DON'T FORGET YOUR PASSION. YOU'RE GOING TO NEED IT.

What does it mean when someone has passion? According to Webster’s Dictionary, this word known for powerful emotions; such as joy, hatred, or anger, also has several meanings: ardent love, strong sexual desire; lust, and the object of such love and desire, just to name a few. But what does it exactly mean for someone like you or me to keep a flame that is burning inside our hearts to reach a specific goal(s)?

My thoughts—as I sit here typing away at five twenty-one in the morning—wonder how do we continue that desire toward whatever it may be without waning from our dreams or goals? I’ve seen too often people sprint from their starting blocks like an Olympic Track and Field event; putting their hearts and souls into their desire but only months later the sprint turns into a run, and then a jog, and eventually quits before reaching the finish line.

Speaking from experience I have several theories as to why this happens. One, we don’t create a plan and put it to use. When jumping out of the starting block, we want to hurdle over the smaller things to improve our profession or craft and race to the yellow ribbon instead of taking the necessary baby steps. You don’t see any medical professionals pulling this—at least I pray they don’t for the sake of their patients. Look, any goal you want to achieve will have some sort of competition; whether it’s getting a promotion on the job, buying a new house, or wanting to become a better person. Achieving success requires a detail itinerary to help navigate toward your goal. Even corporations, big or small or just a sole proprietor, need a business plan. If you want to move up, organize your thoughts on paper.

Secondly, we tend to lack self confidence. Instead of trusting our gifts and/or talents, we constantly have a need to seek validation from others. Its one thing to join certain groups or organizations to gain insight on your field of interest while listening and taking their constructive criticism, but it’s entirely different when you ask someone over and over if you’re good enough. If you’re having this quench for instant justification every five minutes, then you need to step back and reevaluate your goals. Perhaps you might be achieving your ambition for the wrong reasons.

And thirdly, this happens all too often and it’s pretty sad too. We give up when the going gets tough. There is no such thing as an easy road; there will be stumbling blocks, rough terrains, treacherous streams, and let’s not forget, a huge mountain before seeing your hard work pay off. I bet you your favorite celebrity or mentor had to experience a rough road before achieving their success.

Six months ago, a friend of mine (and close to his own breakthrough) listened patiently while I ranted on the phone about a recent stumble. I whined to the point of my voice breaking, complaining of how hard the publishing business has been. So after a few I-don’t-know-why-I’m-still-trying-to-do-this-at-my-age rants, he paused for a moment and told me in a calm voice, did you really think it was going to be easy, Mani? Not a yeah, I feel you type of response or relayed some encouraging words—he spoke to me as a friend and got real with the situation. And he was right.

More importantly to sum up this entire post, if you are working toward a goal and you are not seeing any results; don’t give in to that whisper telling you it’s not worth it because breaking any barriers is an accomplishment itself. Remember what I said about baby steps? That little pitter-patter is better than no movement at all. And if you are worried if the world hasn’t taken notice of your hard work, as Tyler Perry said—sometimes you’re meant to be hidden. I say all the time there is no such thing as an overnight success. It’s a word the media likes to hype up to sell papers. What they’re actually saying is after their ups and downs the world is finally taken notice. So for all of you go-getters, this could be you. Don’t give up. And oh, by the way, don’t forget your passion. You’ll need it.

This post is dedicated to Miss Ella Curry of EDC Creations and Black Pearls Magazine for inspiring me to write this blog. She started the dialogue on Facebook, and I truly appreciated her insight. Thank you. J

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