Light Your Fire!

“What good is having a belly if there’s no fire in it. Wake up, drink your passion, light a match and get to work.”

 Simon Sinek

I’ve Been Thinking. . . I wish I would have said that.

There is an old Texas saying that indicates "You can't light a fire with a wet match." What's your "flammable quotient?" Are your coals smoldering? Are the flames hot and high? Are you alive with excitement? Are you doing what you love? Are you invested?

Light yourself on fire!

 Prepare

Become a passionate, self-igniting morale arsonist rather than operating on the erroneous assumption that someone else will make your job more exciting, entertaining or engaging.

Reenergizing your work spirit is an inside job. People who depend on others for the condition of their morale do themselves a huge disservice. No organization or supervisor can adequately be empowered to pump you up.

“Success,” declared Reggie Leach, “is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.”

Rare is the person who arrives at 8:07a.m. and leaves at 4:58p.m. who is ready to ignite their own flame. What you do between eight and five is doing what is expected. Willingness to do hard work, prepares people for the next opportunity that will potentially light the flame.

Perform with Passion

Working your tail off for something you don't care about is stressful. Investing ourselves in work we care about generates energy.

How many times have you been advised to “follow your passion?” Not a big fan of that advice!

Fifty years ago, I had no clue what my passion was so “pursuing my passion” was mystery advice. “I would if I knew what it was!” 

Most of us will develop and ultimately discover our passion through experimentation and hard work.

If working your tail off and investing yourself into your work doesn’t elevate your passion for what you do, you might want to reconsider your career path.

What do I really care about? How do I build that into my career?

Position

Position yourself to be ready when opportunity arises.

I spent considerable time sitting on the bench during my high school and college career in athletics. I never forgot that my next opportunity to contribute might arise at any moment. . . and it did. My job was to be ready to perform.

Ironically this meant continually preparing and performing in practice.

It's like the 16-year-old boy who worked at a Ford dealership until 6:00 PM every school day and volunteered to put in twelve-hour days during the summer. Part of his job was taking off the hubcaps at night so they wouldn't be stolen. One day, carrying an armful of hubcaps, he almost bumped into the new general manager and dropped all the hubcaps. The boy was fired on the spot.

He had a fire in his belly for working around cars. He asked for his job back, with no success.

So, he wrote to Henry Ford II. He explained what happened, reminded Mr. Ford that his family was a loyal Ford family, and that when he was old enough he was going to buy a Mustang. He asked for his job back.

People with a fire in their belly are passionate about doing what they do.

Eventually, the dealer called the boy and said, "I don't know who you know in Detroit, but if you want your job back, you got it."

His former boss wasn’t ready for what happens when someone has a fire in their belly. 

That same boy, later in college, wanted to work at a Rolls Royce dealership but the owner said there were no openings. So, the boy started washing cars there anyway. When the owner noticed the young man and asked what he was doing, the young man simply said he was working there until he was hired.

The young man, Jay Leno, was ultimately hired.

Philosopher Warren Buffet offers this advice, “There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?”

What are you saving up for?

“The only way to do great works is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”                                       

?Steve Jobs