They Don’t Teach Passion in School
June 5, 2007 | by brett | Permalink
School teaches students about how to write a resume. School teaches theory. And vocabulary. And accounting (in my case). And many other great things, like beer pong.
But not passion. School will not teach you how to find your passion, and there’s a reason for that.
Only you can find it.
But if I were to give a general lesson plan and to teach passion in school, this is what I would teach.
Lesson 1- Introduction
People are waiting for an epiphany. They hope that one day something will happen to them and all of a sudden they have found their passion. It doesn’t happen like that.
Lesson 2- Find your flicker
Find the little things that make you happy. A great way to start is by taking out a piece of paper and thinking. Think about what times of the day bring the most happiness for you. Think about what you are doing during those moments. Think about what your interests are. Write them down.
These are your flickers.
Lesson 3- Fires start with Flickers
Just like small flickers must be fanned to get a fire started, you need to focus on your interests to develop your passion. The lesson here is that passion starts with something small, and grows as you pay more attention to it.
Lesson 4- Do You
Now that you’ve determined what your flickers are, you have to do the things you wrote down. If you like film, focus and prioritize your activities around film. Watch a movie. Go film anything and put it on YouTube. Seek out film clubs, organizations, classes, and mentors to “fill” yourself with film. Then see if your love for film has deteriorated, or has maintained its beautiful existence.
If it has withheld the test, move on to lesson 5. If not, go back to lesson 2.
Lesson 5- That was the easy part
Finding your passion is the easy part, although sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. The hard part is the pursuit. Whereas previously you were dealing with just one complex subject, YOU, now you are dealing with a variety of external factors.
Money. Responsibility. Knowledge. Time. Staying true to yourself. Fear. Uncertainty. Confidence. These are factors that you will come across in your pursuit, however this lesson doesn’t teach you how to address these things. That’s because to pursue a passion, you have to take the road less traveled. And that road is a little different for everyone.
Here’s to starting your journey!
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Kelly G Says:
June 5th, 2007
Is that a “We Believe” t-shirt in your recent photos section? That is appropriate! Thanks for the movitational piece you sent out today!
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