I had lunch with a lawyer the other day and she was lamenting the fact that she has lost the fire in her belly. She said "I have no passion and creativity in me anymore… it’s GONE". I have to tell you that this comment made me so sad, because the thought of living without passion or creativity… for me… is like living without oxygen… impossible. I happen to know because about 15 years ago I thought I had reached the end of my passion, I thought after 12 years in business I had burnt-out…. All I knew is that I was miserable… so I did a few things I’d like to share with you…

1. I identified what I liked doing. For 2 weeks I made a note every time I liked the task I was doing. Visit a client… yes! Help them figure out a strategy to build there brand… yes! Talk to a new prospect… yes! I only focused on what I LIKED doing… the list grew and grew. Why just the positive? Because… I didn’t want it to be a "bitch" session. It was apparent that I had NOT burnt-out. I liked too many of the things I was doing. 

2. I then took actions to alter or eliminate the things that were not on that list. I found a more qualified bookkeeper so I didn’t have to micro-manage. I fired clients that were toxic to our business AND weren’t even profitable… the new bookkeeper was able to produce reports that made this possible. I stopped doing other peoples’ jobs… this was a big one. I realized that I held a lot of resentment with those people that weren’t completing their work and I had to pick up the slack. Who allowed that to happen? DUH! Me. I confronted the issues and some people rose to the occasion and other did not. The list goes on and on… but you get the picture.

3. I allowed myself to dream! Yes dream… what do I want in my life? I wanted freedom, creativity and smart driven people to work with, to mention a few. I set out to make sure those things were in my life in some shape or form… every single day. I imagined myself writing a book… I had been telling clients to "write a book, it will give you instant credibility"… so why shouldn’t I write a book? I put it on my master list of goals and 10 years later that dream came true. Almost like a fairy tale… it won the Business Breakthrough Book of the Year and I went to Washington DC to accept the award with my mother by my side. What is YOUR dream? 

Today, my business is very different then it was then. Quite frankly… I love what I do… it’s my passion. As the saying goes find what you love and you will never work a day in your life. Maybe your passion is a more defined practice area or maybe it isn’t even the law. Whatever it is YOU need to find it and lay the groundwork to get there. It will not happen over night… so every day you waste not going in that direction you get further and further behind.

Find your passion. It may have been asleep for a very long time but believe me it will find YOU if you are open to finding IT.