There is a list of things that I believe are the top traits/actions/habits/practices of 
successful business people. Over the course of the next ten weeks, on each Friday, I’ll be sharing these ‘moves’ with you. How you apply this information is up to you – but I highly recommend you choose to be truly introspective. Be honest with yourself. We all have the tendency to believe the lies we tell ourselves about why we do (or don’t do) things we know we should do. You have the be willing to admit your truth if you expect to move beyond any roadblocks that are standing between you and success.
Your first move toward business success is to cultivate your passion for what you do. I could easily tell you to ‘find’ your passion if you haven’t got one, or if you’re doing something you hate — but in some cases, it’s not possible, practical or otherwise realistic to simply set out on a new journey to pursue ones true calling in lieu of another path.
Though I wholly believe that every person on the planet SHOULD be pursuing the calling placed on his or her life by God, I am also not so naive as to think that someone who has invested his entire life into the study of a particular subject, or following a specific path (even if that path is not a part of his true calling) will find it easy to simply abandon said path.
For example, imagine a young man who loves music and has a talent for it and believes he’s meant for music, but who has been told since his childhood that he should pursue the practice of medicine, like his father. Imagine this young man has been molded to pursue medicine at every turn, thereby simply coming to believe that he is meant to work in medicine and that his passion will remain his past time. His parents pay for medical school, he does his residency, and begins his medical career. Before long, he is burnt out and miserable. He’s working in his career because of what he’s invested, what his parents invested, but he’s not truly happy.
However, it would be ridiculous to expect this young doctor to abandon all that history and hard work simply because he has a passion for music.
So, does he continue on in misery? He has a choice, and it’s the same choice I’m asking you to make.
Choose passion.
Fall in love with what you do, and success will follow you.
Passion, attention, drive – they are all choices. You can CHOOSE to find passion in everything you do, not because you love what you do, but because you love WHY you do it – to serve others. You CAN get fired up about whatever you’re doing. You really can. it’s a matter of mental discipline and spiritual devotion.
The young doctor SHOULD pursue his music, yes, but he need not be miserable in his current career. He can CHOOSE to see the magic in his work if he wants to. It may not be the thing he’s truly called to do, but as long as he’s pursuing his calling, and pursuing passion for the thing he’s ‘stuck’ doing – he will succeed.
You see, passion fuels drive. True success takes passion, but we must CHOOSE to stir up that passion within ourselves. Everything we feel ultimately creates a choice. We choose to act on those feelings or to change them.
I realize this ability is far less simple than I make it sound on paper, but I promise you, it is possible — You, we, need only DECIDE to choose passion and then begin habitually choosing passion over and over. Every time you begin to feel burnt out or unfulfilled, you stir up that passion again. How? By focusing on HOW WELL you do the job you do, and by focusing on the TRUE REASON behind why the job you have exists (For example, “I am an excellent fry cook, and I serve people in my work. I meet a need, solve a problem. I help people and I’m good at it – that’s something to be proud of and to have passion for, so that’s what I’m going to do).
Then, when you get off ‘work’ and you have time for the thing you feel truly called into, you go after it with the passion that comes natural. Imagine how unstoppable you would be professionally, and personally, if you pushed through EVERY task with a deliberate passion? There’d be nothing you couldn’t do!
Should you pursue God’s call on your life – your true passion? Yes, without hesitation. You must find the time to do what you know you’re meant to do – in some capacity or another. But if you don’t have the luxury to pursue that passion full time, there’s NOTHING stopping you from choosing to light a fire in what you do. I don’t care if you’re flipping burgers or performing heart surgery – choosing to pursue excellence in your craft, in EVERY craft, is the mark of a successful person.
Once you’ve mastered the ability to choose passion in all you do – and to pursue your calling alongside other obligations come what may – you will be a success.
Tylie Eaves is the Editor-in-Chief of the Hot Mess Press, the Founder and CEO of Virtue Marketing LLC and the sole contributor at TylieEaves.Com -Confessions of a Woman on the Edge. Like her VM Facebook Page HERE, Follow her on Twitter HERE. And find her Confessions of a Woman on the Edge Facebook page HERE.
