When we think of passion, we think of attraction, love and romance but the best meaning I have found is: a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone or something from the Greek πασχω “to suffer, to be acted on” and Late Latin passio “passion; suffering” (from Latin pati “to suffer“).

The three aspects I consider to drive Passion are:

• Purpose
• Desire
• Discipline

“Every second you spend thinking about someone else’s dreams you take time away from your own.” – From The monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Purpose

In order to be free, happy and successful, you need to know what it is that you’re ultimately striving for, your life purpose. Everybody has a different purpose and it can change during different phases of your life. It can be anything from wanting to improve the lives of a few others, to making humans an interplanetary species.

“Once you find out what your life’s work is, your world will come alive” – From The monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Desire

You need a burning desire (see Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill) to want what it is that you’re after and you can only keep a long term burning desire if your goals are aligned with your life purpose. It is this that will give you the drive to achieve your goals no matter what.

“The secret to happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it.” – From The monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Discipline

When things get difficult, and they will if you’re doing it properly, you need the discipline to stick to your goals, targets and actions. The best way to develop the discipline is to strengthen the mind and develop routines/habits.

“…never get into the petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people’s net worth.” – From The monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma