Doing that which you are passionate about is perhaps the best
gift you can give to yourself, your country and the world. A Chinese philosopher
named Confucius was once quoted saying “Choose work you love and you’ll never have to
go to work a day in your life again”.
It is not that when you follow your passion you won’t ever
have to ‘work’ again, but rather you derive so much enjoyment and fulfilment doing
what you enjoy and find impactful that it doesn’t feel like work at all.
Through passion, we become resourceful, dynamic and so engaged that the results
we are able to create cannot just make us ‘successful’ in the eyes of others
but it is also the best way we can impact those around us.
In my opinion, passion generally comes from two sources; something
you naturally enjoy doing or are naturally good at and secondly, passion can be
inspired by your own experiences and those endeavours you find meaningful
(through which you can contribute the most to people around you). For many,
these are often painful experiences they may have gone through in their lives
or an injustice they dedicate their lives to addressing.
Most of us have things we get consumed by, things that
others find tedious or boring, but when we are engaged in these activities,
time passes by unnoticed. These endeavours come naturally to us. Often people
admire you for these things and they generally consider these things difficult
and complex, but from your eyes these ‘pains’ are all just part of the fun. For
some, this might be music, sports, for others it could be writing, solving
maths problems, learning a new language or speaking in front of a crowd etc.
Secondly, apart from those things we are just naturally good
at or enjoy doing, the experiences we go through in life can also inspire us to
dedicate our careers to a particular cause. Naturally, we may gravitate to
using those things we are naturally good at (our strengths) as the vehicle
through which we tackle these challenges. For instance, a girl who has natural
skills that lend themselves to sports, but who may have experienced discrimination
because she’s a girl may end up developing and dedicating her career around
making sports gender-friendly. She may end up becoming the Isha Yohansen of her
country – leading sports and inspiring thousands of young girls, women and everyone
around her. Another example is someone whose childhood may have been predicated
on poverty who not just decides to take them out of poverty, but dedicates his
or her life to making sure as many people as possible do not go through what he
or she went through. People inspired to solve a problem are often willing to go
the last mile to realize their dreams, and this is what makes the historic
miracles we have seen in the world possible.
Although these may seem different routes towards living a
life of passion, it is actually putting these two together that creates the perfect
mix for achieving a successful and fulfilled life. My advice to all young
people who want to be successful and fulfilled in life is ‘find something you
are naturally good at or enjoy doing and use it to solve a problem you have
experienced or care about so that you may create the world you want to see.
In fact even if you just want to become rich in life, it is
better for you and those around you if you follow or develop your passion. This
is closely related to an idea central to standard economic theory; that
individuals often end up improving society the most when they seek to maximize
their own satisfaction (I can interpret this here as deep desires and the
things they enjoy). For instance, even though Mohamed Kallon may have gone into
football simply because he wanted to do what he personally enjoys doing or
because he thought he can make a lot of money playing football, developing his
passion for football has led him to represent our country internationally,
inspire thousands of young people in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, and him
founding The Mohamed Kallon Children’s Foundation through which he improves the
lives of thousands more of Sierra Leoneans. According to this idea in economics
(my interpretation here), outcomes in society are best improved when Mohamed
Kallon follows what he enjoys doing and cares about.
Mohamed Kallon, Zainab Bangura, Prof. Joe A.D Alie, K-Man,
Jimmy –B etc. may have been lucky to have found something they naturally enjoy doing and in which they can impact
society the most, but for most of us our passions are discovered and developed through
exposing ourselves to different experiences and activities in our lives. If you
have something you have always wanted to do go ahead and try it, there’s no
failure, you may just find something you naturally enjoy doing and through
which you can impact society the most. Don’t focus on the money, although
passion is also your best shot if you just want to become rich.
If you find that you are passionate about multiple things, that’s
great; identify these and follow a career and or gain experience that best
combines these interests you have. You don’t even necessarily have to leave
your current job to develop (follow) your passion(s); discuss with your
immediate boss and ask for opportunities that expose you to the things you are
interested in. Even if your job doesn’t reflect all of your interests, try to
expose yourself to as many of those opportunities as you reasonably can. When
you do what you enjoy, you also create the best results for your employer.
To transform your country follow (build) your passion. God
bless you.
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