After reading this blog, i have learnt that:

If Life is a car then driving would be Passion. One’s self decipline would steer him on the road ahead safely.

No passion = No drive

No decipline = Dont drive (= not safe)

Friends Drive safely!

Regards,

PS

PASSION
3. Boundless enthusiasm: “His skills as a player don’t quite match his passion for the game.”

Passion comes from unconsciousness.

It’s sublimated (redirected, substituted) sexual energy.

The question is, what is the source of the passion ? We treat passion as the genesis of everything, as some fickle flame that appears out of nowhere and then flares out mysteriously. Where does it come from, and why do certain subjects make us passionate ?

In my experience, passion is not a static, inanimate thing. There are things I was passionate about that I am less passionate about now, and vice versa. Passion to me is a resonance that occurs when one particular subject or activity resonates with our particular set of values - which would seem to fit in quite directly with the notion of congruence elaborated on by Steve on some earlier posts. Perform an activity that is especially congruent with your current philosophy and system of values, and passion will ensue.

Under that definition, attaiing a goal for which there is no passion will likely cause negative feedback as there will be little sense of being true to one’s values upon completion. In fact, repeatdly using self-discipline to “force oneself” to go through goals for which one is not passionate would not only deplete the emotional fuel, but erode the self-disciplining ability that is so precious.

I also suspect that people have extremely varying notions of what passion may be. I could certainly say that I’m passionate about mathematics nowadays, but it has nothing to do with the gut-wrenching, soul-burning, head-dizzying passion that I felt for music when I was in my late teens. The former is an optimistic, quiet feeling, while the latter is an intense, yet somewhat destructive form of passion.

Passion is the fuel, self-discipline is not the fuel at all.

Actually, it’s a matter of terminology.

Whatever you call self-discipline, if it also produces actions,
it should have traces of passion, no matter how.

> Passion will create the spark, but it can’t sustain the fire.

Self-discipline will not either. Only passion will create the spark
and sustain the fire.

> All of those people you mentioned, they disciplined themselves to move
> on even when their own passion was shaken.

Actually, their passion was not shaken. They’ve been passionate
for their entire lives.

> One thing you definitely notice is that some people, despite having
> talent, never finish a project.

They don’t have enough passion.

—

> If you wereto undergo open heart surgery, would you want a
> disciplined, dispassionate surgeon or an undisciplined, passionate one?
> If you were being tried for murder, would you want a disciplined,
> dispassionate defense team or a an undisciplined, passionate one?
> If you were flying in the Space Shuttle, would you want the ground
> controllers to be disciplined and dispassionate or undisciplined and
> passionate?

Actually, I always choose creative people to work with, people who are
really interested, passionate people, not disciplined machines.

I would choose passionate doctor who is really interested in what
he’s doing to make a complex test of my blood or an immune test
(a complex test for immunity). Because it requires a lot of learing
and thinking when producing, and a lot of passion to be actually
interested.

I like visiting my passionate dentist who speaks long lectures to me
about my mouth. It seems she treats my mouth as her own, she’s really
passionate about it. And it leads to better results. I like it.

People can only produce good results when they’re really interested
in what they’re doing, i. e. when they’re passionate about what
they’re doing.

I don’t trust disciplined human machines.

—

> Personally, I’d rather have a trial attorney represent me who believes
> deep down that I am innocent and is so passionate about the law that
> he will do whatever it takes to fight for my case. As opposed to a
> disciplined attorney who just looks at me as a statistical
> probability, or a paycheck, or just some job requirement he has to
> deal with that particular day.

Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to say. Thanks for yet another analogy.

—

Still, it’s a matter of terminology. Whatever you call self-discipline,
may actually be ‘organized passion’ or kinda alike.

—

Actually all the greatest thoughts on this web-site were about
passion. There’ve been a lot of talks here about purpose, living on
purpose, importance of what is deep down inside of you, and so alike.
Isn’t it the same to live on purpose and to live on passion?

Purpose = disclosed, known, perceived passion.

Thinking that my life would become a whole lot easier once I found my passion, I was a bit disappointed to read this post. But I suppose it’s better to know this now rather than finding my passion, maybe not taking action like I thought I would, and then feeling really disappointed.

I hope your book goes into more depth on self-discipline. Your thoughts on why some people have a lot of self-discipline versus those that don’t (character traits, values?), as well as actions to take for improving self-discipline (a 30-day to Success project). I’ve only found the following information so far: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/MAC%20Self-Discipline.htm

That’ll complete the cycle.

The best programmers, I have found, have passion for their craft. They make much better communicators, too, because some of them are more in touch with what makes people like their software. If you are going to properly involve people in your plans, a smattering of passion makes all the difference. We simply do not live in a world where rational thought is the only factor. Every one of us responds to emotion. Might as well have emotion on your side!

On the other hand, you need the slef-discipline to ‘push through’ those times when on your way to your passion you find that you need to do some things that you might not be very passionate about (I am still struggling with this step, myself)

1. Without passion you have Yugos. With passion you have Ferraris

2. Discipline is a sugar cube, square, exact and unremarkable. Passion is a Mrs. Fields cookie, oblong, colorful and oh so tasty!

3. With discipline only.. you have “good enough”, The trouble is “good enough never is!” Good enough eventually puts you out of business.

While discipline is a needed component of the success quadrant, it is the least interesting. It’s the Joe Friday of the bunch… just the facts ma’m.

As per you example of the surgeon above, I would much rather have a passionate, caring doctor with a shaky hand than a slice and dice, assembly line, uncaring HMO surgeon.

Have you ever heard a speech from a disciplined speaker without passion? Monotone… Boring… In every speech contest I have ever been a part of, the passionate speaker wins!

So much for my passioned, but undisciplined rant. Great blog fodder though!

John

These analogies bother me a bit because I think they presume that discipline automatically means rightly-directly discipline and that passion is always misdirected passion.

What is the surgeon dispassionate about? Surgery? Does he hate his job and can’t wait to get home every day? And what is the surgeon disciplined about? Patient Throughput? (Getting as many patients through the health care system as possible.) Cost-cutting? (Doing his job as cheaply as humanly possible.)

Personally, I’d rather have a trial attorney represent me who believes deep down that I am innocent and is so passionate about the law that he will do whatever it takes to fight for my case. As opposed to a disciplined attorney who just looks at me as a statistical probability, or a paycheck, or just some job requirement he has to deal with that particular day.

I think both passion and self-discipline can be useful tools to achieve your goals and they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. If I had to choose one over the other though, I think if you are dealing with people, passion is usually better. But if you are dealing with things or intangibles (like time), discipline is the way to go.