Priority or Passion

As a nation of self proclaimed over achievers we tend to put a great deal of pressure on ourselves to, well, achieve.  We stress about doing enough and producing more.  Our goal is anything bigger than the last time around, without much more clarity than that.  We chase the heat of doing it big and encounter the burn of doing too much for the wrong reasons.  In the end, we are busy, just not focused.

When the ache for accomplishment weighs heavy on our conscious and we realize we are chasing something that is moving really fast, but we haven't got close enough to tell what it is, we stop dead in our tracks and long for clarity.  In search of that clear vision of what to do, where to head, who to follow, we then, and only then, unfortunately, try our hand at prioritizing.

We enter into this pursuit of an all consuming prioritized list based on a vague notion of putting what is urgent, or maybe even important, towards the top of the list and then throwing in the lesser items towards the bottom.  The result is a list of 5, 10 or more items that we feel a need to accomplish that kind of lay there moaning for our attention.  Not really the stuff of fun or adventure.

Priority needs a refining effort in our life that takes it out of the realm of have to do and redefines it as a by product of something far bigger and much more powerful.  Priority should naturally rise from the pull of passion.

We are hesitant to admit we have a passion for much of anything.  It makes us sound like we have sold out to the man or have fallen ill to a sort of puppy love malady that makes us look weak to our friends.  Passion is something explosive that fuels your life with a hyper-charged combustible energy that, in the right hands, can energize you for a lifetime.  It is the engine of unquenchable source that blinds you to obstacles and set-backs, moving you toward true North in unprecedented ways.  Genuine passion in the hands of the earnest doesn't respond to a naysayer with anything more than a slight glance as you move past the stagnant smell of their objectionable attitude.  But, we are afraid of passion, and rightly so.

Passion, left unrestrained will shove us out into the oncoming traffic of causes and challenges.  We will feel the accelerating pulse of coming face-to-face with the fears that kept us crouching in the corner of our comfy abode.  Passion will call us out and dare us to even try to do nothing about it.  It is haunting and persistent for awhile.  Eventually our apathy will slowly grate away at its base, covering it up in mundane to do list entries that are accepted as a suitable substitute for doing something of real importance.

Want to make a difference?  Grab hold of that passion that knocks on your front door once or twice a year to which in all years past you told it to go away.  Seize the burning desire to do something bigger than yourself that your closest friends don't believe you have in you.  Get rid of those friends and seize it.  Let's stop trying to be over-achievers and actually achieve something that is not even within view of popular opinion.  Be it!