Working at your craft
A couple weeks back I wrote a piece about being passionate about what you do. I told the story about how I had decided to answer the question “What do you do?” with “I love what I do!” And how I found this answer surprised people, delighted people, changed the conversations and generally knocked them out of their comfort zones – to a better place.
I left you with the advice to be passionate about what you do and if you can’t be passionate about it find something else to do.
It really bothers me, every day, the victim mentality of people I interact with. I find people very quick to tell you all the reasons they can’t do something and explain in energetic detail all the things that are wrong. It bothers me because if they just directed this energy in a different, positive direction we would all benefit.
That is how societies, civilizations and cultures fail. They rot from within. They rot when the people are filled with a laconic malaise, a hopelessness that reaches critical mass and drags everyone down into a hopeless hell. What is it with people that they seem drawn to self-fulfilling prophecies of maudlin misery and suffering?
You and I, we need to fight this. We need to be the shining lights in our worlds. You and I, we can be those positive souls that push the tipping point into the positive. To do this we need to show that we love what we do.
But loving what we do and manifesting that passion is not the end. There is no end. We need to work on our craft. We need to grow as individuals and continue to learn. We need to adopt the humble cloak of the student.
Let me bring it back around to where I started.
When I tell people I love what I do and manifest a passion for it those are just words. Without action they have no power. The verbs in that statement are ‘love’ and ‘manifest’. These are the things you and I need to do.
You don’t sit a wait for inspiration and passion to drop on you from above. You start by taking whatever it is you are doing right now and do it with passion and positive-ness. If it’s cleaning the house then find a way to do be the best and most inspirational house cleaner there is. If it’s painting a wall then find a way to do it the best way possible. To do less devalues all of us.
You might say, ‘Hey Chris, easy for you to say, you don’t have my crappy job, my crappy relationships and my crappy out-of-shape body…’
If you are a depressed and angry because you are in a crappy job that you hate or a crappy relationship that you hate or in a crappy body that you hate then turn that around. I challenge you that ‘love’ and ‘manifest’ are verbs. Love that crappy job, love that crappy relationship and love your crappy body. Manifest the passion that you have for it. See what happens. I bet you’ll be surprised at the changes that cascade into your life when the wheels start turning.
How? Manifest your love for what you do by being authentic and positive in every interaction. Manifest your passion my continuing to work on your craft even though you might be considered to be ‘at the top of your game’. There is no top. There is always learning and application of new thought.
Don’t get passive. Life is motion. You are either moving forward or backwards. There is no stasis.
Love what you do.
Manifest a passion for what you do.
Work on the perfection of your craft.
And I’ll see you out there.