Chapter 5: Passion Force 2 – Challenge
Summary
Without challenge in your life, you could hardly make the most of what you are passionate about. Infuse your passion with the right quest and you will do much better at it.
Our search for the sources of passion brings us to yet powerful factor – Challenge.
A challenge can be posed by a person upon himself or by external forces. A personal challenge can arise from adverse circumstances of poverty or deprivation. Rags-to-riches stories have been told for hundreds of years now. Even Presidents of countries have arisen from humble beginnings and risen to their positions of power by the sheer force of their passion.
Family prestige and a desire to prove one’s mettle to one’s elders and t society can also act as a challenging force. When a son inherits a business built by his father, he is propelled to expand that enterprise and thus demonstrate his own prowess. While most companies have boards of directors and public equity, in many traditional societies, it is the family-driven businesses that persevere, even over the centuries.
Targets set by corporate leadership also act as challenged to work teams. A keen competitive spirit between rival groups can set off a passionate chase of the markets. Pepsi and Coca Cola, Nike and Adidas, are a couple of examples of passionate rivalry, with each seeking to outdo each other in the pursuit of a better product and more sales. In these mega rivalries, passionate employees move quickly up the corporate ladder. Belief in the company’s goals and ideals is essential to engender passion in employees.
Sometimes the source of the challenge may lie closer to home. The love of a woman or one’s children can drive a man to succeed with the intent of providing better care and education for them. We are motivated to buy a larger and better house, a bigger and faster car, the latest cell phones and clothes. All these must haves also act as challenges and rewards for our work.
It is upto each individual to determine what challenges him or her and then as Nike’s motto says – Just do it! Your natural challenge instinct will push you through. When a mountaineer was asked why he climbed a mountain, he answered – Because it is there! Its very existence as an insurmountable peak was a challenge to him!
- Chapter 1: The Highway of Passion
- Chapter 2: Finding Your True Passion
- Chapter 3: Reviving Passion
- Chapter 4: Passion Force 1 – Curiosity
- Chapter 5: Passion Force 2 – Challenge
- Chapter 6: Passion Force 3 – Legacy
- Chapter 7: Passion Force 4 – Faith
- Chapter 8: Passion Force 5 – Altruism
- Chapter 9: Passion Force 6 – Epiphany
- Chapter 10: Passion at Home
