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Passion should not be mistaken for fun, or “doing what you love”. It is an entirely different concept that is well worth looking into. I think this common misconception may be the reason so few find their passion, and therefore even fewer still live them.

Let’s start with the definition, and the etymology of the word passion :

Etymology: being acted upon, from Latin pati, to suffer. It has since evolved to objects of desire or deep interest, but continues to suggest ungovernability (being a slave to one’s passions).

Ancient meaning of words can teach us a lot. In this case it reminds us that passion has the upper hand. When it gets a hold, it controls us. And it isn’t always kind. Fun has little to do with it. Pain and abnegation do.

Of course there is more to it than that. If passion was just suffering, who would want it?

 

Passion is kindled by results.

 

Passion develops when progress is made. The first time you practice an activity with flow, or an unusual ease, grace and precision that you can’t explain, you might just have found a passion in the making. Before this first epiphany, you are learning the ropes, and there is little pleasure in that. The period of time it takes to experience it is when it is most likely that you will quit. That may be because that activity isn’t suited for you, or that you haven’t given it enough time.

That first epiphany may motivate you enough to continue searching, longing for another. You learn and practice more. Interest becomes passion. Gradually. Sometimes slowly.

Passionate writers sweat blood from their foreheads. They don’t want to sit down and write, but with experience, and the first experiences of flow, feel compelled to do so.

Passionate athletes (not necessarily professional) endure pain and injury. They don’t feel like training daily, or taking a train to show up at a competition.

 

Passion is Motivated by Purpose.

 

Passion may be for harmony, or beauty, or teaching, or being of service… Since it is driven by purpose, it has little to do with the type of activity, or the tools you use to accomplish it. Passionate musicians therefore often play more than one instrument. Passionate teachers have a teaching position, but also write books and essays, as well as conduct research, run a website and hold seminars. Passionate artists driven by a quest for beauty aren’t just painters, but sometimes also sculptors. Passion for service is achieved by some through volontary work,  while others will prefer business with a focus on employment and better working conditions.

Some choose just one means of achieving their passion’s purpose, but could very well have chosen another.

The passion’s purpose is rarely conscious. It sometimes reveals itself with time. It may help to try to analyze why you are passionate about something, or just add to the confusion…

 

One Passion, or Several?

 

Passion being about purpose much more than it is about a specific activity, there are oftentimes more ways than one to fulfill them. Many passionate musicians master several musical instruments. Many industry leaders develop trades in different markets.

And when you hit a roadblock with one, the answer can simply be to switch to another, and leave yourself time to work out the solution for the first. As long as you don’t stray too far (forget all about it) you may find that the answer is there just waiting for you when you come back to it.

This past article explores the subconscious resolution of problems.

You may also simply have found an original way to deal with it while exercising the other one.

 

Why the heck did I spend nights creating this? I still have no idea. I just had to. But the hours of flow came at the cost of more hours still of gritted frustration.

Why 20 years of karate? For the few times that felt like flying, and despite injury and suffocation.

Why this blog? Or the others? Same answer.

Maybe I’ll see it all come to a logical conclusion someday.

Ask Nico Di Mattia why the painting…

 

 

Or any engaged actor, politician, artist, humanitarian, or even a person that lives a seemingly normal job with passion and they may or may not be really able to explain why. But they will almost always tell you it isn’t all fun and games. Especially in the early, learning stages.

 

Finding Your Passion is Selfish… And Selfless.

 

Passion attracts your focus in such a way that it distracts you, or sometimes totally takes your attention away from anything else. Namely others. Family, friends, duties of all sorts become secondary at best. In this sense living your passion is a selfish act. It can keep you away from home, make you inefficient at work (given your work and passion are not one and the same).

Yet passion aims at a greater good. It could care less about marketing and sales. It is driven by a purpose, and that purpose isn’t about your interests (but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are incompatible).

 

Passion requires specific abilities, strengths, instinct and talent.

 

Not everyone can develop a passion for music. It requires an ear and sensitivity. It requires physical attributes (hand morphology is crucial to play the piano or the violin). You do not choose your passion. You find it, and to find it, you need to experience that first epiphany. It isn’t going to happen if you have no talent for the discipline in question, so that practice does not lead to a passion. If you find yourself completely unable to make progress, then you’ve probably taken the wrong road.

Instinct can give indications of which activity to choose. Your instincts. Not someone else’s. If you sense early on that with practice you can achieve a “eureka” moment then you are on the right track. If not you may not have tried enough, or you may have tried something that isn’t for you.

 

Passion doesn’t provide energy, it requires it. Lots of it.

 

Passion will drain you of your energy. It will keep you up at night. It will have your mind reeling in search of ways to accomplish itself. That may lead you to believe that it energizes you. But it does not provide that energy. Passion takes control of you, and forces you to feed it. 

That energy needs to be there in the first place. Strength helps.

Passion wears you out, and when comes the time when you have no energy left to give it, you may think you’ve simply lost interest or decide to take a break. If that break becomes permanent, it may be that you’ve given up before achieving your passion’s purpose.

After recovery you may be reluctant to relive the same experience that you mistook for a mistake or a failure and try a new one. You find another that sparks interest and decide to test this one to see if it carries you longer. It may be a different way to achieve the same purpose. And it will only carry you longer if it is also a passion, if you have completely recovered from the previous, and have more energy to give it.

But it may also be that you have achieved your passion’s purpose, and that that purpose was only the first step towards achieving a larger one. You may have learned something essential from that experience that you will need to take the next step.

 

Passion Requires Problem Solving, Conscious or Not.

 

You may hit a roadblock. You cannot figure out how to make further progress. And the harder you try, the more steps you take… backwards. So you may quit, and with time forget. Perhaps you should have just taken a break, put the problem in the back of your head but be prepared to come back to it, letting your subconscious figure it out. Because it does that. My past article on productivity block goes into more detail on this point.

Losing interest in an activity doesn’t necessarily mean that activity was a mistake. Sometimes quiting is a mistake because burnout is mistaken for loss of interest.  One of the aspects of The Concert that makes it a compelling film is that it shows that a passion may be set aside for thirty years, and still be there waiting for you.

But quiting isn’t necessarily a mistake. The purpose may be accomplished so that a new, larger one may be undertaken. Or the choice may simply have been a poor one.

Life isn’t simple after all.

   

Passion is scary.

 

You instinctively know a passion will take you for a rough ride. This is why finding your passion is not about “trying new things”, but going for things that both attract you and take you out of your comfort zone until sufficient progress has been made.

Passion isn’t necessarily about time spent on an activity either.

Many think they have a passion for video games or movies. Sometimes they do, when those games and films have a purpose. It may lead them to creating their own, or practice leadership by creating and managing MMORPG guilds, or develop the sensitivity they will need to learn to act, or other purposes still. But for many others those passtimes are in fact addictions that allow them to escape reality.

None can judge from the outside.

 

Passion is Insane.

 

At least it looks that way from the average spectator’s eye. It lacks conventional wisdom. That spectator will wonder how the passionate can have so little regard for their own well-being and sometimes mistake it for laziness, immaturity or lack of drive.

When will those darned passionate people finally have the sense to make something of themselves?

Those that go far enough do, when they’ve started truly accomplishing that passion’s purpose: when the harmony, beauty, or service is there, or within reach.

 

Passion is an Act of Faith.

 

How can it be otherwise when passion takes your energy and focus and has no regards for your well-being? Everything about passion suggests failure, bankruptcy, loneliness and hardships of all shapes and sizes. Yet those that find their passion and give it the energy it requires seem to have a knack for falling on their feet. Failure befalls those that hesitate, backtrack and let doubt take over. Those that succeed go all out, for as long as it takes.

People living their passion disregard their fear and stay the course, however unreasonable it may seem. And they don’t even know why. They have faith in the vision that only becomes clearer as they slowly reach its purpose. At first they have faith in there even being a vision because they are yet to see it. This is why they will always fail, in the early stages, to clearly explain what they are doing, and why.

They learn to believe that there is nothing to fear, because by abiding to their passion they are living in correlation with their purpose. They believe in a world order that depends on their finding their place and playing their part. They believe that ignoring their calling harms that world order, and that it will somehow preserve them if they stay the course. They believe that the challenges they are facing were meant for them to be overcome, and aren’t beyond their ability. They believe that they are not truly alone. They believe that what they are risking has little value compared to what they will gain.

 

Passion is Recommended.

 

For all the struggle, hardship, fear, doubt, devoted time and effort, those that find and live their passion(s) wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

Why is it some days action flows naturally while others we feel like we weigh a ton? What exactly is that weight, and how to drop it so you can carry on?

There isn’t one clear-cut reason. There are several possibilities, and chances are they are all at play to some extent. We’ll see that while there is always a way to drop the weight, it isn’t necessarily productive to do so. Sometimes it is there for good reasons.

Understand the slump, then work with the positive aspects to speed them up. Bypass the negative ones: those that are costing you time and energy without the benefit.

Whatever the cause, Z Planner and my productivity tool recommendations can make the difference. Moreover, as always, understanding the problem is the best first step to take to find the solution.

 

The slump can be positive.

 

My aunt is a psychologist. I had a very interesting conversation with her years ago when she said something that stuck with me ever since.

“Even when you are doing nothing, you are creating.”

It will come to no surprise to you that much of your work is done, or at least prepared, at a subconscious level. This is only true for things that you strive to accomplish. I am talking about goals that are your own. Those are the ones that implicate you, mind body and soul.

It is much less applicable to things you do because you are told to, or were led to believe that you had to. Those tasks may indeed need to be done (not getting fired, divorced, written off a will…), but will only implicate you at a subconscious level if you are dedicated to seeing it through.

You subconsciously sort out the best way to achieve a goal, given a goal is set that you want to achieve. If that goal is technically difficult to achieve, you will feel stuck as long as it takes for your subconscious mind to have set the course, and brought that plan to your conscious mind.

Rushing it will lead to a less than perfect plan. Waiting it out will probably lead to eternal procrastination. There has to be a compromise.

 

Your options, depending on the situation.

 

Option one: going with what you’ve got, and letting your subconscious know it.

I find it extremely effective to tell myself: I haven’t figured it all out yet, but I have a good enough plan to get started.

Count on yourself to find the missing pieces as you go along.

By doing this, you are communicating with your subconscious, telling it you think it has done its job and that you want to take the lead. It will continue working with you as you go along. More importantly, it will stop blocking you on the (sometimes) false pretense that you first need to find a better way.

Your first steps will determine if you really did need further preparation (option 2), or if things are going well enough to see things through all the way.

Option two: help your subconscious work it out faster.

Although lack of preparation can be an illusion, it can also be very real. If you aren’t ready, then you can decide to stay in the preparatory phase, and help yourself out.

Once again, the key is being aware that you are subconsciously working out a plan. Option two is simply deciding that that plan needs some work, and that you can act to get that work done faster.

Task breakdown is an incredibly effective way to do this. Create a Z Planner project. Use the task breakdown feature to work out a plan. Then create the same project again, with a different name. Make another task tree.

If things come out differently, then you may want to give yourself more time. Move on to something else, and give that particular goal some more time for processing. Rest assured, by running the task breakdown, you’ve sped things along and made progress. The next time around may be the right time for actual production.

 

Perfectionism.

 

It is very fashionable to call oneself a perfectionist. Most people consider it a positive trait. It is the best excuse for procrastination that was ever invented.

Your subconscious may block you because it hasn’t figured things out, and doesn’t want to go into the unknown (the fear, always the fear). Once this becomes a habit, a common manifestation of this habit is to blame it on perfectionism. Convince others of this if you like, but do not allow yourself to believe it. Your project may need further preparation and thinking before actual production can take place, but be sure you honestly ask yourself if it is really the case.

 

Laziness.

 

I honestly believe laziness does not exist. Fear, lack of purpose, or just a positive productivity slump that you can cure mostly by identifying it as such accounts for all cases of laziness from my point of view.

Do not let yourself believe that you are lazy. Laziness is a self-demeaning diagnosis that works like calling oneself a perfectionist. At least the latter doesn’t add guilt to the equation.

Just like perfectionist, it is OK to let others believe you are lazy. Just don’t believe it yourself. Look for a goal, kill the fear, figure out a good way (good should be good enough). Let your subconscious do much of the work, just give it a nudge from time to time and then decide to get started. Use all the tools you can find that work and will help you.

Repeat the process until all of your goals are achieved.

 

Other causes for productivity block.

 

There are other causes for being stuck, but when you analyse them, you will find they are often tied to the subconscious trying to build a perfect plan.

 

Lack of purpose.

 

The only exception I can see, because in this case the subconscious has nothing to work on, and no unknown to fear going into.

Yet even this isn’t fully an exception. It is a mirror image of the perfect plan syndrome. Nothing is safer than having no goal. It is by far the surest way to not have to step into the dark. It is the surest way to forget to live.

The first is stalling. Lack of purpose is refusing the very idea of movement.

It is also caused by fear.  Everyone has dreams. Many choose to forget them.

 

Being worn out.

 

There’s nothing like pushing too hard, wanting to finish, getting close to a deadline without making progress to wear you out. If the task at hand is important to you, ask yourself if fighting the positive slump described above isn’t the cause of lost energy.

If it isn’t, then we can explore the motivation equation again. Lack of desire? Lack of energy? Too much fear? Whatever the case, there is a binaural track that can help.

 

Indecision.

 

There may be two or three paths that lead to the desired result. Sometimes it simply boils down to things that can be done in different orders. Perhaps the problem requires a little more processing time (the positive slump again), but chances are you just need to do one of the tasks and stop worrying about the immediate consequences of chosing one over the other.

 

Technical problems.

 

All of your attention is drawn to one particular grain of sand that you think will cripple the entire plan (sometimes rightly so).

Or perhaps, once again, your subconscious mind is drawn to this problem and still busy trying to figure it out. If the problem requires a technical solution you do not know yet, you may need to apply some problem solving (ASIT!), or get help getting past the hurdle (friends, colleagues, outsourcing, consulting specialized forums, books…). I find that getting the tasks you know you need done will give you time to find a way past the perceived obstacle.

 

Perception of time.

 

I get this very often. To me, knowing the following helped a lot.

Oftentimes, you have just 20-30 minutes that you can dedicate to your project. It is very easy to let yourself believe it isn’t enough time to get started, build momentum and do something worthwhile.

It isn’t true. Your mind is playing tricks on you that cost you dozens of hours a month of preciously productive time. It can take 45 minutes to get into gear in normal circumstances, so the shorter time frames are viewed as useless, and ultimately lost. Yet each of these little time slots can contain a completed task. Or, simply 1/10th of a completed task.

If you’ve made a list of short tasks with Z Planner, and you are using binaurals for  immediate motivation, then focus, you can easily take advantage of those micro time frames that can add up to hours each day, and dozens of hours per month. They are one of the keys to achieving a personal goal on a limited “time budget”. 

Granted, Z Planner only has 1 hour time frames. If you’ve planned 1 hour a day, you may need to spread it over early in the morning, lunch break, and late at night. You may also need to make little arrangements, like leaving your computer on all day so everything is ready when you get back. Or you can carry your laptop around with you in sleep mode (that’s what those things are for!) Look for solutions, resist the excuses, and you can take advantage of the 20-30 minute breaks to get ahead on your goals.

I do not put off projects to when I have 4 straight hours available. I would rather use those 4 straight hours to relax and sacrifice the 20-30 minute breaks that do not relax me anyways.

 

Conclusion

 

Don’t underestimate the extra productivity tools. Immediate motivation and focus (binaurals) have been an invaluable help for me, adding thousands of 20-30 minute time frames for personal work (plus getting up much earlier when big projects are under development).

I am just starting to discover the effects of the creativity track, having focused my usage on motivation, focus and occasional training. Try it when you think you are slumped because still processing unconsciously. Do this in conjunction with Z Planner. You can’t imagine that feeling, and I cannot put it in words!

Occasionally, setting up timers with AM has helped me take full advantage of 2-3 hour time frames, so I could have time to unwind and still be satisfied of my day’s work on a day off.

And the systematic creativity course is just thrilling, especially when asymetrical thinking (for example) helps you solve a real life problem and get a project going again.

Don’t give up on Z Planner too easily. It really does take some time to uncover its full potential. Once you have, the combination of all these tools changes you forever: project after project.

 

I’ve been toying with a thought a while now, as to what motivation is made of.

 

 

I’ve come to a conclusion that seems right, and can’t seem to find the flaw, so I’ll leave it to you to make whatever you want out of it.

Motivation = Energy * (Desire – Fear)

If energy = 0, motivation =0.
If fear >= desire, motivation <=0, meaning it works against you and drifts you away from your goals.

And ideally, if fear = 0, and both desire and energy have high positive values, motivation becomes unstoppable.

 

A nice tidbit of theory, but what to make of it?

 

Energy is the outcome of good health, which itself is the outcome of a good diet and exercise, if disease is taken out of this picture (just for the sake of theorizing).

Desire is more subtle. If you’ve found your passion, you’ve found desire. If you’ve fallen in love, you’ve found desire.

But if you do not feel desire, does it mean it is not there?

Fear is complex. Within fear there is fear of negative outcome, or more deeply rooted, unexpressed fears with forgotten motivations. I think most people will agree that fear can exist, even if it is not felt.

If these postulates are accepted, then we come to the conclusion that there can be ardent desire and paralysing fear, both unfelt. Or perhaps, if you only accept that what exists is actually felt, high desire and fear can have worn each other out over time.

So the concrete application of this rant would be: cultivate energy, dominate and dissolve fear and both desire and motivation will emerge by themselves.

Diet, exercise, breathe and meditate on your fears, and you will see light on the path. You will have the motivation to travel that path, and find your heart’s content.

This has further meaning. You may currently be pursuing false desires, enduced by family or societal pressure. What if simply taking the time to relax, listen to the fear and dominate it, cultivate some energy brought forth the revelation that you are, unknowingly, going in the wrong direction?

Couldn’t that lead to an unprecedented turn in your life, and for the better?

Binaural Beats play a big role in my personal development: productivity, training, motivation, meditation…

 

I purchased Quality binaural audio recordings that have been incredibly helpful staying focused and motivated on a wide range of challenging personal projects. If you’ve read this website’s introduction, you know just how far I’ve been oustretching myself!

 

How I use them:

 

Stepping out for training sessions after a long day at work can be hard. Sit on the couch while playing the motivation binaural beat for 5-10 minutes and you’re out the door with your sports bag, eager to get started. It works the same to get started coding games, writing blog articles…

Jogging while listening to the aerobic training binaural beat recording focuses your mind on starting the Pasteur Effect, making energy available more quickly.

Lifting weights while listening to the strength exercise enhances energy release for white muscle cells (they require sugar from glycogen, stored in the white muscle cells and liver and are released by a hormone called glucagon).

The intense focus track helps shut out distractions and stay on the job until it is finished.

I spend a large part of my work time just thinking. The creativity track helps with brainstorming, planning, or just imagining content.

The strong learning track is great for online research or while reading tutorials on coding, learning languages, biology…

The pure energy track is for the occasional morning when you want to be up and working early after a short night.

Combined with using Z Planner to always know what I want done next (staying on course for short and long term projects), I have been able to do more these past six months than I had in the ten years before that!

 

The binaural beats set I purchased for $47 includes:

 

 

Over this past year, this has enabled me to become quite an expert in game development (but there is yet much to be learned!), weight loss biology (60 lbs! I lost 60 lbs!!). This led me to turning my old Z Planner website into a blog that helps people achieve better health, better productivity, learn some programming… It is brand new (as of July 2009) so come back often!

 

 Why Binaural beats work.

 

Binaural beats were first developped with the help of EEGs , then perfected with the more advanced functional MRI. These allow the researcher and the sound engineer to work together to perfectly see the effect, tweak, perfect, test again until he/she finds the sound that has the most influence on brain activity (motivation, creativity, focus, hormone secretion – glucagon, adrenaline…).

 

 

 

Think of the effects being more productive each day has over:

- a week.
- a month.
- a year.
- a lifetime!

It quickly adds up to tons more knowledge and  accomplishments!

Don’t wait another day, get yours now!

Yes, this is an affiliate link!

This means that purchasing through this link earns me a commission. You can see that as a way to thank me for all the cutting edge tools, techniques and information on this site… Not to mention the fun!

 

Researching weight loss biology, learning to create games and software (and doing it), writing this blog, other websites, learning languages, researching productivity… and going to work every day.  All of this requires productivity, which absolutely requires two things: Motivation and focus!

What if you could use efficient tools that get you motivated quickly, then stay focused on your work? How much more would you get done over just a few weeks or months? A year or a lifetime? How much more knowledge, experience, revenue, social life? How much time would you save for just fun?

I use these every day, and they’ve been a serious help! I can’t imagine now how much would not have been done without them.

 

Motivation.

 

 
This is the drive behind your actions. Without it, you don’t make progress because you simply do not want it, or fear is in the way, or there is no energy to turn the desire into action.

 

 

 

Focus.

 

You’ve gotten started, but get off track on a regular basis. This is the second big project killer. You know where you want to go, you are motivated to get there, and you know how but you zig-zag and backtrack too much.

 

 

 

 

Motivation and focus are difficult to maintain. A simple distraction and focus is gone. As soon as focus is gone, motivation follows. It can be hours, days, months or simply never before you get back to work on your project. Especially if it is YOUR project, and not something someone is MAKING you do. Those just happen to be the ones that benefit you most!

Motivation and focus are a state of mind.

That makes them hard to influence with just will power. What if there was a way to fuel them, or spark them into existence, by using harmless and drug free methods. Sound too good to be true?

 

Modern medical imagery tells us different!

 

It probably isn’t news to you that MRI imagery reveals the impact of external stimuli on brain activity (functional MRI ). This can measure the effects of something as simple as sound on specific parts of the brain.

 

 

This has enabled science to determine what part of the brain does what. Just measure brain activity when someone is motivated and focused on a task. Then have a different subject listen to a music track and see the effect it has on the brain (using the same technology).

Adapt the sound, and try again until both tests give the same result. You have a music track that stimulates the brain into motivation and focus. Repeat the test 100 times and you have confirmation.

It isn’t music anymore, but it influences brain activity (which generates brainwaves). Encode these into mp3 tracks (doing this without altering them is a sound engineer’s job) and you have an awesome tool for productivity. A motivation track that gets you started, and a focus track you switch to when you’ve been on the job a little while and gained some momentum.

I use this tactic every day I have work to do. Anything, because whatever I do these recordings help me get on the job earlier, and get finished faster. I often get an 8 hr day’s worth done in 3 hrs!

Just think of the effect over a week, a month, a year or a lifetime!

 

I absolutely recommend that you get these same recordings! The effect is absolutely amazing!

 

They were made by an Australian, Paul Kleinmeulman, who put the necessary investment in the technology and equipment to create flawless recordings (with the help of a sound engineer). This is necessary for them to work, because trigerring mind responses is a precision science!