Passion

Passion. Do you have it?

On a recent Saturday my wife and I arrived at the office after dropping our daughters at their weekly arts and crafts meeting. It was mid-afternoon and my youngest son, who is four, was with us. He was supposed to attend the arts and crafts meeting, but his shyness would not allow him to enter our friend's residence.


While enroute to the office, after the four-year old decided that we were a safer bet than the arts and crafts meeting, he began to ask me if he could use the shop-vac to clean the garage. I asked him if he would vacuum my office, the hall and the conference room upstairs instead. He agreed and vacuumed these areas with a wonderful infectious enthusiasm. (I am also proud to report that he missed close to nothing, performing his task with excellence.)

Passion.

This little boy has a passion to please my wife and me, a passion to vacuum and a passion to engage in activities performed by his older siblings and adults. If, as adults, we were able to keep the purity of intent, detachment from self and gratitude and joy, in our work that the four-year has would not our work lives be better? Would not our customer service be the best? Would not our work be top-notch every single day?


I know if I was able to capture his enthusiasm and brought it to work daily, it would spread to my staff and clients and we could conquer the world, never mind our local market. What if this passion was applied to the day-to-day challenges of our marriages, friendships, peers and co-workers? What if we brought it to the organizations where we volunteer, or our clubs, or churches? What if we brought it to the check-out line at the grocery store? Would we be better leaders?


Passion. Do you have it? If not, can you find it? The little boy does and can.