We all agree that passion is that thing that makes do incredible thing, hyper-productivity and so on. But is it? Can we stimulate passion? If yes, what makes me passionate about something? I won’t be able to answer all these questions in the article, but I hope we can start a journey together.
What passion really is? This famous dictionary defines it as a very powerful feeling, an extremely interest for doing something. This probably makes sense for most of the readers. On the other hand why do we have different passions? Why am I not passionate about football, but I am passionate about mathematics for instance?
We are thought that most of what we learn is context based. Therefore does the medium influences my passions? Would you put me in a football environment and that will make passionate about it? My intuition tells me that could be the case. But is it?
What makes you sing? What makes you put your energy into it?
I was inspired to write this article by an unexpected event
I believe about myself that I am truly passionate about maths. I love figures and the relationship among them. And lately I discovered an amazing fact about so called Euler’s constant and then I called my maths professor from high school to tell her about the newly discovered fact. To my total surprise she did not share my excitement even though the fact that I discovered was new also for her. I continued the discussion to further discover that in the end she did not considered the fact even cool and I somehow concluded in my mind that for her it was not important. I did not insist.
But then something came into my mind. I always thought that the medium creates passion. In my perception the high school teacher is an active part of the medium. And for years I thought that my passion for maths has something to do with her, only to discover once more that is not so. The further analysing the past I discovered that actually we were not that many pupils that were interested in maths in the class. Therefore is not the medium. It was something in my mind or maybe in my life that made me care about it.
Psychology thought me that most of our behaviours, even our language, are nurtured, not born. Some mechanical skills are definitely natural, but things we learn in life have a powerful nurturing component, hence the generational gaps.
But it seems to me that passions work in a different way. I also notice that my kids do not share my passion for music, even though there is music everyday around them (I sing in a band and play guitar, I listen to the music all day and they are not aphonic (they can sing but they don’t care). I never pushed music on them – I believe in being totally free in your opinions. So there is not big deal about the environment when speaking about passions. (maybe there is something I do not understand now)
Are we prewired for certain passions? If so, why? Was I programmed to love mathematics?
On brief
I am sure that some of my readers will want the short version of the article, so there you have it. In my opinion (and it is only anecdotal) you at least for basic elements for your passion to manifest:
- You need a trigger
- Add excitement and curiosity
- Be in the right medium
- Perceive yourself as being good at it – get some positive feedback
The Trigger
Like everything that has to do with long term goals pursuit, your passion needs to be triggered. The trigger should use your dopamine system, therefore everything that is depleting or exciting your dopamine system has an impact here.
As passion is reinforced by a positive feedback loop, I would say that this kind of triggers manifest better when you are well rested, in a good mood, not deeply hungry and so on,
Curiosity and Excitement
The trigger is not enough if there is no reinforcement on the reward pathways in the brain. It needs to create excitement or some curiosity to maintain the momentum and to reinforce the trigger.
I believe that this stage is the pre wiring component of the brain.
I know people that do not have too many passions. I think that curiosity plays an important role here. Having a curios mind, makes you explore more and keep you excited. I am not sure I can explain what excitement really is from neurological point of view, but I am sure that stimulates your dopamine and epinephrine producing neurons to maintain an excited state.
That’s why sometimes fatigue or bad nourishment is affecting your capacity to pursuit goals.
Having a medium
Then there is the medium. The medium should not be hostile to your passions and should not trigger your fight or flight response. I believe that the medium should not make you feel threatened or ashamed. It does not necessarily mean that you will not follow your passions in a hostile medium, but you would certainly not make fast progressions.
Finding the right people around you ,would enhance your ability to pursuit your goals. It is not an eliminatory condition, but it certainly helps. It creates a positive feedback loop and you will see that the positive feedback is crucial in being passionate about something.
Being good at – believe in yourself
And now we get to another important mix element that in my opinion is ti perceive yourself being good or at least promising at what you consider yourself passionate about.
It does not work without it. I like singing and I know many artists (myself included) that receive hate and negative feedbacks from people around. Believing that you are doing something good, believing in yourself, having a greater mission is actually what keeps you rolling.
I strongly believe that you need a positive reinforcement loop that requires internal motivation. If you need external motivation, you probably need to put more emphasis on the medium or social context. But I would not categorise it as a real, true passion. The real thing definitely relates to internal motivation. It does not mean that you need to be in introvert or selfish, but you need a basic dose to protect what is important for you.
Like a conclusion
In my opinion all these elements need to work together. There is no one element more important than others. They just mix and work together reinforcing your passions. I would love to discover what you believe about it. Please comment on social media, or ask me a question here. Follow us on linked in or why not, subscribe to our newsletter so we can stay connected. We never spam, nor sell your personal date.
by Emanoil Draganescu