How Do You Stay Motivated: Passion or Productivity?

I recently read an article that really got my attention. It asserted that in order to move forward in life and be successful, don’t rely on passion–in fact, the author went so far as to say passion as a force to keep you moving in a successful direction is a lie. His premise was that passion fades quickly and that productivity is what keeps us going through the challenging times.

I totally understand the need to feel and be productive. Just having a passion isn’t enough. We do need to act on our passions. The brain likes to know that we are making forward progress. Being in action tells our subconscious that we are serious about achieving what we say we want. Celebrating each accomplishment tells our subconscious that we are in forward momentum and it rallies to assist us with ideas for completing the next step. Productivity feels good and feeling good is an important piece in staying in alignment with our vision. Feeling successful is important. As a former lower elementary Montessori teacher I saw how success breads enthusiasm and a love of learning. The Montessori classroom is designed to help children feel successful as a motivator to further endeavors and being life-long learners. All of this is true and a big part of accomplishing what we want to create in life.

I do have to take exception to his assertion that passion fades quickly, however. He sees passion like a flame that burns brightly and then spends its energy fast. If that is what happens, then I would say that was not a true passion.

Passion is more than a good idea. True passion arises from the heart. It’s a calling from your soul and it is something you can’t not do. Our passions inform our life purpose-which is our soul’s purpose for being here. More and more people are expressing a need to have their work be meaningful to them and to make a real contribution to people or other living things. Success is about much more than advancement within a company, a title, position or certain level of income. It’s fine to aspire to those things, but they are the byproducts of a life lived with passion and purpose. Passion calls us to hold the vision of our big dreams and it is that vision that can support us through the challenges that come up along the journey. When you are passionate about your path, the obstacles seem small by comparison to what you want to create.

In "The Passion Test" by Janet and Chris Attwood, Janet had a passion to interview the enlightened men and women in India and produce a film. Chris tried to get her interested in other projects, but with no success. This was an overriding force within her. She had obstacles to getting her crew together, getting funded and making it to India, but by always choosing in favor of her passion, even when it wasn’t the obvious choice, everything fell into place for her in miraculous ways. Once in India, she met with unexpected troubles, including going into a mountainous region unprepared and falling terribly ill. People came to her aid and she completed her task. She got her interviews and the footage to produce a documentary series. When Chris asked her how the trip went she declared it was the best experience she’d ever had! The illness and other trials she’d had didn’t stand out. Doing what she held as a passion was what mattered.

So the litmus test to whether or not you have a true passion is that nothing will cause you to put it down even if you run into obstacles or temporarily get off track. Productivity is certainly a component to accomplishing your vision, but without the passion, it won’t be enough to overcome fear, challenges and everything else in life that wants to pull us away from our purpose. True passion actually creates more productivity.