| "You ain't going nowhere, son. You ought to go | | | | who said yes.Their passion about their work and |
| back to drivin' a truck." What if Elvis believed this | | | | its message kept them going. Passion kept Disney |
| Grand Ole Opry manager's critique after his l954 | | | | and Einstein and Kipling going, too. That's because |
| performance? Or the Beatles listened in 1962 | | | | passion is the most powerful self-motivator any |
| when Decca Recording Company responded, "We | | | | of us can have. It's what drives us to use our |
| don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the | | | | talents and abilities. It's the one criteria I've found |
| way out."What if Rudyard Kipling quit writing when | | | | most helpful when selecting people in my twenty |
| the San Francisco Examiner told him, "I'm sorry, | | | | years of management. You can teach most skills. |
| but you just don't know how to use the English | | | | But you can't teach passion.People who are |
| language." Or as a struggling artist, Walt Disney | | | | winning at working believe in themselves and their |
| took seriously the words of a prospective | | | | dreams. They're not likely to view setbacks as |
| employer to "try another line of work" because | | | | failures, roadblocks as dead-ends, or negative |
| he "didn't have any creative, original ideas."What if | | | | critique as fatal. It's their passion that keeps them |
| ten year old Albert Einstein believed his teacher's | | | | going when others give up. It's their passion that |
| words, "you will never amount to much." Or opera | | | | provides strength of purpose, resilience, |
| star, Enrico Caruso, gave up singing after his first | | | | persistence and the confidence to keep trying. It's |
| vocal teacher counseled, "your voice sounds like | | | | their passion that helps them differentiate |
| wind whistling through a window."Thankfully, they | | | | between opinion and fact about who they are and |
| didn't believe what they were told. But many of | | | | what they can do with their life. It's their passion |
| us do. We accept someone else's opinion as our | | | | that guides them.Like Babe Ruth said, "It's hard to |
| fact. We allow others to determine what we | | | | beat a person who never gives up." When you |
| believe about ourselves, what we aspire to | | | | are passionate about your work, your dreams |
| achieve, what we dream and what we become. | | | | and your life, you don't give up.(c) 2005 Nan S. |
| Others people's limiting beliefs about us become | | | | Russell. All rights reserved.Sign up to receive Nan's |
| our own as we give them power over our | | | | free biweekly eColumn at Nan Russell has spent |
| life.But, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen | | | | over twenty years in management, most |
| didn't. Their "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, | | | | recently with QVC as a Vice President. She has |
| now with 65 titles, has sold more than 80 million | | | | held leadership positions in Human Resource |
| copies in 27 languages. Not bad for an anthology | | | | Development, Communication, Marketing and line |
| rejected by 33 major publishing houses in the first | | | | Management. Nan has a B.A. from Stanford |
| month, receiving more than 140 total rejections | | | | University and M.A. from the University of |
| before their agent gave it back to them saying "I | | | | Michigan. Currently working on her first book, |
| can't sell this book." Only by going booth to booth | | | | Winning at Working: 10 Lessons Shared, Nan is a |
| and pitching their vision to editors at a booksellers' | | | | writer, columnist, small business owner, and on-line |
| convention did they finally find a small publisher | | | | instructor. |