A person passionate about their work doesn't feel like they're working
6 September 2013
Read by 2157 persons
Is passion a plus at work? For our contributor Philippe Laurent, it helps with professional fulfillment.
Express Yourself] Passion is an invaluable asset that isn't essential to be happy at work. It takes and captivates the person with an irresistible force that makes them forget the constraints of their situation. Neither good nor bad, it is a prodigious energy to channel.
Whether in love, at work or outside of work, passion overwhelms the person and carries them intensely to the extremes of their desires and will. It is this inexhaustible energy that pushes the person almost despite themselves to always go further to satisfy the thirst to love, understand, and achieve. The passionate person is taken and captivated by the object of their passion. They forget their duty both because they are seized by this instinctive force that pushes them beyond the constraints of their environment and because they easily accept the difficulty of what they accomplish. Their absolute commitment to the object of their passion tends to divert them from their other commitments, so strong is their permanent thirst to discover, know, and experience.
What then is this passion? Is it good? Is it bad? In a certain moralizing vision, passion is similar to passions of the soul that degrade the person to their basest instincts by weakening their will. The strong man controls it, the man of duty subdues it, the virtuous man dominates it. In the workplace, passion regains its nobility because it enriches the person with an extra dose of energy, will, and intelligence. Neither good nor bad, it is the sign of a natural appetite that only asks to be fulfilled, nourished, and satisfied.
The person passionate about their work does what they were made for without feeling like they're working. They have found their path, that is, the means of their personal fulfillment. They do what they love without forcing themselves or reasoning themselves into loving what they do. The one who works without passion accomplishes their work out of obligation, will, and duty, while the passionate person forgets that they must work. The exercise of their activity attracts them like playing a game, where pleasure lightens the weight of constraints and stops the passage of time. Free and outside of time, they pursue their passion apart from others, not out of contempt but by the force of things.
Is passion essential to a person's happiness? Is it necessary for their fulfillment at work? To think so would be absurd because it would be moralizing something that cannot be decided. It would also be forgetting the reality of people who are happy and fulfilled at work without being passionate. Passion is useful as a plus that facilitates happiness and accelerates fulfillment. It is discovered over time through experiences and encounters, imposing itself as an evidence. Touching the person's natural fiber, their talent, it becomes the booster of their will.
Passionate work is work that suits us, work that is aligned with our natural talent, with our potential. It is the one that offers us a field to explore, that nourishes our thirst to know, understand, achieve, or love. Whether manual, intellectual, relational, or artistic, the personal enrichment we derive from it pushes the fatigue it generates into the background. It carries with it its inevitable share of constraints, but its interest relativizes them and gives them meaning.
Is passion contagious? Do you have to meet a passionate person to become passionate yourself? The passionate person is not always captivating, nor is the captivating person always passionate. The captivating person knows how to interest others because they pedagogically convey the experience they have been able to capitalize on. The passionate person does not always have the pedagogical qualities required to interest others and may talk about their activity with an obsession that can bore their audience. Passion is born suddenly, like a click, a discovery, with a vigor that awakens something very instinctive in the person.
Do you have to be passionate to be happy at work? Being in a project dynamic and taking pleasure in relationships with others are the two conditions for happiness at work. The passionate person is a very active player in boosting a project but may have more difficulty in relationships with others. Passion is a clear advantage that is neither necessary nor sufficient to be happy in one's work. It is often exercised outside of work, and when it becomes work, economic imperatives make its exercise more restrictive.
Discovering one's passion is not a decision. This can be done either by meeting a passionate person who testifies to their activity, or by the direct experience of an activity that fulfills a natural and instinctive aspiration within us. While discovering one's passion is indeed a chance, there are situations that allow this discovery and that we can seek. Few people are passionate about their work. More frequent are those driven by ambition. It remains for those who are not passionate to find more interest in it and to work with people who are more passionate than they are.
Philippe Laurent.
Posted online on September 6, 2013.
Lexpress.fr
Express Yourself] Passion is an invaluable asset that isn't essential to be happy at work. It takes and captivates the person with an irresistible force that makes them forget the constraints of their situation. Neither good nor bad, it is a prodigious energy to channel.
Whether in love, at work or outside of work, passion overwhelms the person and carries them intensely to the extremes of their desires and will. It is this inexhaustible energy that pushes the person almost despite themselves to always go further to satisfy the thirst to love, understand, and achieve. The passionate person is taken and captivated by the object of their passion. They forget their duty both because they are seized by this instinctive force that pushes them beyond the constraints of their environment and because they easily accept the difficulty of what they accomplish. Their absolute commitment to the object of their passion tends to divert them from their other commitments, so strong is their permanent thirst to discover, know, and experience.
What then is this passion? Is it good? Is it bad? In a certain moralizing vision, passion is similar to passions of the soul that degrade the person to their basest instincts by weakening their will. The strong man controls it, the man of duty subdues it, the virtuous man dominates it. In the workplace, passion regains its nobility because it enriches the person with an extra dose of energy, will, and intelligence. Neither good nor bad, it is the sign of a natural appetite that only asks to be fulfilled, nourished, and satisfied.
The person passionate about their work does what they were made for without feeling like they're working. They have found their path, that is, the means of their personal fulfillment. They do what they love without forcing themselves or reasoning themselves into loving what they do. The one who works without passion accomplishes their work out of obligation, will, and duty, while the passionate person forgets that they must work. The exercise of their activity attracts them like playing a game, where pleasure lightens the weight of constraints and stops the passage of time. Free and outside of time, they pursue their passion apart from others, not out of contempt but by the force of things.
Is passion essential to a person's happiness? Is it necessary for their fulfillment at work? To think so would be absurd because it would be moralizing something that cannot be decided. It would also be forgetting the reality of people who are happy and fulfilled at work without being passionate. Passion is useful as a plus that facilitates happiness and accelerates fulfillment. It is discovered over time through experiences and encounters, imposing itself as an evidence. Touching the person's natural fiber, their talent, it becomes the booster of their will.
Passionate work is work that suits us, work that is aligned with our natural talent, with our potential. It is the one that offers us a field to explore, that nourishes our thirst to know, understand, achieve, or love. Whether manual, intellectual, relational, or artistic, the personal enrichment we derive from it pushes the fatigue it generates into the background. It carries with it its inevitable share of constraints, but its interest relativizes them and gives them meaning.
Is passion contagious? Do you have to meet a passionate person to become passionate yourself? The passionate person is not always captivating, nor is the captivating person always passionate. The captivating person knows how to interest others because they pedagogically convey the experience they have been able to capitalize on. The passionate person does not always have the pedagogical qualities required to interest others and may talk about their activity with an obsession that can bore their audience. Passion is born suddenly, like a click, a discovery, with a vigor that awakens something very instinctive in the person.
Do you have to be passionate to be happy at work? Being in a project dynamic and taking pleasure in relationships with others are the two conditions for happiness at work. The passionate person is a very active player in boosting a project but may have more difficulty in relationships with others. Passion is a clear advantage that is neither necessary nor sufficient to be happy in one's work. It is often exercised outside of work, and when it becomes work, economic imperatives make its exercise more restrictive.
Discovering one's passion is not a decision. This can be done either by meeting a passionate person who testifies to their activity, or by the direct experience of an activity that fulfills a natural and instinctive aspiration within us. While discovering one's passion is indeed a chance, there are situations that allow this discovery and that we can seek. Few people are passionate about their work. More frequent are those driven by ambition. It remains for those who are not passionate to find more interest in it and to work with people who are more passionate than they are.
Philippe Laurent.
Posted online on September 6, 2013.
Lexpress.fr
