10 Things That Might Be Keeping You From Living Your Passion

Sharing my own personal demons here.  Maybe you can relate.

1. Fear. Fear is an invisible force that keeps 99% of the population from ever accomplishing anything worthwhile, creative, or important.  There are no recorded instances where being afraid of things that might, or might not, happen in the future ever actually influenced the outcome.  So get over it.
2. Failure. I have experienced more failures in my past than successes.  Maybe you have too.  That can either prevent us from trying anything ever again, or only trying things that are guaranteed to succeed.  Either way, our lives end up falling short of what they were destined to be.
3. Fear of Failure. This is a bad combination.  It’s firmly anchored in the Shell Identity, our false self, which can’t stand looking stupid in front of other people.  The only people who never fail are the ones who never try.  And everybody looks dumb to somebody when they fail.  Failure is the equivalent of battle scars borne by people who have the guts to go after their dreams.
4. Pride. The source of much evil in this world.  It blinds us to our shortcomings.  It convinces us we don’t need to change.  It sets us up as judges over all humanity in our own minds.  It’s that great, big blind spot in our lives.  Pride also keeps us defending the life choices which have led us to where we are today.  And if that place is a dead-end, where we aren’t living out our calling, pride keeps us from re-evaluating and making changes.
5. Arrogance. It’s not the same thing as pride.  It’s one of its ugly symptoms.  When we are arrogant, we can’t see ourselves for who we really are, and start to deceive ourselves into thinking we are more than we are.  By contrast, humility is the pathway to personal development and spiritual growth.  When we are humble, we recognize that everyone is superior to us in some way.  If we keep that in mind, we will be able to recognize potential mentors when God brings them into our lives.  Otherwise, we become that guy that everyone thinks is arrogant, but they would never say that to us, because they also know we wouldn’t listen.  And they’d be right.
6. Un-teachability. What good are mentors if we are unable to learn.  Life is a journey toward mastery.  Whatever our craft is, others have been doing it longer than us.  And outside of our craft,  other people can teach us how to be more personable, more grateful, better listeners, more compassionate.  All of these are essential tools to finding and fulfilling our calling.
7. Your Tribe. We are genetically programmed toward Tribe mentality.  We want to fit into the clan, and we fear being excommunicated.  So, we care about what our tribe thinks.  The problem is, sometimes our tribe is keeping us down.  We tend to emulate the lifestyle of the people we spend the most time with.  If those people are all not living their passions, fulfilling their callings, and have no desire to escape from cubicle nation, chances are we never will.  Don’t let your tribe keep you in a perpetual cul-de-sac.
8. Unsteady Eddie. What’s the last thing you followed through on?  What’s the last thing you started and took to completion?  Do people ever take you seriously when you say you’re going to do something?  On the list of unfinished things in my life are three colleges, five books, several careers, and a 500 square foot addition in a previous house, to name just a few.   What’s on yours?  Dependability, consistency, and follow through is what will change you from being a chronic un-finisher to an artist with a portfolio of killer work.
9. You Inner Actuary. The bean counter in your brain which runs everything through the spreadsheet and measures everything in pros and cons, worst case scenarios, and risk/reward.  Seizing your calling doesn’t fit into a spreadsheet.  It’s fueled by passion and comes with a side of reckless abandon.  You inner actuary is valuable for balancing the checkbook.  When it comes to planning your great swan dive across The Chasm?   Leave him at home.
10. Lack of Vision. You don’t have to be able to see how the story ends.  You just have to know what direction you want to go, and what the scenery should look like.  If you have a vision, it isn’t always clear, but it’s always there.  It’s like a fog that never lifts from your mind.  Having a vision for where we want to go, who we want to be, and what we really want to do in life greatly increases the chances of getting there, and recognizing the destination.

This is Day 29 of the 100 Day Challenge.

Post your comments if you thought this article was lame, or it helped you out in some way.  Or Tweet it, link to it, or forward it to a friend.  Or email me at me@jasonrink.com.  I would love to hear what you think!

Tagged as: 100 Day Challenge, Crossing the Chasm, Shell Identity