Can we really measure our Passion?

It is 5:30 pm, I am sitting at my desk, I just had a sip of my cold brew coffee bought from Starbucks, not made by me – I don’t feel like I have time to make my own coffee. I am staring at the computer screen and next to me there is a list of things to do, there was a list of things to do this morning and there is a list to do always. 

And I cannot help but to take a moment and ask myself, am I losing my passion for what I do? 

I know I am qualified, I know I am good at it, and I also know I like it. But, am I passionate?

According to the Oxford University Press, we can explain passion as an overwhelming desire for something or someone, and based on an article by Forbes we can measure this with a simple formula:

Passion = Interest + Engagement 

So I am sitting on my desk, drinking my coffee, and I answer to myself those two questions

Am I interested in my job and my projects? Yes

Am I engaging in my job and my projects? Yes

So why am I having this feeling that somehow I am not doing it right?

I am sure you have asked yourself this question, and if we are honest, the answer is: patience. Nowadays, everything is so instant, and the publicity around people promising the results you need in just a few days or even hours makes it harder.

There are many websites that will give you advice on how to develop your passion, how you can love your work more and perform better. They are even trying to find out if you are passionate during work interviews.

They “measure” that passion by asking question like:

How do you stay updated on your field?

How do they connect with others in their field?

How much time do you invest to study topics in your field?

However, it is impossible for a person to be motivated or passionate all the time. We are complex human beings, and we have different feelings every day.

How many times have you woken up, and you just don’t feel like you want to do it?  

That feeling that you have, like I do, is because we are surrounded by people telling us 24/7 that if we don’t do things in a certain way, we are not passionate enough.

If you didn’t wake up at 5am in the morning to work out, but instead ate breakfast and spent time with your family, you are not passionate enough about sports. 

But, maybe, you don’t want to wake up 5am in the morning every day and work out, and the reason is that you spent 8 hours in your office,  you spent 2 hours of your day in transportation, you are going to cook either for yourself or family, you might need to leave things ready for the next day, and before you know it is already 11pm, and you are too tired to wake up every day at 5am.

Let me tell you something, we can’t measure passion because passion is a feeling and feelings change depending on the day, how tired we are, how happy, how sad, how old or young we are. And don’t come to me and tell me that big line of  “If you’re working doing what you love, you won’t work a single day of your life!” Everything is work, and we don’t love everything every single minute of every single day.  

You know what we can measure? Actions. And those actions come from our discipline. I don’t want passionate people, I want disciplined people. People that will do the job even if one day they don’t want to do it, people that will wake up even if it is hard, people that will cook for their family after a long day of work, and they would much rather sleep than cook. 

Because, what are you going to do the day you don’t longer feel passionate about? Stop doing what you are doing? 

Discipline will give you the tools, the reason, the commitment to do what you  have to do to be successful and get up in the morning even if that day you don’t want to.

What is your discipline?