Which is more essential for your success: passion or purpose? This is a question that I’ve avoided answering for a couple of years and for which I now believe I have the answer.
Background
While I was serving on a panel, I suggested to the audience that they follow their passion…that when they follow their passion they become exceptional at what they do because, for them, it’s fun; for others not so much so.
An audience member said: Dale, some people say that purpose is more essential than passion.
The host closed the discussion before I had a chance to respond, but my response would have been: a friend told me that each of us carries our own dictionary with us and the definitions in our dictionary depend on our life experiences. In other words, I would have insinuated that his comment was a matter of semantics.
Passion or purpose unanswered
For some reason, the comment about purpose over passion plagued me. It would surface again and again over roughly two years. Each time I dismissed it as semantics. Recently, I realized that there must be a lesson for me to learn…one that I had been avoiding…one that would continue to plague me until I discovered an answer, Here’s what I’ve discovered…although I’m not certain that I have the complete answer yet.
Passion and purpose distinguished
Here’s the distinction I’ve made regarding passion and purpose. Purpose is other-centric while passion, on its own, is egocentric. Here’s my rationale:
Purpose
Any purpose that isn’t other-centric is self-defeating. You know from personal experience just how ill-inclined you are to help someone whose sole goal it to elevate themselves…to work exclusively for their own benefit. We naturally abhor selfish behavior and, consequently, avoid assisting those who care only about themselves.
The converse is true as well. When we see someone helping others or working to achieve a goal, without regard to who gets the credit, we are more than happy to help in any way we can.
There was a study years ago in which 200 people in a nursing facility were each give a plant. 100 of them were told that the staff would take care of the plant; the other 100 were told that it was their responsibility to take of the plant. The study found that those who were responsible for caring for the plant had fewer health issues and longer life spans.
The simple act of caring for a living thing, a plant, added purpose to their lives…purpose that may have been lost as their careers ended, their children had become self-sufficient and their physical limitations prevented them from serving in ways they had previously.
Passion
I still believe that it is essential for people to follow their passion for several reasons. It:
- Keeps life exciting and fun.
- Enables people to become exceptional at what they do.
- Creates a broader array of opportunities because when people master a given skill, they tend to develop new interests, new passion and a new skill at which they are exceptional.
- Increases the number of ways in which they can enrich the lives of others.
For some, a new passion may only arise once or twice over a seven or eight decade life while others, like me who get bored quickly, might find new passion six or seven times over the same life span. The beautiful aspect of following your passion is that each person gets to choose which passions to pursue and which to forgo.
But passion alone isn’t enough.
Passion AND Purpose
My thought process has led me to the conclusion that both passion AND purpose are essential to a life well-lived. We need to be in service to others in order to feel fulfilled…purpose enables us to feel both valuable and valued.
We also need passion to keep life exciting for us…something that varies widely from individual to individual. With excitement, we regain the joy of exploring and developing new skills that toddlers experience. Without excitement, life becomes a chore that is both exhausting and devoid of joy.
Takeaways
To get the most out of life…to experience all the joy and wonder it affords…embrace both purpose and passion.
Purpose comes in the service of others. Passion keeps life exciting and assures that you will be exceptional at whatever you choose to do.
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Resources
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