Indiana Jones & the Power of Passion
The first thing that strikes you about any Indiana Jones movies is the adventure sequences and the clever story lines. Being a big Jones fan and having watched all his movies (multiple times), I always wondered what drives Indy into such crazy adventures.
He is obviously not a very materialistic man. The only real possessions that he seems to have are his hat, his whip, his jackets, a revolver & his collection of books. In most of the movies he ends up taking the assignments to return the recovered artifacts to either a museum or the government. So what really makes him put his life & limb in danger while fighting off the tribes, the bandits, the communists, and the Nazi’s, and sometimes all of them together in a single movie (imagine the odds of that happening in real life!).
Recently I came across the definition of the word Passion. Pash-uhn is defined as an emotion that traces its origins to the bible which uses it to define the suffering on the cross. It is defined as an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction. It is also a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept. The synonyms that are commonly associated with the word are fervor, zeal, and ardor. I knew then, I was onto Indy’s secret! Indiana Jones is passionate about archeology. This was this obvious zeal to discover new artifacts that makes him oblivious to the imminent challenges & hardships.
Passion can be a very powerful emotion affecting our work life too. It gives us a reason to fight & survive in the everyday office routine & politics to pursue something that we look forward to. While most of the organizations want “passionate employees”, passion need not necessarily be related to our job roles. It could be something that gives a sense of purpose & stability beyond just achieving our targets & performance indicators. It helps us excel as individuals & restores confidence in ourselves that no matter how we are rated or we fare in company politics, there is one thing that we are always going to excel at. However, a halfhearted attitude towards our passions largely also reflects our attitude & outlook in our workplaces (while the two may not be necessarily connected). It reveals how much we are willing to exert ourselves to do something we really care about and this therefore can be extrapolated to the kind of efforts we would be willing to put in something we may not fully believe in or like.
It doesn’t matter if our passions range from books, philately, gardening, cars, comics, movies, sports or even archeology. Very few of us are fortunate to pursue our passions as our professions. To those lucky few, may your tribe continue to grow! To all the rest of us, who work so that we may be able to pursue our individual interest outside of our jobs, remember Indiana Jones, and the fact that while he took assignments & jobs only so that it helped him pay for & pursue his passions in life, he delivered on his job one hundred percent. Passion stems from interest, which can only be nurtured by attitude. And attitude is Omni valid, whether in our private lives or our professional workplaces.
