I was at a networking meeting the other day. The guest speaker introduced herself by passing out her business card. Each side was different from the other. She held up one side to us to see, and said, “This is my passion.” It was colorful and showed the covers of three of her books that she has written. We were to learn later that these books are used by several major universities for literature classes.
Then she turned the card around for us to see the other side. She said that this was her business. It looked like a typical business card that began with the name of her business, “More Than Words.” It listed her contact information like any normal business card would do. Then she said, “My question to you is, how closely related is your passion to your business?” WOW! That question led me back to a time in my life not long ago where I asked that question to myself. I then decided that I would change the focus of my work to more closely reflect my passion and my gifts.
Not too long ago a friend told me that since I have made the change in my work life, he sees me with more energy and life. That really confirmed for me that the change I made was the right one. As a life coach I encourage people to understand their passion, then build their work around it. So, what about you? Do you have a passion for something, a cause, a course in life? How aligned with what you do for a living is this passion of yours?
Our speaker that day was Shirley Hall. She is a writer, poet, author and editor. You can find her at