Can Passion be addictive?
How does passion for what we do impact our success?
Is passion addictive or does it change over time and as careers progress?
What do the actions of today’s corporate leaders tell us about their passion?
How has their passion changed over their careers - to get them to the position they are in today?
Discuss these questions in the context of the Four Principles of Purposeful Action, with examples and appropriate links.
This post was written by Chris Miller, featured here with his daughter. Chris will be the discussion leader for the week starting February 24.
Passion can absolutely be addictive and is, at least in my humble opinion, of vital importance to the success of any endeavor. If you have a vision and have committed to achieving that vision, and your commitment is unwavering, isn’t passion implied? Passion also seems to function as a primary component of motivation. I say that passion is a component of motivation, rather than synonymous with it, because motivation can wax and wane over the course of the journey, which is why it is important for the leader to practice introspection. Doing so enables the leader to refocus on the vision and this refocusing puts his or her motivation back in sync with passion. I do believe that passion can change but only in the sense that it is being applied to a different vision, or alternatively, you may develop a new passion that can be applied to the original vision, in which case you are passionate about two “things” that both serve towards reaching a singular vision.
Let me illustrate with a personal example. I began rock climbing back in high school with my twin brother, Justin. Early on we both had the vision of someday making the pilgrimage to Yosemite Valley to climb El Capitan. We were both very dedicated and extremely passionate about climbing as it is, in many ways, a very spiritual activity that requires being in harmony with both yourself and your surroundings. Our vision was Yosemite Valley and our passion was climbing. I knew that improved overall fitness would help to increase the likelihood of success in “the Valley” and developed a passion for fitness. This new passion was directly applicable to my original vision of reaching Yosemite Valley. As it stands, the trek to California to climb El Cap is tentatively scheduled for the Spring of 2010.
Passion can also certainly lead to addiction and result in a severe disruption flow. This addiction can significantly decrease your ability to successfully relate to others and greatly effect your ability to base your actions on purpose. Addiction can interfere with one’s ability to put the Principles of Purposeful Action into practice.
At this point it is evident that the current economic and financial plaguing the world was caused by a combination of failures in the housing and credit markets. Perhaps what is underlying both of these can be described with a single word: DEBT! Specifically, an addiction to debt. In a society where there is an ever-growing number of consumers who want everything right now it is not surprise that debt, or the mismanagement of debt, is a major issue.
“Our addiction extends from public debt to consumer debt and corporate debt. Subsequent credit crises will only become more protracted and severe, until ultimately the fundamental flaw in the monetary system has to be recognized and dealt with.” [3]
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/3205409/Financial-crisis-Downturn-shows-we-were-too-slow-to-fix-worlds-debt-addiction.html
[2] http://consumerist.com/5060613/12-signs-youre-addicted-to-debt
[3] http://www.alternet.org/workplace/62787/
Joshua,i really enjoyed reading your post and i agree with your comments.
I totally agree with you, Josh that passion is addictive and without it, it is hard to accomplish your vision or your goals. I also like your statement “I do believe that passion can change but only in the sense that it is being applied to a different vision”, which pretty much explains that once your particular vision is accomplished you pursue another goal or if you mature you may reconsider alternative vision that you passionately trying to pursue.
Also your comment about “addiction to debt” is very accurate. There are many people addicted to their lifestyle, even though they cannot afford it. They live beyond their needs and eventually it catches up with them and they pay for it.
The individuals and even companies that are ‘addicted to debt’ have been led into this court not only by themselves and but others also.
I believe that if passion becomes “addictive” it no longer passion but attachment. Where passion motivates and moves a vision along, attachement is about moving the vision along for “ME” not for the vision
In my view, passion can be become addictive if it is not controlled .so i believe that passion could be a negative core value.The less passion there is, the better we work. And if we read the lives of the great workers which the world has produced, you will find that they were wonderfully calm men. That is why the man who becomes angry never does a great amount of work, and the man whom nothing can make angry accomplishes so much. The man who gives way to anger,passion, cannot work; he only breaks himself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving, equable, well balanced mind that does the greatest amount of work. passion should always be a detachment from the outcome.
There are two tendencies in human nature: one to harmonise the ideal with the life, and the other to elevate the life to the ideal. It is a great thing to understand this, for the former tendency is the temptation of our lives. I think that I can only do a certain class of work. Most of it, perhaps, is bad; most of it, perhaps, has a motive power of passion behind it, anger, or greed, or selfishness.
The attaining of the highest comes through discrimination, controlling the passions, practice,sacrificial work, purity, strength, and suppression of excessive joy.The focal point is therefore to know that the various passsions ,feelings and emotions in the human heart are not wrong in themselves, only they have to be carefully controlled and given a higher and higher direction, until they attain the very highest condition of excellence.
One of the great spiritual teachers from India says ” No great work can be achieved by human being. It is through love, a passion for truth and tremendous energy that all undertakings are accomplished.”
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_3/Lectures_from_Colombo_to_Almora/Bhakti(1)
I agree with your statement that passion, if left unchecked, could lead to addiction or obsession, and in that way be associated with a negative core value. If someone has a great deal of passion for something they may easily lose sight of their vision if their ethical balance is disrupted. A passion that turns into addiction can quite easily lead to the emergence of lust, greed, and so on.
It is your statement that “…the less passion there is, the better we work”, that I tend to disagree. I believe that passion can intensify a leader’s focus and help him or her keep their vision in mind. One can have a tremendous amount of passion and still be relatively calm. I think it is passion in the hands of those who lean towards the negative core values that is dangerous.
I think you have to define what passion means to yourself, before you can tackle this weeks blog. I define passion as having both determine and persistence type of attitude. This attitude is so strong that that you will not give up in what you believe to achieve your vision.
If you truly believe in the vision and have passion for it, you are an unstoppable force. The drive and determination to succeed is so great, that you will become the cheerleader. This enthusiasm will have an effect on other people around you. It is contagious.
Passion is addictive and it does change over time. Your vision will change as you mature over you career path. This change will cause your passion to change.
I will use James Dyson as an example of someone who is passionate about vacuum cleaners. I am sure that have seen the TV commercials about Dyson vacuum cleaners. This person was vacuuming and the machine kept loosing suction. He, acted with a purpose; designing a vacuum that would not loose suction. He balances action with ethics, by using the positive core values of integrity, commitment, persistence, and communication, to create a company, since no other company wanted his product. His passion consisted of 5,127 prototypes over five year time frame. His passion, help him ward off bankruptcy in the early manufacturing years, survival. He now has wealth, sales over $10 billion; power, CEO of his company: and respect, chair of board of trustees of the Design Museum. He has started The James Dyson foundation “to promote charitable giving, especially to charities working in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, and education.” He understands and relates to other by bring passionate on his TV adds
http://hubpages.com/hub/Do-it-with-Passion–Let-the-laugh-with-you-for-your-Passion
http://www.dyson.com
http://www.jamesdysonfoundation.com
A good observation mark,let me inform you that passion can be analyzed in a broader view that passion is a multi facet term that it can be a seen as positive and negative views.
Nice post Mark. Passion is very personal. To me, passion comes from within and implies a strong, unwavering belief in an outcome (or vision). I believe that passion is an outcome, or end product, of introspection or at least introspection that leads to the discovery or revelation of a vision. However, I don’t think that it is vision that necessarily changes over time. Instead, I believe it is one’s perspective that changes over time. This perspective is influenced by a combination of both introspections and extrospection. If one’s perspective if influenced enough then the individual may find that they have a new vision.
I think that perhaps I am somewhat uncomfortable with thought of a vision that changes over time as opposed to simple having or realizing a new vision. As we have all studied, in the context of the Framework for Purposeful Action having a vision implies that one has a deep seeded belief in something and it totally committed to it. If that vision can simply change then have you not been mislead in some way by the earlier vision? Have all you efforts working toward that first vision been in vain?
Visions do change over time. Your vision when you were ten is definitely different then it is now. Can one not have multiple visions at one time; a strong one and several weak ones? After reassessing a weak vision, you change you mind and decide not to pursue it. The knowledge you gain is not lost and can be applied at some other time in your life.
If we are passionate about what we do, most people will be successful at what they do. The greater the passion for working toward a goal the more successful that goal will be once it has been achieved. Passion drives individuals to succeed toward their own self defined goals. Without passion these goals can often fall short.
If an individual is passionate about that they believe in and pursue a personal goals, their passion will follow them throughout their career even if it changes. However, for those individuals that are not committed to succeeding and lack this passion it may come and go in phases throughout the life of their career. Is passion addictive? Depending on the situation, yes passion can be addictive. Individuals desire the need for passion to drive themselves toward meeting personal and professional goals.
Frank Maguire a co-founder of FedEx stated that the essential s to entrepreneurship include passion, attitude, leadership and character. The following article discusses how Maguire utilized passion to develop the successful venture of his vision.
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:ICql00ngj8wJ:www.bgnews.com/news/2005/05/02/LocalNews/Fedex.Founder.Says.Passion.Breeds.Success-1295492.shtml+passion+and+success&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=28&gl=us
Alternate link:
http://www.bgnews.com/news/2005/05/02/LocalNews/Fedex.Founder.Says.Passion.Breeds.Success-1295492.shtml
Brad, totally agree with you. If we are passionate about something, no one or nothing can stop us from achieving it.
You are absolutely right swathy.I believe that change is constant,and lifes reality always changes people to people,time to time…and the passions,values,ethics…etc are upto us,as how have to decide at how we want to loot at them and use it appropriately.What is passionate for you,may not be the same for me.Opinions differs.yet i do agree to what you have mentioned for my comments.
I think that passion can be addictive but I do believe that it can change over time just as our visions can change over time.
A purposeful leader looks within himself to find the vision that he is passionate about. Using his people skills, he is able to spread his passion to his followers and guide them toward the vision. If a leader is passionate about his vision then it will spread to the followers. An leader who is not passionate about their vision will have a hard time sparking the interest of his followers.
President Abdul Kalam in his autobiography Wings of Fire said — “If you are a writer who would secretly prefer to be a lawyer or a doctor, your written words will feed but half the hunger of your readers; if you are a teacher who would rather be a businessman, your instructions will meet but half the need for knowledge of your students; if you are a scientist who hates science, your performance will satisfy but half the needs of your mission.”
http://wplay.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/passionate-leadership-excitement-begets-excitement/
As you grow and mature in your personal and professional life and as change takes place in your organization or life, your vision can be changed, thus your passion can also change. When I graduated from college with my BS, my drive or passion was self focused and career focused. When I got married my vision was a reflection of what was best for my new, married, life. Now that I have children, my happiness is dependent on my children’s happiness and well-being. Every decision I make and every mission I take has the same ultimate goal…. Bettering my family’s lives. There is no vision that I have now that is self-centered. My family is my passion and nothing is more important to me than them. One of the most important parts of leadership, profession and personal, is being able to adapt and work through change. Our lives are constantly changing and we must be able to adjust to this change. Sometimes that means altering our vision to accommodate the change. But, even as our vision changes, it is important to redirect your efforts to a vision that you are passionate about. This is necessary to reach fulfillment in our lives.
Nikki and the rest of Team 555:
Greetings from Santiago, Chile…
Very nice comments on passion .. with your personal example…
PC
Nikki,i liked your comments about passion and the real life examples you have mentioned.i like the quotes of “”half and half”".
How is the weather? I hope to make the trek someday to see Patagonia.
Nikki
One day, along time from right now, you will even look forward to your kids being out of your house. With my oldest in the Navy, it was strange at first, but when she comes to “visit” now, she even says that San Diego is “home” nos
So Roy you are trying to say that the empty nest syndrome doesn’t last long.