What is Passion?

I’m not sure about each of you, but I know that I get very passionate about things I learn. Or is it that I have the passion for those things and so I learn them? Well, I really don’t know, probably a bit of both. I do however, find it very interesting how much I personally find that my learning and passions align so much in my life. Whether its a similarities in my work and personal life or how I explore books, I continually see alignment of how the things I learn apply in so many areas of my life. Those are the areas I’m most passionate about and it continues to feed the passion in a strengthening cycle. The more I learn about something, the more I enjoy it, and so then the more I want to learn even more about it.

Passion Roadblocks

I’ve spent a lot of time reading leadership/management and business books to improve my career and at the same time, most of the authors I’ve enjoyed most mix the business life with a personal touch and write about applying this in your personal life as well. Changing bad habits and improving one self cannot happen solely in the workplace even if business books, performance reviews, your boss and your company are pretty much only concerned only about your day life at the office. Your actions, mannerisms, character and passions are not completely separable from your personal life no matter how hard you try. In order to change these things, you need to change them everywhere in your life. That’s where passion often plays its part. A passion can be so strong it will steer every area of your life, home and work and can drive a person to learn and follow more about that area of desire.

Using Passion

Now, I’m talking about a positive passion, something to improve your life or the life of others. Recognizing this, understanding it, following it and learning from it are then different for each person. Using a passion in your life can lead to an extremely successful meaningful life. Its a sad fact how many people in this world simply “get by” in life and don’t make the most of it. One way to do this is to have and use your passions in life to be more joyful and to live with purpose and meaning. I’m planning to explore the topic of passion in several upcoming articles.

See Part 2: Passion: Find Your Passions
See Part 3: Passion: Express Your Passions

Posted by Mike King under Purpose/Passion | 6 Comments »

A lot of people make up a world of reasons as to why they don’t have a career that they are happy with. It amazes me how often I hear excuses from people why they don’t have the perfect job and why they don’t have any control over their own jobs and career. This is just crazy! Everyone makes their own choices in life including those that build your career.

Stop Blaming Others

People love to push blame to others and this is so obvious with people when they talk about their careers. Have you ever heard some of these complaints?

1. I didn’t get that promotion because my boss doesn’t like me.
2. I don’t like my work, but hey, who does?
3. Everyone but me seems to get the lucky opportunities.
4. No one notices the good work I do, just the bad things, so I can’t get anywhere in my career.
5. I don’t have the time to work extra and make a great impression.

These are just a few examples. All of these are pointing the finger, where one should be accepting responsibility.

You Control Your Career

Now, am I suggesting that you should simply love your work and be happy in your career? No. Work is still work and most people have other things in life they would rather be doing. You should enjoy your work however and my only point here is that you have a lot more control over enjoying your work than you might think. If you don’t like your job, find a better own. If you are missing out on opportunities, it’s probably because your actions or work are the cause of that, you need to make your own opportunities. And its not your bosses job to make sure you get that raise or new position, its yours. You need to take ownership and manage your own career. Make those tough decisions to change things when they aren’t how you want them to be. Know what you want and act on it. Set some career goals and take action everyday to work towards those goals and make the most of them .

Get connected with the people you want to work with and learn about the businesses and jobs you do want. Stop wasting time at work, analyze and prioritize your day to only spend time on the things that will make a difference to you and your career. Focus on your own growth and don’t expect someone else to do it for you. Find a mentor to share ideas with and learn from them to help advance your career. Help others in their own quest to have a more fulfilling career and discuss how to do this with your colleagues. All these things contribute towards you successfully managing your career and it will bring more joy to your daily life at work with a strong sense of control that will energize you forward!

Posted by Mike King under Business | 2 Comments »

Category: Books
Genre: Business & Investing
Author: Peter Drucker

Well, Drucker is brilliant and definitely shows how well he knew everything there is to know about management. He lays out a foundation with some historical insights and cultural analysis of management and outlines a set of guidelines and practices that actually make management a simple set of tasks, without any of the fluff and frills often portrayed by managers.

The book is a long but very interesting read shows some excellent insights from the master about how to apply his techniques in business. The book covers years of management mastery by Drucker and is easily applicable all today still. I’d certainly recommend it to another manager (however, I would recommend anything from Drucker)!!

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | No Comments »

Category: Books
Genre: Business & Investing
Author: David H. Maister

Wow. What a great book. Maister hits home on every issue you can think of related to managing a professional service firm. Not only does he outline the many problems that typically plague service firms, but he contrasts how to change and the steps to take and the results it will achieve. He is very clear that there is no magic solution and that the problem solutions for each firm will be different and require a LOT of hard work. He does recommend a lot of methods and examples of how to imrpove every aspect of the business with clear steps and recomended practices. The book helps to resolve problems in professional service firms and even more important, it first helps to identify and articulate these problems.

I was amazed how much evidence from my own experience was discussed in the book. There is a lot of great information to apply, which is an excellent management resource for anyone in any professional service firm, regardless of the industry.

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | No Comments »

Category : Books
Genre : Business & Investing
Author : Peter Drucker

Amazing book. Drucker writes timeless management principles and this one focuses on getting the right things done to make oneself and one’s team productive. The basic principles to become effective and to do the right things require a manager to become effective by doing the following:
1. Manage time
2. Focus on contributions and results
3. Build on strengths
4. Set the right priorities
5. Make effective decisions

The book outlines very clearly the actions you need to take in each of these areas and really stresses how the tasks and things you take on as a manager must be the right things. That is where effectiveness is far better than efficiency. I really enjoyed Drucker’s book and it is an excellent management tool to learn and practice on a day to day basis.

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | No Comments »