Moving Up From Good to Great

(article written by Dr Amit Nagpal)

Passion makes us great.

Albert Einstein says, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” But many of us will doubt our inner genius and question, if everyone is a genius, why do very few people succeed?

Dr Amit Nagpal is a consultant and coach whose primary interest lies in providing Personal Branding Consultancy specially in digital space. He is also known as a passionate Blogger, Motivational speaker and Trainer (in Life skills and Digital Marketing). He is a Leadership Mentor for IAYSCP (International Association of Young Supply Chain Professionals), USA and is also a member of the Global Mentoring Committee for Entrepreneurship Incubation, 3E Innovative Foundation, Delhi NCR, India. His blog, “The Joys of Teaching” (A Blog on Life Mantras for Sustainable Success) is read in 100 plus countries and the numbers continue to rise as the words spread day by day.

The answer is very simple: most of us spend or rather waste our lives because we fail to discover our deepest passion or life purpose. I was speaking to a friend of mine (Deepak Goel) yesterday and he quoted something which touched me, “Are you in a career which is in fashion or in a career which is your passion?”

Success comes from perseverance and perseverance requires high energy. The high energy and hard work can only come from passion. So in simple words, it is passion only which makes us great and makes our work a source of joy.

Many of you may be wondering why very few people are able to discover their deepest passion. The mental block which most of us have is that some people are born lucky. But very few people realize that we can write our own destinies and create luck in our lives. I will give a simple example of commando training. The main tool used in commando training is to break mental barriers and beliefs. When the commando trainee says, “I can jump a maximum of 7 feet” the trainer tells him, “No you can jump 15 feet.” After that he is given training also to do that. But training is also possible if we are ready to break our mental barriers. Once I posted on Facebook, “People are busy constructing; I am busy destroying, one mental block after another.”

Passion is the beginning, it inspires you for innovation, and it creates a desire to develop talent, knowledge / skills and to take necessary risks. Passion attracts the right people, circumstances, resources to you, the same way magnet attracts iron. Passion for your work fills your face with a charismatic energy and can even make you look beautiful and lustrous.

Few moments of life lived with passion are sweeter than years of dull and drab routine living. We have many passions in life or many hobbies we feel passionate about, but it takes time to discover our true passion. Some people are lucky or blessed to discover their passion in a flash but every human being can discover his/her deepest passion provided there is a burning desire. People who have self-discipline and high IQ may read books, surf internet and move from good to great. But most of us need a coach/mentor to motivate and guide us on our journey. The coach can be our boss, parent, professional coach and so on.

I feel passionate about travelling and meeting new people, playing chess, teaching, training, coaching, brand management, spirituality, life skills and inspiring people. Now I could not have pursued all my passions to make a living. So after a long self-reflection and guidance, I found my true passion lies in inspiring people to achieve their peak potential (which I could do through coaching, writing, training or at times by simply talking).

When you have found your true passion you will get fully immersed in work, lose track of the world and time and the output which will come through such work shall be world class or outstanding. A student of mine wrote something similar on Facebook, so enlightening. “For living a life of worthiness, one doesn’t need to know what the world needs… One needs to know what is that one thing which makes you come alive and you just go do it. You will find the answer to what world needs i.e. it needs people who have come alive.”

Passion is a powerful emotion, it can make you forget the world as you may even find God in work, and you may get lost in the same way when you are kissed by your beloved. If passion of love takes the body to the peak or orgasm, the passion for your work takes you to the orgasm of success, the orgasm of your potential and moves you up from good to great.

Has the spark come or you have started burning already?

Dr Amit Nagpal
The Joys of Teaching