Passion, Opportunities, Follow-Through & Serendipty

Four things to focus on to keep your life interesting, worthwhile, growing and challenging are:

1. Passion
2. Opportunities
3. Follow-through
4. Serendipity

Each day of your life should include a pinch (or a large scoop) of each of the above four ingredients. That recipe will go a long way toward feeding your mind and spirit, as well as your body.

Passion is the initial ingredient with which we begin a great day. Passion doesn't always mean fun or that there is nothing you would rather be doing than what you'll be doing for the next four hours or the next eight hours. Sometimes passion just means you do the very best you can at whatever job needs to be done. A book I read several months ago said that if your job is being a street cleaner, having passion means knowing at the end of the day that you did an outstanding job of cleaning the streets. You take pride in working hard cleaning the streets. You look at the finished job with a critical eye and the desire to do it a little bit better each day. You look for ways you can do your task better, and you make your job more meaningful to both you and to others around you.

Passion also means finding ways to earn a living doing activities that are meaningful and rewarding to you. If you don't currently have a job that is fulfilling to you, you are working on finding one that will be more fulfilling and for which you are qualified. If you're not qualified for the job you want, you're working to become qualified.

Another necessary ingredient for a healthy life is opportunity. Be looking for opportunities to find jobs, projects and activities about which you can be passionate. Try new things, go new places and meet new people. Ask a friend or acquaintance to help you do something you've never done. Ask people about their jobs, about the company they work for, about job openings they know of. Volunteer to help out with an event. Read on the internet about several areas of interest to you on. You'll inevitably read or hear about events related to those areas of interest. Attend meetings you find mentioned in newsletters, blog posts or articles. Write emails to people who are doing interesting things. Look for opportunities.

Once you've found an opportunity, make sure you follow-through. If you volunteer to help with an activity, be there when they need you. If you tell someone you'll do something with them or for them, do everything in your power to make good on your commitment. When others know you can be counted on, more opportunities will appear. Doing your part with passion and with pride will show through, and the resultant opportunities can be fun, rewarding and challenging.

Serendipity is often the best thing that results from judicious mixing of the first three ingredients: passion, opportunity and follow-through. When you stir those three well, the serendipity can rain down like a spring shower. I think serendipity is so sweet simply because it wasn't pursued and it wasn't expected or demanded. It was merely the happy accident waiting around the corner from your patient pursuit of a job well-done. Serendipity is the rainbow that makes you smile, the child's innocent or naive joke that makes you laugh, and the warm fire and big mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter night that makes you feel safe and cozy.

Work to make passion, opportunity, follow-through and serendipity part of your everyday life. You'll enjoy it more if you do...

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