Be Passionate

Years ago, when I wanted to resign from a job, my boss asked me why and I told him that I wanted to look for something new. To take up a new challenge. Then he asked "Are you sure that what you're gonna do next would satisfy you?". And he said this which I took as an advice "You have to find it in yourself to make your job interesting". To that advice, I held on for many many years until recently I knew that it wasn't supposed to be like that.

I watched a documentary about David Beckham recently - 'The Rise and Rise of David Beckham' which showed about his shot to stardom. Once the documentary ended, I have all this to summarise "He's passionate about football". He started playing football when he was 5. He once said, "At school, whenever the teachers asked "What do you want to do when you're older?" I'd say "I want to be a footballer". And they'd say "No. What do you really want to do for a job?" But that was the only thing I wanted to do".(*)

Tiger Woods, started to swing the club at a tender age of 2. He achieved his first hole-in-one when he was 6 and won the Optimist International Junior World when he was 8. Now he's 34...that means he's been in golf for more than 20 years. His record total on the PGA career money list was USD92.86mil through 2009 and had won USD111mil worldwide. And still going...despite his other 'passion'. (Oh...and his average clubhead speed is 125mph i.o. an average person's speed at 84mph).

"Like all great champions, Tiger has the ability to raise his game when he has to. He's not going to burn out because he plays for his own joy and passion" - Jay Brunza, Woods' Sports Psychologist. (**)

Datuk Nicol Ann David, is currently ranked World's No. 1 in Women's Squash and the first Asian women to achieve this. She was the youngest woman to become the world junior champion when she won the World Junior Squash Championship in Antwerp, Belgium at the age of 15. She defended the title again in 2001, making her one of the only two players in the history of squash to have won it twice. Despite her achievements in squash, Datuk Nicol still managed to excel in her studies by acquiring 7As in her SRP and 7As in her SPM. She started playing squash when she was 5.(*)

Heck...what was I doing when I was 5?? My father was an avid tennis player...why didn't he teach me Tennis then, eh. Else I could've been in the same ranks with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Selena Williams...etc. He he.

Jaafar Taib is the founder of Creative Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. the first humour magazine ever produced in Malaysia. Born in 1952, his passion is in illustrating wildlife. He doesn't do so through looking at photos...instead, he'd go into the jungles himself to take photos of the wildelife or to illustrate there and then. Among his best collections was the Birds of Malaysia. His artwork is so intricate that you'd sometimes think it is too real to be an illustration.

When you look at it, most of the greatest artists or figures in the world became famous for what they do best...Because they are passionate in what they do. Being passionate is not only in making love, but also in the making of your own history. For you see, when these people started out, at the tender age of 2 or 5...they would never have imagined that they would be known throughout the world some day. They would never have imagined being World's No. 1s.

When we pursue our passion, we'd always have the desire to do our best. Being rewarded would be the last in our minds. So we should pursue our passion...rather than trying to be passionate in what we're doing now (if it is other than our passion). If we don't have the passion to do something...or even to be with someone...then we should look for something or someone else. Because it means there's no more love. If there's no more love...well, you know how it ends...

So...go for your passion rather than trying to be passionate in what you do or who you're with.

Sources:
(*) www.wikipedia.org
(**) web.tigerwoods.com