As I laid there, my head still nuzzled in the soft embrace of the pillows, I could feel the warm glow of sunshine shining through the window. As I opened my eyes I could see it just cresting the horizon and gracing the world with the dawn of a new day. I felt good as I slide off the edge of my bed and headed to the shower. I had been up late the night before, in fact, I only had maybe 4 to 5 hours of sleep behind me but I was feeling great. The previous night had seen me pouring over code of my newly minted project and I had managed to get the core structures in place – I could see it start to come together. In fact this whole week I have been caught up in the project, every spare minute spent sketching, planning, and designing. I have notes scattered everywhere throughout the house; database designs on the coffee table, different UI layouts on the counters … I would not be surprised if you found sketches in the bathroom. I could not sleep, I needed to keep working. This is going to be great … it is going to change the world.

Except, that wasn’t my day today. It is true that I was up late and likely only got 4-5 hours sleep (maybe 6), but I was washing dishes and updating the online stats sheets for our hockey league. I woke up to the incessant beeping of my iPhone alarm and dragged myself from my bed and to the shower. There I stood, water pouring down onto my head as I slowly woke, centered myself, and looked out at my day. I had things to do, tasks to accomplish. As I left the house and started out on my long commute to the office the rain hit, it was only then I realized how dreary the day looked. It was going to be another day of pushing papers and cleaning code of bugs. Yet, I needed to. I needed to pay for the bills, which fed my family, my bed, and the roof over my head. It allowed me to explore several of my inspirations, and I have several brewing currently. While I hadn’t spent the time on them I would like, I put in what I can. My notes litter my desk, counter, and coffee table. Each of the ideas is different and don’t overlap on their own, yet each has a common thread. A singular motivation … a purpose. It is for that I push on. For through that purpose we are going to change the world.

…
It is during that long commute I was taking the opportunity to listen to Ego Is the Enemy. In chapter 8 of the audio book, Ryan Holiday suggests that we ignore our passion as passions are fleeting and often reckless. In this he is right, passions are often fleeting and can often result in many workshop floors littered with unfinished products. I am not going to dig deep into his point at this time, many because it got me thinking and thus a little distracted.

In fact this topic came up later with a friend, and from that I felt that passion alone can be reckless and irresponsible but that it is also not something to be ignored. Instead, passion needs to be matched with purpose. Without purpose, passion for a project is like a drag car without a road.

Passion is the gas, Purpose the steering wheel.

While passion can be a great motivator and ensure things are done correctly, it can be hard to find somedays. Days when your energy is low and the work seems too daunting … where is your passion? Days when the clouds cover the skies, your muscles are sore, and your brain is tired … the passion seems lost. As the great energizer, it should be Passion that is pulling you from your bed and moving you along … but it doesn’t. That is your purpose. Your purpose is what drags you from the sheets and gets the first cup of coffee into your system. Purpose will keep you going when the tasks are not fun, it keeps you disciplined when you want to throw in the towel. Yet, without passion, purpose eventually loses momentum and interest fades.

To avoid this, it is important to maintain or restore the passion for a project. I believe the best source for rejuvenating your passion is by revisiting your purpose. Explore and discuss your mission, your vision, the very reason WHY you started down this road, preferably with a group of people you can feed ideas off of. This is what those corporate events, those team offsets, those year-end presentations are suppose to do but miss so completely … and it is one thing Apple® is famous for during their keynote addresses. They may touch on the numbers, the products, and the happenings … but they always explain a why, their why. When authentic it breeds passion amongst their fans, their employees, and the general market. The best motivational speakers also look to tap into that same well, specifically getting you to tap back into your own purpose, personal or professional, and extract your passions.

Passion may power you while purpose keeps you going in the right direction and that same purpose then is there to re-ignite your passion when energy fades. Use it to change your world.

I am still only partially through the book, but so far has been chalked full of valuable nuggets on how your Ego impacts your life through how you view others and view your world. If you have read the book I would love to hear your thoughts or any additional recommendations you have.

Tonight was another frustrating drive home. Thankfully I had left work on a positive note, managing to clear a few road blocks before heading out the door. Problem was I was leaving about 10 minutes later than I should … thinking much like Mr. Incredible did, “I got time…” … however, that was not what I had. I immediately came into traffic with no where to go. Not good.

I pull out the phone and check the GPS, only 1hr 26 minutes until home. A quick glance at the clock told me all I needed to know, I was looking at being at least 30 minutes late. Definitely not good.

My older son had called earlier and asked to go to a friends, but my younger son was at the YMCA aftercare program. Once again, I was on a race to get home. Do I call their mother to pick him up? Do I call one of the other emergency contacts? The easiest and most obvious is to just contact the friends where Joe was, so after a quick touch based there I contacted the group at the YMCA.

This is where I still get kind of amazed. To allow new people to be authorized to collect Owen from the YMCA I simply needed to add them through the website … and that only required me to pull to the side of the road and pull out my iPhone. Even as I work in the tech field and create mobile applications and websites for a living, here I was sitting on the side of the road applying it to real life, unplanned issues. Even 10 years ago, this would have been almost impossible.

… And of course, true to how problems quickly get out of control, the website would not properly load for me. I was losing driving time parked on the side of the road … so I called my life line and a friend was able to add the needed contact to the list and I was able to get back on the road. If there is one thing I have found over the last couple years is that nothing beats having friends you can lean on.

The power of having a community, often referred to as “your tribe”, is critical to push you forward and catch you when you fall. The problem I faced today was small … was a small monkey wrench in the daily life of being dad. There was no one to be mad at, it was no ones fault … in fact I never really saw why the traffic was held up. However, instead of squeezing tight on my steering wheel and racing into a ticket or an accident myself I asked for help – as life takes a community.

I am very grateful.