We’ve all have heard the statements “Life without passion is a lifeless life”, “Follow your passion”, “Find your passion”, “Pursue your passion”. All these statements have been drilled in a lot of us since childhood. Yet in many cases “passion” is often a concept that is difficult to explain, hard to find and impossible to measure. Some may argue that having a passion is overrated and not necessary. For over the past year or so I have been reading books, articles and different publications to get a better understanding of passion. I have wondered why some people feel as if passion is overrated and a waste of time. For example, a colleague of mine stated “Why do people think they need to feel passionate about the work they do”? This has prompted me to examine and evaluate passion and its meaning in our lives.
What is Passion?
There are many of opinions and definitions of passion but according to dictionary.com states it “ any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate”. Simply put passion is a feeling that we have and some would say it is necessary for finding success in life. Passion usually comes when we are being truly ourselves and doing what comes to us. In my experience finding “passion” for my life was somewhat overwhelming at times. For me finding my passion was kind of remarkable, because I stumbled upon it. On the hand many times when we open our mind to different possibilities we will never know will end of loving if we never try.
Passion Overrated?
The advocates against the power of passion would suggest that having passion isn’t such a big deal. They have the belief that there is more to success than just having passion and a love for something rather it’s a job, life, hobby or business venture. Without having more than just passion we will more than likely fail. As a student many of us were asked to write and talk about our passion or what we wanted to do in life. This is still evident even as adults, because even on some job interviews they might ask us about our passion. This shows how overused the word can be and it can make it more redundant than meaningful. Often times supporters of this concept lament that it is much more important to have belief in oneself and commitment.
Final Thoughts
Now don’t get me wrong I am huge believer in having a passion, but I do understand that we need more than just passion to attain our predestined greatness. In the end when we understand and accept that no matter if we have a passion or not to be successful we must be true to ourselves. Without doing so we can become what I like to call “lost in the sauce”. What do you think is passion overrated? Comment below & if you liked this post please share!
“When what you do is in alignment with who you are, you get energy from doing”.
Copyright ©2016 Jay Colby All Rights Reserved.
Jay Colby 
Passion is as overrated as the lack of actions behind it.
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Well said!
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I only enjoy speaking the truth. Lies aren’t part of my character.
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Hi Jay
In my opinion the reason passion is important is that it stimulates the organic chemical dopamine.
Which is the chemical responsible for our state of feeling good,excited,elated ,passionate etc.
Without passion we lose the emotion of achievement and the task is less likely to be completed.
Max
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Very true & insightful. Thanks for sharing!
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For me passion is a rather vague word. I usually do things 100 % but I don’t know if that’s passion? 🇸🇪
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I would consider that paasion, but some would say hard work. It just depends on prespective. Thanks for reading!
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A coworker once told me it’s just a J O B it doesn’t have to be F U N. When you’re lucky though it can be both. Passion and fun go hand in hand.
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True because I would consider my passion as fun. Thanks for reading!
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Maybe…passion is over-rated to some because they have known people who professed to have it, but never acted on it. If the body, mind, and spirit, adds fuel to passion, then this person might just go places [vroom vroom], and actually experience what’s at the tail-end of it. But if they reeve up too much, it might seem unobtainable, certainly too much work. In the end, over-rated anything can block the way ’cause it don’t seem as real as the initial dream of having it. Just my thoughts!
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Great insight as always. I tend to agree our mind and spirit adds to our passion. Without the fuel we can become stagnant and give up on our passion. Thanks for reading!
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To me, passion means intensity, and for most of us, passions do not last. There is a societal pressure to have “passions” — every kid applying to college feels terrible that they are not more passionate about something, anything so that they can write a passable essay. If asked, there is nothing wrong to phrase the answer to show commitment: “I have practiced yoga for 10 years”, “I have a life-long interest in ….. issues, especially x, y and z”, “I’ve played basketball for as long as I remember”, “I am currently very involved in the xyz movement…” You may not feel those are passions, because you are not thinking about those things every minute of the day, but I think this is what people refer to when they talk of “passions”, things that are more than a fleeting interest. Like many other terms, the word has been dulled by overuse.
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Great insight I agree there is a overwhelming pressure on college students to have their passion figured out once they graduate. I would say that those things you described do sound like passions. Thank you for sharing!
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I’ll have to do a little research on those who say finding your passion is overrated. But I wonder what these people do for a living, if they’re happy with their jobs, family, income, relationships, overall quality of life. Purely speculating here, but I can only imagine that those who feel completely content with their lives right now would say passion is overrated. But I can see where they may be coming from because I struggle with the definition of passion being connected to feelings, which come and go. I’m passionate about being a mom and love my kids more than life, but sometimes I don’t FEEL like being around them, lol. But that doesn’t mean I abandon my responsibility to them. So I equate my lifetime goal of pursuing my passions to my lifetime responsibility of being a mom — failures and disappointments are inevitable, but so is a lifetime of love, joy, and fulfillment!
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I tend to agree because some people are content with their lives and feel like passion is unnecessary. But once we find something we are passionate about whether it’s family, our career or just something we like to do our lives become more abundant and fulfiled!
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Passion is definitely becoming the overrated word in todays society. Yet I believe there is still truth in being passionate. For most of my life I did what I was passionate about most of the time. Over time our passions change and in doing so we do, and so should what we do. Passion is our driving force to change, to success. What if you were working on something you were not passionate about? would you stick to it when times got tough? This powerful an compelling emotion that passion gives us helps to find that extra level and can lead to our success and/or fulfillment. As people say follow your passion, the main question we should ask ourselves is what do you want to become, do and have, why you want them and lastly how you will feel when you become, do and have what you are after. In that our passion will be born.
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Awesome insight I tend to agree working on something we are passionate about can drive us to success. Thanks for success!
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People are afraid of passion. Especially when it comes to a career in something they are passionate about/deeply attached to. It makes failure mean more. People say it’s overrated because not everyone who is passionate will succeed. Either they are scared to try or they’ve already been burned.
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That’s true being afraid of failure stops us from following our passion. Thanks for reading!
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My personal experience is passion, will power, determination, being excited, helo me to successful in whatever i do. But when i am not in the mood, tired or lazy then even what i love to do bores me and i dont do it well. But on those days i get myself back into gear. Finally i like to live my life by a certain standard and be an all rounder and that makes my passion from doing the boring chores to doing my job. My standard is my passion.. even on an off day .. standard may droo a tad because i know after a goods nite sleep i will set it straight.
Yet another great post Jay. Love your posts.
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I agree passion will help us to reach success and give us the power to acheive anything we put our minds to do. Thank you for reading!
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In my opinion passion is very important . Without having a passion I would feel lost with no direction. It keeps me motivated , excited and happy. it’s a key factor in my life. Thanks for sharing!
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Excatly passion and motivation are both connected to our success. Great insight as always!
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Exactly ! I’m so glad that I have it. 🙂
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I don’t think passion is overrated, but I also think it’s something we shouldn’t go too much out of our way to find – simply because it can drive you crazy and have the opposite of what you were hoping for. I don’t think everyone has a passion, and that’s totally OK. If you have one: awesome. If not: don’t sweat it. Maybe we could all just be passionate about life, if anything?
Or like Liz Gilbert says: you don’t have to have passion, as long as you have curiosity. It’s way more important.
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This quote from Paulo Coelho speaks for itself. I find that without passion in life you are not living but just existing. It can become overrated but truth be told I have been hunting for my passion for most of my life and at the grand age of being in my 50s I can safely say that at last I am beginning to find my passion in life again. It is all those dreams that we had over the years, as children and as adults that we have pushed so far away into the crevices of our minds because ‘ society deems it unnatural to have passions’ We must do the responsible thing and thats that. It is so wrong…. don’t stifle your children’s dreams as that becomes their passions.
“Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears, it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path. No one wants their life thrown into chaos. That is why a lot of people keep that threat under control, and are somehow capable of sustaining a house or a structure that is already rotten. They are the engineers of the superseded. Other people think exactly the opposite: they surrender themselves without a second thought, hoping to find in passion the solutions to all their problems. They make the other person responsible for their happiness and blame them for their possible unhappiness. They are either euphoric because something marvelous has happened or depressed because something unexpected has just ruined everything. Keeping passion at bay or surrendering blindly to it – which of these two attitudes is the least destructive? I don’t know.” – Paulo Coelho
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Great insight I tend to agree passion is an important ingredient to happiness. Consequently without it we can become somewhat lost and confused. Thanks for sharing!
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Well stated!
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Thank you!
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At jay passion is something you enjoy n justifies your existence without it you die
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Observation, reason, passion. The three most important things to understand the world. Want something done as well? Add action.
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I’m still really into passion. It works for me.
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Me to. Thanks for reading!
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Being passionate about what you do makes it less of a chore! You’d carry on even if no one was watching…you’d put in extra hours (just because)…you would definitely need to rein yourself in because you would be totally single minded about whatever you are doing. So no…passion is not overrated…it fuels the adrenaline that keeps you on task (come what may).
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I agree being passionate makes doing what we love easy. Thanks for reading!
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Enjoyed reading this so much. I totally agree 👌🏽
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Thank you!
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I love that picture….Makes me feel free….facing the truth can be hard for a lot of people…..I tried to have a full time job to have insurance, knowing well it was going to be close to impossible. Passion was not enough since having 6 kids, after school activities, doctor and dentist appointments, cooking from scratch, (taste before anything, no matter how easy or fast it is), didn’t go well. My children help me a lot, but only 1 is old enough to have a driver’s license, and he also had a full time job. Long story short, lost my insurance……TY love your writing
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“When what you do is in alignment with who you are, you get energy from doing”. This is so true. I love what I do and I get excited to wake up and work.
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Great topic as usual! I would not say that passion is overrated. However, I would say it takes equal amounts of passion and sensibility.
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I feel like action is the true passion. Once you take action, your passion will continue to grow.
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I think passion is what fuels me to do what I do for marriages and families. I never get tired of helping couples.
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I like to say passion without “action” or “work” is a dream. It’s so easy to think we want to do something but doing it is what matters.
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Passion can be used in so many different ways! I’d say passion is something you enjoy doing and go full forward to do it!
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Very well said. For me, it should always be passion and hard work together to achieve your goal… Thanks!
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I’ve always been into my emotions and anytime I’ve tried to make myself do something that I didn’t want to do (or didn’t truly love) the results have always been…well, catastrophic. We grow up learning from other well-meaning folks to think with our head and not with our emotions, but if we truly think about what our emotions are trying to reveal to us, it’s usually to follow the path of our passions or the things that make us feel good. Life, for me, isn’t that joyful when I’m trying to do anything but that. But to each their own…
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Passion is what makes me happy, knowing that i’m doing something that I love. Great post, thanks for sharing.
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In my opinion, most people need something to help them stick with new ideas and goals. For me, passion is the motivating factor to help keep me from giving up. So know yourself and learn your passion so you can stay focused.
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I agree. I haven’t figured life out but I am passionate about a lot of things. I believe in celebrating my accomplishments no matter what area they fall in.
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Ironic that I’m reading this as I just quit my job an hour ago to find something I’m more passionate about. Passion just like goals are nothing without ambition. Anything you do or want to pursue requires drive and perseverance…there are others who can love there life and not care about their passions. It’s all about each individual person.
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For me, passion is important. It’s a major driver to keep pushing forward even when times are tough. So important to me that I’ve taken it on as a kinda mantra. I don’t invest a lot of time/energy into things that aren’t meaningful to me. I’ve been able to live more intentionally and fulfilled this way.
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For me, passion is important. It’s a major driver to keep pushing forward even when times are tough. So important to me that I’ve taken it on as a kinda mantra. I don’t invest a lot of time/energy into things that aren’t meaningful to me. I’ve been able to live more intentionally and fulfilled this way.
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Passion without action is futile…indeed
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I agree thanks for reading!
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Quite an interesting post! I used to think everyone had a passion or passions in life and that all they needed to do was to find theirs. I’m not so sure of that anymore. I suspect that a relatively few people don’t. Many more than that never find theirs. Rather sad, actually.
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I equate passion with drive. You have to want for something greater than yourself. I don’t think you necessarily need to have passion for everything, maybe your job is just a means to get by or your hobbies just make the day better, but in the long run you need to have passion for life itself. Without passion, you’re just kind of hanging out waiting to die, which is a sad existence. I imagine this is what life is like for people with severe depression. True cases of chemically imbalanced depression forces a person to not be able to have passion for life, and they really struggle. I think this happens to some people without true depression as well, they just get fed up. If you have passion, that just means you have some drive to do something. Maybe it’s 4-wheeling in the woods on weekends, maybe it’s playing with your kids and raising a family, maybe it’s your job, maybe it’s volunteering to help others. As Cari commented above, passion without action is futile–which is true, but I believe that true passion results in action. If you truly have a passion for something, you won’t let anything get in your way to pursuing it. Awesome topic by the way!
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In my opinion passion gives perspective but only if your actions speak for it. It also takes a long time to find. Thank you for such a thought provoking piece.
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