“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal… requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Earlier I wrote about intensity.  Being passionate is the root cause of intensity.  If you are not passionate about something, you can never sustain the intensity needed to be great, long enough to get there.

You must do an honest assessment, dig deep, and find the thing that stokes the furnace of passion within you.  When you find that thing, throw fuel on the fire, and let it consume your entire being.  Or just do what most folks do, tamp it down and self-medicate with food, alcohol, TV, movies, video games, social media, or whatever the “drug” of choice of the masses.

Most folks are afraid to be passionate about anything, let alone THE THING.  They are afraid the fire within may burn only hot enough to frustrate them, so they keep the flame as low as possible.  Others redirect the flame onto something “safe”, never risking their own dreams for fear of disappointment.  They are content to be passionate about the performance of others (their own kids, college teams, professional athletes, contestants on talent shows, political figures, celebrities, etc.), sitting on the sidelines, elated by a victory earned by others and disappointed at a loss, yet all of it comfortably vicarious.

The genesis of peak performance is this: Passion drives intensity, and sustained intensity is the vehicle which will take the performer to his or her highest potential.

It all starts with passion, without it, human beings never make the required sacrifices, endure the suffering, or continue through the struggles with the tireless exertions necessary to achieve THE THING.

What is your passion? What are you doing to fuel that fire? Or are you keeping the flame low, fearing disappointment? Are you redirecting your passion to a comfortably vicarious counterfeit?

Feed your passion and starve your fears.

Boo Yah!