When I was 19 years old, I started a two year adventure as a missionary, going to serve the people in the great cities of Brooklyn and Queens, New York. This was my first time away from home and family. Needless to say, this was a huge period of growth for me as a person. Today I'd like to share one lesson of many that I learned from that period of my life.

Before arriving in New York, I spent two and a half months in Provo, Utah where I received training, studied American sign language, and read from the scriptures. My time was filled with classes, devotionals, personal study, practice teaching, serving, and daily exercise. I was with a group of 8 others going across the United States, who were also assigned to learn sign. Most of our day was spent with one another. I started to get really comfortable with the routine, with the people around me, just the lifestyle in general.

That comfort was pulled out from under me one Sunday.

Prior to our church services that day, we had some sort of leadership training that I was to attend. It was in a smaller classroom, probably 7 or 8 other missionaries were in attendance. I settled into my desk and waited for our teacher to begin. He turned to us, scanning over us, addressed me and said,

"Come up and provide us with the lesson."

That nervous sweat you get when all the attention is suddenly put on you began and I responded,

"Oh, I wasn't given the lesson to teach."

He had moved to an empty desk, and as he sat, he looked at me,

"I don't care. You can see what the topic is. Teach us."

I grabbed my books and headed to the front of the class. I stood there, red faced, sweating, my frenzied mind unable to locate a point to start on. I stammered, trying to find something, drowning in my words, flipping through pages of my scriptures and manual. After what felt like minutes of this uncomfortable, embarrassing display, the teacher chimed in,

"You don't need those."

He closed both books and slid them to the end of the desk in front of me. Surprised, and thinking he was kidding for some reason, I stepped toward and reached for my books. He  grabbed them and moved them to his own desk.

"You're using these as crutches. You don't need them." 

I was astounded. The things that bad dreams are made of were materializing right in front of me (thankfully, I was still fully clothed). I knew the topic, but didn't know it well enough to teach it. I had a question come to my mind, so I asked it. A pair of people started sharing their answers and as I listened, another question came to mind. The discussion snowballed, and we ended up having a great lesson with one another. I wasn't struck with an entire lesson plan, but that one question, was a tiny step in the right direction that got us where we needed to go.

The phrase, "You're using these as crutches," not only served me well in that classroom that day, but served me as I lived in New York and even to this day will come up when needed. The fact is, you and I probably use crutches in our life more than we'd like to admit. 

Take it from someone who has had enough sprained/broken ankles to know the value of crutches. They are a great tool to allow mobility when it would be difficult without them. However, using them constantly would weaken one of your legs (and if I can be totally candid,  give you sore and bloody armpits, and some nice blisters). Crutches can be a number of things, a job, a negative habit, a limited ideal. The thing about them is they don't have to be negative influences. Sometimes you have to get into a job, or stay in a job, because you have bills, rent, etc. Sometimes a habit that you've developed preserves your sanity. Sometimes you believe something in your life because if you didn't you'd crash down in a deep depression. Crutches may be helpful in some of these situations. 

In the above TED Talk, Amy Purdy shares her journey where she had to overcome multiple physical and mental crutches to go on and do great things. No one would have blamed Amy if she had, through "practicality", deduced that there were things that she couldn't do anymore. If she had lowered the ceiling on the potential that she had in life, no one would have thought twice about it. I love her line,

"Our borders, our obstacles can only do two things - 1) Stop us in our tracks or 2) force us to get creative."

Amy got creative and designed equipment that would allow her to continue on with her passion of snowboarding. She showed extraordinary willpower and strength to overcome her physical obstacles. She helps me realize that no matter what, there is a solution to whatever problems that we face in our lives.

My call to myself and to anyone who this message has struck a chord - do three things:
1) Examine, deeply and honestly, what crutches are keeping you from thriving.
2) Ponder creative ways to eliminate that crutch from your life.
3) Act. Do something, no matter how small, to move yourself in that direction.

It can be a difficult, uncomfortable, embarrassing process, but I can promise, through experience, that small acts begin the passage to the biggest changes.

I came across an interesting concept as I was reading Sir Ken Robinson's book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. In a chapter he titles Is It Too Late? he discusses the plasticity of our brains and discusses the learning that takes place in our early lives. When specifically discussing language he states,

"Babies don't learn to speak by instruction. They learn by imitation and inference."

This section made me think immediately of my 7 month old daughter and how she is developing and made me realize that the pace of growth that she is progressing at puts my growth to shame. Everything she does is learning - how to function in life, to use her body, her voice, pains and tiredness, discovering new people, and knowing what to do to get what she wants (which she's getting scary good at). She is discovering new things every day. 

Taking this concept, I concluded that there are many things that our young ones can teach us about how to have a more fulfilling life. But first, a couple great videos!

Kids are filled with curiosity

Kids are constantly wondering about things they see, think, and feel. For our daughter Gwen, there was about a week where numerous times throughout the day we would see her just staring at her hand. She would move her fingers, move her hand back and forth, then try to gouge her eyes out. As kids get older there are various stages, the get-into-everything stage, the 'why' stage, the ever dangerous boys/girls-are-starting-to-get-interesting phase. Curiosity propels them each and every day to figure things out. These times of discovery last with us forever, popping up every once in a while as nostalgia, remembering what it was like to ride a bike for the first time, or when we summoned enough courage to ask that girl to dance. 

Somewhere along the line, we lose (or have taken from us) that sense of curiosity, feeling like our value lies in knowing things. This is a mistake. William Arthur Ward stated, "Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning." By losing our curiosity, we will never be able to gain the kind of knowledge we need to succeed in finding our passions.

Kids aren't afraid of failure

Curiosity leads to all sorts of escapades - some good, some bad, most great if you're able to get them on camera. Kids will try almost anything, say almost anything, and do it over and over again. You only have to observe a child attempting to walk to realize that no matter how many times they fall down, they're going to get up and try it again. Again, as we grow older and start to "know" more about the world, fear creeps in and we stop doing things because we think we'll fail. We are creatures that like to take the easy route. Inside our brains, that easy route spots more obstacles and reasons not to do something. Our kids learn so well because they don't care about how they look or what other people think. This trait would help so many people, and is essential in finding your passion in life

If necessary, cry it out

Many may be thinking, 'But kids get hurt, they cry, they get into trouble, etc.' You are right. However, you are wrong in the fact that this is a negative thing. Children generally get over things quickly, they have a quick cry, they get consolation, and they move on. I'm noticing an epidemic of self pity in our society today and as one who is at times stricken with it, I know very personally how destructive it can be to get into the habit of dwelling on failures. In small doses, a good cry can be beneficial. Prolonged pity, however, creates a cycle of negativity that stops you dead in your tracks. There is nothing wrong with getting hurt because you took a chance, or a small amount of trouble. In our failures we learn valuable lessons that can't be learned by reading, thinking, or any other thing but experience. Sometimes those lessons do hurt, but if we are ever going to be fulfilled by our passion, we must learn to get over things quickly and keep moving forward.

Be curious, don't be afraid to fail, and if necessary cry it out and move on. These are things I'm trying to do in my own life in order to increase my rate of my learning. Going back to the quote that started this all, Brian Tracy reenforces this entire concept and brings is full circle. Our curious, not-afraid-to-fail mindsets will allow us to imitate with just as much success as our kids.

​Walter Elias Disney has made a profound impact on my life. Not simply because I grew up watching his movies and shows, or having a blast at his amusement park, it's because I've taken the time to get to know him a little better. I'm reading The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney and currently at the beginning stages of his life in the cartooning business. There are so many reasons to admire what Mr. Disney did throughout his life and I hope that I can show just what I've learned as I've gotten to know him better.

Walt Disney persevered through much adversity

At the time Walt Disney started creating cartoons, it was a dry, desolate desert of a market. Most at the time felt that cartoons were for children and were a silly way of spending time. Simply starting in a field that was seemingly unrewarding financially shows that Walt really believed in the vision that he had conjured up. Getting his animation studio up and running proved to be difficult. Disney was saddled with debt and his first animation studio in Kansas City went bankrupt, prompting a move to Hollywood, California. Continuing on his dream, his 2nd animation studio began to gain some traction. He had success with Alice Comedies and had just created a new character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The success prompted Walt to negotiate a higher fee for creating the popular cartoons, but the producer demanded that the fee be lowered and when Disney refused, took all the animators, who were under contract to the producer, and the trademark for Oswald, leaving Walt to start again at square 1.

These early "failures" would have prompted many men to take the safe road and get a more practical career. None of these, however, could dampen Walt's determination to continue. The Disney Bros Studios would have to continue on through the Great Depression, and World War II and many other mishaps, but Walt persevered through it all to become one of the most famous people in history and the poster child for imaginations and following dreams.

Walt Disney knew his strengths and weaknesses

Walt Disney wasn't a great cartoonist. It's strange to think about, seeing that's all we think about when we hear the name Disney, but he really couldn't have made it far as an illustrator. It's difficult to admit when we have a weakness, especially when we have a passion like Walt did for illustration. Walt knew that he couldn't hold on to this pride if he ever wanted to make something come from this. He surrounded himself with some of the best illustrators he could find, and even founded an academy for those graduating from college could come to hone their skills and bring Walt's vision to life.

Where Walt set himself apart was inspiring others to share the vision that he himself had. In a documentary, it was shared that after a long day of work, Walt sent out his illustrators to grab dinner and then to return to the studio that evening. When everyone had arrived Walt began to act out the entirety of his vision for Snow White, acting out each character (his illustration team said that Walt could act out anything, bringing life into characters). Walt knew his place. He knew his strengths and implemented them. He knew his weakness, and built a team to make up for them. He created a team which made him say, 
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible"

Walt Disney was an innovator

Walt never allowed himself to be held back by the technology or techniques of cartooning in his day. In his early days, he  set his cartoons apart by creating a way to make the movements on the screen and the music and sounds blend seamlessly together. This alone set him apart from his competitors, being the only cartoons that were able to accomplish this feat. He went on to create a set up that would allow different frames to be placed on top of each other, and the camera would travel through, giving a 3-dimensional feel. For instance, if a scene took place in the woods, when watching the finished product, you would feel surrounded by trees, passing individual ones as you passed by. Ideas like these and many more allowed Disney to provide a product that people didn't even think they wanted.

These among other lessons, I could have only learned by picking up a book, watching a few documentaries, and trying to understand exactly how Walt Disney was successful in following his passion. If I am able to persevere, understand my strengths and weaknesses, and be innovative in the field I choose, I am putting together some of the best ingredients to make my dreams a reality.

 Wanted to get a quick post up letting you know what I'm doing or plan to do in order to help uncover my passion. After discussing the power of habits, I wanted to provide a list of just what some of those habits might look like. Please comment, Tweet, or email me (growskey23@gmail.com) to tell me what habits have contributed to your success and have led you to your passion!

If this is the first post you're reading on Mining For Passion, to more fully understand this post, please read my previous post Motivation - That Elusive Ideal. At minimum, please watch the video at the end - Dan Pink The Puzzle of Motivation. 

While Dan Pink focused mostly on the application of his principles on business, I doubt we'll have a hard time applying the ideas discussed into our lives and daily decisions. I chose the picture at the beginning of this article because I love the imagery of diverging paths when compared to making decisions in our lives. Decisions are being made in almost any way we can think of, thousands of times a day. Conscious or subconscious, impulsive or deliberate, life altering or inconsequential, every single one of us are traveling down a path and are continuously having to choose where we are led throughout that day. Its a crude, oversimplified illustration, but as we make better decisions, we are led to places we want to end up. I understand this isn't the case 100% of the time hence the lament, "Why do bad things always happen to good people?" but more often than not, its true. Even when thinking of motivation as a starting boost, a catalyst to forming habits, it can still be difficult to make the decisions that will lead us to success. Dan, however, gave us another way to strengthen our resolve to do what's best for us. 

What I'd like to extract are Dan Pink's points of comparing extrinsic motivators (money, promotions, favors, external rewards) vs intrinsic motivators (making a difference, gaining knowledge, serving others, doing what you enjoy, internal rewards). As we heard in the video, intrinsic motivators blow extrinsic ones out of the water in most cases. Now think of the goals you have for yourself and ask yourself, why. Why do you want your goal? It requires complete honesty, and if you are, you may find the root as to why you aren't accomplishing goals. Let's take a common goal - exercise. Many attempt motivate themselves with: 

Bigger muscles
Flatter tummies
Being able to eat whatever we want
Monetary rewards

For some these work, but I would bet many times these goals aren't achieved over a long period of time. Imagine now replacing those reasons for establishing such a goal with intrinsic motivators:

Having energy
Feeling healthier
Being around to see your family grow older
Gaining confidence

Can you see how the first set of goals are like lighter fluid? (Again, if you didn't read my last post, you may get confused here). You may get that boost from the idea of achieving one, but they aren't strong enough to conquer the warmness of your bed, the appeal of doing just about anything else, and avoiding the pain we put ourselves through in those torture chambers we call 'Gym'. 

Instead, I'd like to get a little bit deeper into that second group of motivators, but broaden them out as things that I've found in my life to be extremely motivating. These things have given me the ability to keep my fire burning bright.

When examining my life, I have found that my motivations or habits that are driven by the intent to do good for others, they're generally good habits. Those bad habits I've developed are generally because I'm only thinking of myself. Please don't misunderstand me to say you should never do things for yourself. Many times you need to do things for yourself simply to maintain your sanity, which is definitely a benefit for the relationships around you. There is a fountain of intrinsic motivation within the relationships in our lives.

And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent
John 17:3

​Again, a topic that may have just driven a group of people away from the rest of this article. But it would be irresponsible of me to keep something that I believe has had the greatest impact on my life. The experiences in my life have fueled this belief and I am dedicated to living a life that would make my Heavenly Father happy. Now, it is not my intention to belittle any beliefs or ideas, but I believe there is a part of us, whether we like it or not, that accepts moral principles and senses truth. It is that portion of us, a conscious, an inner voice, whatever you'd like to call it, that holds unlimited power and potential, if we can learn to understand and give heed to it. Its the portion that allows us to act in this life, and not be controlled by circumstance. 

I love both of these quotes, but won't say too much concerning them, because whatever I have to add would probably detract from their pure meaning. Ponder on them and feel free to share with me what you think of as you read them. My point is, if you're looking for a way to live a motivated life, find within yourself your voice. You are the only one that can do it. Others may say things that stir your soul, but ultimately it is your personal decisions that will allow you to use such a power form of motivation in your life. 

This is the phrase Sigmund Freud used to describe one of the motivations of everything we do. However, great is a highly subjective term. It is upon each of us to discover some of our natural aptitudes, talents, and interests, and combine that with work and effort in order to make a mark on this world. Greatness to me isn't fame, an endless bank account, or lifelong comfort. Greatness is building, it's creating, it's using my abilities and talents to make the world a better place. Many believe it to be a cliche notion, and those people will most likely end up short of greatness.

The path to greatness lies through finding passion. Finding passion enlivens you in a way that you have greater energy, greater capacity, greater creativity, greater innovation, and you begin to even surprise yourself as to what you are able to accomplish. That's why this quest is so important to me, and why I hope to get this message out to others. Finding your passion is painted often as a waste of time, that following the path of education or secure careers, but I firmly believe that almost everything in life can be put on hold in order to find what your passion is. Doing this will allow everything else to fall into place.

Motivation is a polarizing concept. As it's met with apathetic eye rolls, it is just as veraciously preached and defended as an idea that can transform any person or group. For me, I can find myself in either camp every other day. No matter which side I'm on, motivation is always a topic that I'm trying to figure out. In conversation with others, it's interesting how often I hear things like, "I can't be doing nothing, I have to be up doing something," or "I can't watch more than a show a day," all the while I'm sitting thinking, if only Nothing Doing were a career path. For a long time, this repeated event led me to believe that I just had a natural inclination toward laziness or that others just had a natural ability to be continuously motivated. I created the excuse that this was reality and little could be done to change these predispositions. But, every so often, I'd get these strong yearnings, feelings that I was meant to do more than I was currently doing. Sightings of elusive motivation added to it's attractiveness as a topic to ponder and understand. But nothing changed for years.

I would ask myself "How am I going to be able to do this for the rest of my life?" Anything is going to be daunting if put into rest-of-your-life terms. About the only thing that I can 100% guarantee that I'll do for the rest of my life is breathe. Immature thoughts like this kept me from doing things I should have been doing and kept me doing things that were useless for my growth. That is the tragedy when we aren't doing that we should be, we further ourselves away from success by doing things we shouldn't be, forming the wrong types of habits.

The quote at the beginning of this post came to the rescue. I heard it recently on an episode of The Ziglar Podcast, and something about it clicked in my mind; a breakthrough that I may look back on for years as a changing point in my life. Motivation isn't intended to be drawn upon every hour of every day. It's a spring board. It's that 15 seconds of insane courage. It gets you up and moving. But it won't keep you there. That's what I misunderstood. I thought it was the driving force, the goal to work towards, the attribute to be conquered and attained. It's much like lighter fluid; very valuable to get a fire started, but horrible for keeping a fire burning on its own. Instead, use small bursts of motivation until a habit is formed. Think about habits you already have in your life. Do you have to pump yourself up to brush your teeth everyday? No, that habit has been engrained for years, you barely even notice it now. That's where we have to get with whatever tasks we are trying to accomplish now, whatever it is.

Insight into my life - I've never been an avid reader. I enjoy good books, but would often pass on reading, choosing instead a movie, listening to music, or some other form of entertainment. Years of this pattern left me unfulfilled. There seems to be something imbedded in us that gives us the desire to learn. Through suggestions from many friends, I dove head first into the vast world of podcasts. My initial motivation lead me day by day to listen to a variety of podcasts, a habit blossomed. I firmly believe that the only reason that I have this burning desire to spend time with this blog comes from that habit that has been created in my own life. This small twig is catching fire, propelling me to a new motivation to spend more time reading books. Something that was uninteresting and difficult before is currently in the beginning stages of my next life altering habit.

Please, if you find yourself struggling with the idea of motivation like I do, attempt to view it as a quick short term, boost of energy or application of willpower. Change your goal from being motivated into gaining healthy habits. Realize that progression in your life rarely comes from a single event or a secret cure. It comes through stringing together boosts of motivation for long enough to form a habit (which research says is about 3 weeks). Let your habits lead you to other habits until you are transformed by the refiner's fire into a new human being, someone who is continuously growing.

You will find quickly that I devour TED talks and find so much value in them that I would feel selfish if I don't share the insights that I gain from them. With that, find 18 minutes in your day to watch this one titled "The Puzzle of Motivation" by Dan Pink. In my next post, this video will serve as the launch point as my discussion ventures deeper into the principle of motivation, but I want you to have time to watch it and ponder on how the principle Dan is teaching can affect change in your life.

Albert Einstein, highly regarded as one of the most intelligent human beings that has ever lived, believed that imagination plays a huge role in our lives. He said,

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." 

There seems to be an unbalanced value placed on knowledge (or the appearance thereof) in today's societal priorities, casting aside imaginations like a scrap of paper carelessly over our shoulder. I, too, unfortunately have followed this whim for most of my life, believing that an imagination is something nice for when you have nothing else to do and that knowledge is really the driving force that will bring me what I want in life. Currently, I'm a college student, right in the thick of the pinnacle of education in our society,  but have a gnawing feeling that many of my studies are empty bits of knowledge and facts that will largely be forgotten upon receiving my degree. This is an alarming feeling, being two semesters from graduation, on the edge of my career's genesis, feeling that I still have no idea what I will be doing with my life. 

Thoughts like these aren't a once-in-a-while thing as they used to be in year's past, but are a ever present flow of thought, using our evolved frontal lobe to assess each avenue that my life could progress down, weighing the consequences of each. By doing so, I've begun to realize my current attitudes and actions are leading me to a life that wouldn't suit me well. The following are a few finding that I've discovered during these mental exercises:

​1) I'm Not Normal

Many look for a good, stable job, working for a good company, and putting in their 9-5 each day and collecting a regular paycheck. My heart hurts just thinking about a future like this. It's not going to work for me. Life coach and speaker Tony Gaskins pointed out something profound that helped me realize that I wasn't going to be able to settle for a normal working life.