Go after it. Search. Explore. Discover. Spend one week and search online, talk to people, watch clips and try things out. Be proactive. Then shortlist three of your favourite ideas. Explore them for three months. Then go for one all in. You can change later if it is no longer for you.
Don’t wait all your life to find it. Hunt it down.
Some people just know. Others take years to find their thing. The challenge is that it can change. But if you find your passion it will make your life more fulfilling.
If you are young and looking for it, be curious and try many things. See if you prefer being active, artistic or cerebral. Find things that spark joy in your life. If it lifts your spirits, then try to understand why.
It might be a skill you enjoy improving on. Alternatively, it could be serving others. You might like to create, direct or consume. Regardless, there is a place for you in this world.
Someone has to play chess for fun and others as professionals. People have to design and manufacture the boards. Some will be cheap and simple. Others will be elaborate and expensive. You will need coaches and people to write the books about the great players and the tactics of the game itself. Others will create ‘how to’ videos and ‘best of’ complications. And that is just for chess.
Look for those things that bring you the greatest fulfilment. But also know that there will be other things to do that won’t be as exciting but still need to be done. There will be admin, marketing, sales, organisation of events, course creation and making an income.
Some of these things can be done by others who enjoy those aspects.
So most importantly, find YOUR passion.
We are three weeks into the new year. How are things going? How are you feeling about nearing the end of the first month? I’m talkin’ about a resolution.
Several weeks ago, billions of people made commitments to themselves about what they would do better this year. You were one of those people.
Were you serious about it? Or was it simply wishful thinking? A serious goal requires a serious plan. Something written out with a strategy and a plan to execute.
If you didn’t have it on 1 January, you can create it now. Write out what you will do this year. Then write out what components of those goals will be done in each month. By writing out each month and the milestones you will reach, you are preparing your mind to achieve the goals.
Get this information in your planner. You will do amazing things with some planning. It will make the work easier and increase the probability of success. Each milestone is critical along your road to success. You need to be a little obsessive, not laissez-faire.
You will need some emotion, passion and energy. Get sparked and drive hard toward your goal. Achieve something in January.
I’m talkin’ about a resolution.
Ordinary people committed to extraordinary results. Passionate, committed change makers with a drive and purpose. We need more Jaime Escalantes.
We need more people willing to work harder to drive monumental change. In addition, everyone should be taught to expect more of those that are capable. That is to say, expect more from those that the change makers could impact.
For those that don’t know Jaime Escalante, he was a Bolivian who taught calculus in East LA from 1974-91. In his first calculus class in 1978, he taught five students. Of those five, two students passed the AP calculus exam. By 1990, his mathematics enrichment programme had more than 400 students in it.
I find this fascinating. The movie, Stand and Deliver, is a tough but uplifting account of his troubles and triumphs. I first saw it in the late 1980’s and thought it was brilliant. Since then, I have thought about it often and it still gives me chills. Discovering that he retired to Cochabamba, where I lived for a spell in the 90’s, makes me feel even closer to his story.
Jaime gave his students a vision, a goal and a plan. He then pushed them along a new trajectory for their lives. It was hard work for everyone but it would give the students an opportunity to dramatically change their lives.
We need more people, teachers and other passionate advocates of change and excellence, to help people stand and deliver.
We need more Jaime Escalantes
