There are only four things you need.
- passion
- confidence
- ambition
- drive
But they’re as untenable for many as meeting Jesus in a pub.
Proof: Walk down any high street; any high street in the universe; and count the number of steps between a store you love to visit, and one you don’t.
If you’re into double digits, stay where you are. Live a happy life, content in the knowledge you won’t find another place like it, anywhere. Tell us where you live, by all means, but be prepared for an influx the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Poland joined the EU.
If we only need strive for the gold standard comprising these four elements to attain complete and absolute delight, why isn’t the world populated with fulfilment rather than fools?
Simply, they don’t teach you how to be passionate; you won’t find a book in this world that gives you complete confidence (although there’s one that comes pretty close; more, later); if all we have to look to for drive is The Stig, then we’re torn; and the nearest we got to the public, everyman face of ambition was Roy Castle, and he’s dead now.
For that matter, do we even truly understand what passion, confidence, drive and ambition actually mean?
Passion is the unmitigated yearning for happiness; yours, or that of someone else. Passion is often misinterpreted as carnal; of which it surely can be, when triggered, but that is not its objective or true heir. Passion is when you can’t see for the subject that brings such euphoria. Passion is, in a business context, when you have hit bullseye with a profitable endeavour that sates both your needs implicitly, from a creative and financial perspective, and that matches ideally the needs of your target audience.
How do you find passion? All the signs are already there. Whenever you enter a state of pleasure, you’re working on a passion. Cleverly we were all made with different passions. Intoxicatingly the art of passion is one of the biggest adrenaline rushes ever experienced. Candidly, some never identify their true passion. This is where producing a report of your day is so critical. Bulleting the big (and not so big) wins in a diary helps you to understand where your love lies. From personal experience, I have identified my calling as helping people to build incredible businesses using a combination of communications experience and stellar creative ideas. That’s my passion. Seeing the dynamite of potential detonated by the lightbulb moment inspired by learning, sharing and listening. And here’s the biggest unsecret of all: Only by spending time with yourself, will you ever discover your real passion. Serendipitously, I was able to find mine at the bottom of a glass of blog. After three solid months of blogging every day, I ran a check of previous posts and found a common theme. And smiled, like a ridiculous clown, at the idea I could make a career from it. You can. Just ask Gary Vaynerchuk. Then crush it.
Confidence is a descendant of passion, in that when you are truly assured of the direction and its merit, the confidence flows freely from it.
How do you find confidence? Ask the question a different way: Are you ready to be confident? Are you so attuned to your goals and desires that the path is in perfect focus? If it’s blurry, then you need to find your drive. If you’re a little shaky on the confidence denominator, you might need some artificial stimulation. Paul McKenna is your confidante and ally here. Instant Confidence is a book/CD combo I unequivocally recommend to anyone – that’s anyone because we’re all at least token insecure. Confidence breeds ideas and stimulates positive reactions in everyone you meet. It’s a natural high, it’s earned, and it bears no relation to ego.
Ambition is focusing your sights on a goal that matters at one or more levels of your psyche. Its attainment demands repetition, tenacity and absolute focus. It differs from drive in that ambition is believing you are already in possession of the fruits of that goal. For further reading, check out The Secret, a life-changing book by Rhonda Byrne.
How do you find ambition? The single most important conduit is desire. Unswerving, simple want – and a road that will be littered with challenges. What do you want of your life? What are you prepared to do to achieve it? Ambition is the most emotional of all four elements in the tortoise’s action armoury. Ambition can grind you down, ambition can make you question everything: But if you’re in it for the right reasons, and it is something you can’t live without, desire will drag you through any river, over any mountain and down any valley to make it happen.
Drive is waking up in the morning determined to pursue your purpose. If you’re in work, you rarely let things distract you from the next checkpoint towards meeting the next objective. Drive is omitting in mind the burden of bureaucracy in favour of documenting the process that takes you from zero to hero.
How do you find drive? It’s in the waking up! Positivity and gratitude are your closest associates in having drive to make it through the day to find your eventual ambition. Drive is a cunning device, since it manifests in so many different ways. There are the low-calorie variants, such as drive to get out of work for a beer, and there are the heavyweights, like making it to the end of a marathon in 3 hours. If you start the day with positivity, a clear mind and a reason to win, you’ll have all the drive you need to achieve anything you like.
Passion, confidence, ambition and drive are purposefully sequential since you have to find the drive to set the rest of the elements in motion. Together, they make you indestructible.
Just like the tortoise.