Rediscovering Your Passion For the Training Profession
By Richard Chang

Getting In Touch With Passion
Often we are so busy rushing through our to-do lists that we fail to slow down and notice whether we are really happy. Certainly, we have a sense of how we are doing-how much money we are earning, how many kids we have, how many awards we have won-but these facts are merely data. They don't tell the true story of how we are feeling.

The truth is many of us have fallen out of touch with our hearts. After years of working toward what we think we should accomplish rather than what we truly want to accomplish, we forget what moves us. We forget passion. The passion I refer to is the underlying force that fuels your strongest emotions. It is the excitement and intensity that result when we engage in activities that interest us deeply.

Whether you are in your dream job or a job that is less than perfect, you can find ways to integrate passion into your work. Once you do, you will find that passion can change your attitude, improve your performance, and help you overcome obstacles that once seemed insurmountable.

Putting Your Feelings First
The first and most important step in bringing passion into your work is to reconnect with your heart. Dissatisfaction with your job has probably left you feeling a number of negative emotions, which could include anger, confusion, and even apathy. If you want to improve your situation, you must move beyond these limiting emotions. You must look to your heart for clues to your happiness.

You can only be happy when the results you seek and the activities you embrace are aligned with your heart. Your current discontent is likely the result of a conflict between your actions and your desires.

You may have started in the training profession because there was something that struck a chord in you. Maybe it was a strong desire to make the workplace more productive and competitive. Perhaps it was a love of teaching or helping others. Whatever the case, you need to take a step back and recapture your connection to your work.

This is a gradual process, but a critical one. It requires you to do two things: discover your passions (the things that arouse passion in you) and identify the obstacles that are preventing you from experiencing them. If you have never felt passionate about your job-maybe you accepted it out of necessity or novelty-you need to look deep into your heart for potential passion sources. A passion for teamwork and camaraderie could prove helpful, as could a love for advancing technologies and the "Net." Whatever the case, your passion is the key to overcoming your boredom, enjoying your job, and excelling in it.

Clarifying Your Purpose
There is a big difference, however, between those who constantly realize their desires and those who do not. People who are successful in fulfilling their wishes have a clear understanding of what they want and why they want it. Their desires are not hollow longings; they have purpose and meaning. Your Big Purpose, like your passion, stems from your heart. The two are closely, if not inextricably, linked. They work in tandem. By establishing a purpose for your passion, you determine how, when, and where you will use it. Some of you are so intimately connected to your passion that it defines your Big Purpose. Most people, however, do not fall into this category. They are pulled in conflicting directions by circumstances and the influence of others, self-doubt, and a host of other forces that prevent them from seeing their big purpose. For them, passion and purpose have become removed. Their challenge is to reconcile the two.

Defining Your Key Profit Areas
Your Big Purpose should underlie all that you do. Your job, your outside interests, and your relationships all have an impact on whether you progress towards fulfilling it. So how do you ensure that you are on the right track? How do you know whether the activities in one area of your life are not working contrary to those of another? The best way is to clearly define your purpose in each aspect of your life-what I call your Key Profit Areas. These areas paint a complete picture of who you are and typically may include emotional, spiritual, physical, interpersonal, financial, professional, intellectual, civic, and humanitarian concerns. By clarifying your objectives in these areas, you can lay the groundwork for bringing your actions and passions into harmony to serve your Big Purpose.

Acting With Passion
When you openly engage and display your passion, you will have a positive impact on those around you. This happens because passion begets passion. The energy you generate by living and working with passion will come back to you in the form of enthusiasm and support from others. With this assistance and a strong personal commitment, you can change your work-and your life. By letting passion in and keeping it alive, you will discover that you control your happiness. No matter what life or your boss may throw in your way, you will be prepared. You will be filled with an energy, determination, and enthusiasm that will make work exciting, challenges trivial, and the future ripe with opportunity.

Reprinted from ASTD - Conference News

At the ASTD Conference and Exposition this year, Richard Chang will present "From Downturn to Upturn-Capitalizing on Passion to Re-Energize Workforce Performance" (TU419) on Tuesday, May 25, at 1:45 p.m. and will lead the "View From the CLO: Partnering for Organizational Success Today and Predictions for the Future" panel discussion (TU316) on Tuesday, May 25 at 10:00 a.m. Richard Chang Associates, Inc. will exhibit at Booth No. 1526.

Richard is the founder and CEO of Richard Chang Associates, an international performance improvement consulting, training, and publishing firm headquartered in Irvine, California.