5 things I learned by following my passion!

Submitted by kairoer on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 14:05.
I believe in constant development. I believe we can evolve our body and mind, and exceed the boundaries we have been imposed by our surroundings and background. 
When I grew up, my mother would constantly tell me that I was destined for something big. She would not tell me what -truth is she had no clue, and most likely still don´t have a clue. So I had to come up with something big all by myself. 
Later, when I had grown up, I constantly heard “But Kai, you cannot do that or this! It is impossible/stupid/never done before”. And variants of such expressions. 
Sometimes I actually believe it would not be possible, and I did not follow the path to greatness. Other times, the passion I carry with me simply was too big to overlook, and I just had to do what I sat out to do.
And following my passions, doing the things I cared about, enabled me to grow as a person, friend, business man and in general. And as I grew, I learned some important things:
Your passion generates success
If there is one thing only that I have learned from my experiences, it is that following your passion generates success. All the choices that have taken me to where I am today was made on my passion. Me driving trucks as a hobby, me deciding to go against all advices and quit my job. Me choosing to train and inspire people around the world - without getting paid for it. 
All the choices I made based on my passion has helped increase the success I have had in my life. And I continue to let passion be my guide as I move forward, and by doing so I increase the success. 
Trust your instinct, your passion, yourself!
Very often I meet people who say that it is not possible to do that or this. And sometimes it is very tempting to just let them be right. But if you have a passion for what you do, then I find that following that passion will take you where ever you want to go, what ever you want to do. 
If you know deep down in your heart (or where you find your passion) that what you want to do is the right thing for you to do, then doing it will make it happen for sure. I believe that as long as you follow your passion, you can never go wrong. Perhaps others will say you are stupid, or that what you are doing is wrong. But as long as you follow your passion, it will never be wrong for you. 
So go out there, and just do it! Follow your heart, let your passion be your guide!
It may seem impossible, but you can do it!
Like most other people in this world, I have had moments where it seemed impossible to go on, impossible to create the success you want. 
I used to do mountain climbing (still do, but not regularly anymore), and I often found myself in a tight spot. I would be halfway up the wall, my feet on a tiny, almost non-existing crack, and my fingers grasping against the rock to get a hold on something. Usually I would find myself in an awkward position, knowing that the tiniest of movement would cause me to fly - and that was to be avoided at all cost. 
After climbing for years, I started to be very conscious about these moments. I started to notice that those times I did not believe I could make it, I fell. Every time. But when I focused my mind, telling myself that “I can do this”, somehow I made it. Every time. 
Today I carry this knowledge with me, and I recall these moments when I am in a tight spot, not sure of what to do next. 
At those moments, I tell myself: “Kai, you can do this!“ And it turns out that I am right about that! 
Never been done before? So what!
Back in 1995, I got an idea to build a system to automatically publish information the Internet. It had to be multilingual - supporting Norwegian, German, Spanish and English. I took the idea and sold it to one of my clients. Then I went to my team of programmers and told them what I wanted them to make. 
All of them told me that this would not work, it had never been done before. At that time, I had to show them exactly what to do, and how to do it. And I was not a programmer. I spent the night learning enough Perl to make a working prototype. When my team came to the office the next day, I showed them what I had done, and told them to clean up the code and make a high-quality delivery out of it. 
This tiny piece of code started one of the adventures of my life, building the worlds first multilingual Content Management Solution. 
And it taught me that I can do whatever I want, even if it has never been done before. 
Money is not the answer to everything
I happen to live in one of the richest countries in the world. I have all the things I need to live a very happy life. I can travel far and near, I have a nice place to live, clothes to put on, food on my table and means of transportation should I need to move around. 
But more important to me than the monetary side of things is the things money cannot buy.  With money, I can get more stuff. I can travel more - or less if I prefer. I can buy another car, or a house, or even give it to some soul in need. 
Funny thing though, is that I no longer enjoy all the stuff I can get with money. I prefer things like my family, my friends. I like to empower and help develop other people. I enjoy seeing how I can impact the world and make it a better place for so many. 
In my heart, I never had any passion for money. My passion is for other people. I lived a long time believing that money was truly important, and that I needed to do anything in my power to gather as much money as possible. And I was never happy living like that. So at one point, I simply decided that instead of following the money-trail, I will follow my passion instead - no matter if I make money or not. And I have never been more happy in my life! 
 
Do you follow your passion? How do your passion generate success for you? 

It's the third time I'm

Submitted by Anonym bruker (not verified) on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 07:22.

It's the third time I'm reading this post and it's deeply inspiring to me.
I was at the cross road, and I made the choice to follow my dream and passion.
Once the choice has been made, my mind is much more clear, but the road is sc

Thanks for this inspiring Post

Submitted by Mawuna (not verified) on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 16:52.

Hi Kai,
It's the third time I'm reading this post and it's deeply inspiring to me.
I was at the cross road, and I made the choice to follow my dream and passion.
Once the choice has been made, my mind is much more clear, but the road is scary: thousands of pressing questions from friends, family and no clear answer. How will you live without a salary? Where will you live? When you'll have your first income? isn't it egoist to leave a comfortable job without thinking about your family and your son? Can't you continue a little bit with your job? are you sure it'll work out your project?
I'm fragile, uncertain, left alone with my passion like engine, and my dream as the guiding star in the sky.
Thanks for these words: "So go out there, and just do it! Follow your heart, let your passion be your guide!"
I need a mentor like you, to push me to my limit and make it happen this dream.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.