Passion Is OK But It's Not All of It! Just Ask Tim Tebow...

Posted on October 06, 2016 by Mark Myette, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

We often hear “To be successful – you need passion!” Yes. That’s true. Passion is critical. I submit though, I have always been a little hesitant to leave it at just that…I rather prefer this sentiment: GIFTS & Passion go alot further in realizing positive outcomes. Anecdotal stories and research back me up!

Let me give you a simple formula we will work from: G + P = S. Translated, it looks like this: GIFTS + PASSION = STRENGTH.

Gifts

We’re coming off an exciting Summer Olympics in Brazil. One athlete, Michael Phelps, continued / completed his quest to become the most medaled Olympian in history. Through his gifts AND passion, he has won an astonishing, 28 Olympic medals (23 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze). When asked about his abilities as a swimmer, he said “I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That’s where I belong.”

Where are you “most at home?”
Where / when do you “disappear”?
Where do you “belong”?

Michael is one of the lucky ones. He discovered at a young age where his athletic gifts resided…in the water. Now, he has a huge opportunity, not unlike what every person experiences – making a transition to his next phase of life. The gifts in the water may not translate to land-bound endeavors immediately but knowing Michael and what he has accomplished and how he went about accomplishing the feat, that experience will give him a step-up to finding his next calling.

What are your gifts? For the career-focused, the gifts are a bit more challenging to discover. They may not be as blatant as those demonstrated in sport BUT they can be observed. Let’s go back to where are you “most at home”, “where do you disappear” and have a gut feeling where you “belong”. What seems natural to you?

To add a twist to the questions above…

If I were to ask others, who know you well, personally and professionally, the questions: Where is she “most at home?” Where/when does she “disappear”? and Where does she “belong”? …you might be surprised to learn what they say, or, observe. Since I would ask more than one person, you and and I would learn if there’s a pattern. Chances are, there will be!

There’s an assessment for that!

Yup. In addition to the coaching, there’s an assessment that gives you a window into your gifts. It’s the Clifton’s StrengthsFinder Assessment. 14.7 million in more than 50 countries have taken it. It’s a window to you. The key to “get inside” the results…the REAL opportunity…is to review the results with a certified gifts coach, like your’s truly. I can help you begin to figure out what it means.

Passion

Finding YOUR why goes back to your “WHY-ering”…(SEE gifts above)

What excites you?
What drives you?
WHY do you get out bed in the AM?

If it’s been awhile since you have experienced that feeling…put the above questions in past tense: excited you; drove you; and got you out of bed…

Understanding your answers may appear to be easier said than done in some cases…yet, getting to your “WHY-ering” will be the turning point to who you are and your calling.

Passion also requires investment – time, money, emotional commitments, dare-say faith, intellectual stimulation, education, coaching, and practice. Here’s the cool thing, since it’s a passion, the investment does not, nor will not, seem overwhelming. Those who are passionate about their education, job, work, or cause do not view it as work. They view it as doing something that allows them to be them and to achieve their goals.

Strength

Assuming the gifts are truly gifts – they set you apart – it allows you to excel and achieve results where the mere mortal can’t. The results realized are exponential! If that seems far-fetched realize there are millions of people achieving extraordinary things EVERY DAY in any number of callings. Their secret is they have discovered their GIFTS and are “leaning in” on them to accomplish their goals. YOU, your loved ones, and team can expect the same.

Case-in-point

There was a study to determine the impact of teaching speed reading to average readers – whose average reading efficiency was 90 words per minute (WPM) and already-proficient readers – 300 WPM. Intuitively, most (including the researchers) surmised the group that would realize the best results were the average readers. Although the average readers achieved a modest improvement – they went from 90 to 150 (WPM) – the results for the already proficient readers surprised everyone. This group went from being able to read 300 WPM to 2900. Why? G X P = Strengths! (Source: Clifton, D.O. & Harter, J.K. (2003) Investing in Strengths.)

In this case, the proficient readers already loved to read and were good at it! So, when given an opportunity to improve their skill to read faster – they invested in learning how, practiced and achieved their exponential results.

This example highlights the opportunities we have.

What are your gifts?
What is your passion?
How can you channel that passion into your gifts?

Do that and you will achieve exponential results. If it seems easier said than done, get a gifts coach!

So what does this have to do with Tim Tebow?

Understanding we are falling back to a sports analogy – it works because it represents life and our quest to not only identify our gifts but to achieve exponential results.

In Tim’s case if we apply the formula to his PROFESSIONAL NFL football accomplishments – G X P = Strength and rate G and P on a scale of 1 – 5, with 5 being high. We come up with a number.

G = 3
P = 5
S = 15

Now, applying this formula to another NFL football player – Joe Montana, we would see different results…

G = 5
P = 5
S = 25

No accident, Joe Montana​ had an edge in his GIFTS…and that’s ALL the difference!

You might say at the college level this difference would be acceptable. Afterall, Tim Tebow WON the Heisman Trophy! But, we’re not. We’re talking about the NFL – the professional level. Which is why only 1.6% of college football players are DRAFTED to the pros! (Source: NCAA) And remember, because you’re drafted to the pros does not necessarily mean you’ll stick! Just ask Tim Tebow.

This also explains why Tim Tebow is now trying his hand at baseball at the professional level. Unless Tim was keeping his gift of “hand eye” coordination that would allow him to hit a baseball going 90+ miles an hour and his number 1 passion was being the next Bryce Harper (phenom outfielder with the Washington Nationals professional baseball team), anyone venture to guess how that will go? His odds are better – 8.6% are DRAFTED from college to pros! (Source: NCAA). Besides being great PR for the New York Mets and probably a few more seats being sold, in the long run, the results will probably not be “Joe Montana-like”. Just sayin’.

What are your gifts?

My best in your quest.

Mark
​I believe each of us is a gift. I create trusted relationships where individuals, teams and leaders NAME, CLAIM and AIM their gifts to achieve optimum ​performance.