Create -> Fun -> Passion

Of course, there are people who know their passion from the beginning, like Connie Talbot, Charice and Mozart. They are the prodigies. For the majority of us, I believe it's action first.

Have I forgotten how to live with passion?

T Harv Eker ever mentioned during his seminars: "How you do something is how you do everything!". It is an attitude towards life. It is not a state of mind, I have come to realize. I have lost passion for my job since 4 years back. Now it has become more of a responsibility, a stigma among us Asians that a responsible adult should not let others down. Totally no direction. Trying to figure out what I am suppose to do every day. And the unfortunate thing is that I have gotten adjusted to it! Today I am just afraid that I may have lost that feeling of feeling energize and passionate.

Came across this TED video. He is passionate with classical music - oh! Such boring stuff I thought. But magically, he still manages to capture his audience with nothing but his passion!

An Inspiring Artiste

When I was in my teens, Jimmy Lin was a pop sensation. Came across this article over the weekend that describes his resume. I was totally impressed. I have discarded the stereotype that I held for performing artistes like him. 

Interesting points from his brief resume:

Passion
I guessed he found his passion at the age of 10 - car racing. He made his money from his singing/acting career but he never lost sight of his passion. In fact, it seemed like whatever he did was ultimately meant to fuel his passion. From the first 50 cc motorbike he owned at 10 years old to the Porsche and Ferrari to his very own racing team. I am awed by his laser beam focus.

Excellence
Not sure if it has to do with racing. He strove for excellence in his endeavors. He won honors while serving national duty as a soldier. He scored full marks in the exams to become a Emergency Medical Technician. He sold many copies of his song albums and he also won many car races.

Enterprising
I would think that he followed this heart and intuition and capitalised on opportunities. He learnt diving, boating, designed his own high tech home, invented some gadget (BB gun?!), set up IT companies and restaurants. He was also active in philanthropy. 

All these and he is not even 40!

George Lucas' Story

I believe the car accident that George Lucas got into when he was 18 changed his life. A close shave with death. I read that that also killed his interest in driving race cars. I remembered I kept on hearing people saying that he was "focused" in the video. And he was lucky too, to have found film-making as a passion at quite a young age. Best still, he could study the subject that he loved in college. Film-making became his life. From then on, it was crazy hard work, nothing less. The many films that he shot, the criticisms that he received, the over 500 pages of the first Star Wars script written by hand, the pursuit of perfection, the overrun budget, the trials and tribulations.

This is almost the hallmark of any successful person.

What struck me was what his children said about him spending too much time with them. Something I could not fathom. He did so much and yet still spend "too much time" with his children?

Freedom Fighter - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited Singapore and spoke at SMU. 

Leaders Start with a Cause

She said leaders should not start out wanting to be leaders. People should start out with a cause and a strong belief in the cause, so strong that he/she would influence people around him/her and naturally, he/she would be propelled into leadership.

Democracy

She said democracy is about people making their own choices. She respects that some Burmese students studying overseas don't wish to return to Myanmar because they want more in their lives. She said she is selfish in choosing to fight for a cause. Profound.

Watching how Daw Suu answered questions from the floor during Q&A, I could sense her passion, true passion. She spent a lifetime fighting for a cause for her country and countrymen. She spent a good amount of time thinking of the issues affecting her country. All the answers came as-a-matter-of-factly, at her finger tips. I salute her wisdom and courage!