Repisode 954. Passion: What it takes & where to find it.

In this episode, I break down the real truth about passion—where it comes from and what it requires. Passion doesn’t start with a feeling; it starts with getting good at something and building confidence. 

From Mark Cuban’s story to my own journey in sales and podcasting, I’ll show you how competence creates passion, and why true passion demands suffering, endurance, sacrifice, patience, and the courage to keep coming back. 

If you’re tired of chasing results and ready to build something real, this one’s for you.

Download your free self-reflective worksheet for this episode. 

If no link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hhJjVK8LBwHtYHogGyZedZrAKr52hXgP/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114215176850004969751&rtpof=true&sd=true)

Transcript

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You know, everybody talks about finding your passion, and here's the real question, where does passion even come from? Mark Cuban, the billionaire that used to own the Dallas Mavericks, and you may have seen him on Shark Tank. He said something powerful. He said Being good at something. Precedes passion, meaning that it comes before. Passion doesn't come first. You get good first. Cuban admitted that his primal passion, his first passion, he just wanted to be rich. That was it. See, he didn't start out with a passion for computers. He admitted he wasn't even a computer guy in school, but he got into systems integration and started working with software, writing code, setting up networks, and he realized, Hmm, I'm good at this. And the better he got. The more passionate he became and the more passionate he became, the better he got. See, it became this loop. He started with something he was good at or discovered. He was good at it, pursued it. The more he did it, the more passionate he became. As that passion grew, it looped back around and drove him to get even better at it. See, the work created the skill. The skill created the passion. The passion created more skill and that loop eventually , led him to sell micro solutions, and he walked away with over $2 million. So if you're sitting there saying, man, I don't know what my passion is. Maybe you're asking the wrong question. Don't chase passion, chase competence. Start by asking, what is it I'm good at? What comes naturally to me? What do people notice that I do? Well? Where do I lean in even when it gets hard? I mean, bro, that's what happened for me. I stumbled into sales. I didn't dream of being a car salesman. I didn't, but I found out by pure discovery that I was good at it. See, I was able to take my sports background, competing pressure cooker situations, and I knew I was good at that, and so I brought it into sales and it became good for me because I could compete. There was unlimited potential, and when things got hard, I could press through. Because not only in pressure cooker situations, when I was playing college football, but also tough, tough situations where after football I was broke, dude, there were times me and my son, I was raising him by myself. We didn't have any money to eat. And so I would literally like scrape mold off a sausage and boil it, and that's what we would eat. I lived in a house with no stove and no refrigerator for a time. I mean, but I didn't crack. Like I just figured things out. I didn't wanna stay that way. And that was one of the driving forces that pushed me into sales. I was like, man, I can't live like this, but I made it work. And so see where most people would crumble. I competed and I got tougher and figured things out because I refused to just lay there as a victim. And so I got into sales and the better I got at it, the more I realized that sales is a profession, but selling is a life skill. That's what drove the podcast. See, I got into management. I started teaching other young salespeople about selling, and I kept 'em in the game. I didn't want any of them to just fall out because they weren't getting the support. They didn't realize how much rejection it took. So I was able to communicate those things and they were able to take those skills into their life. And I began to talk to other people who weren't in sales, but I took the same skills that I learned in in sales and I started helping them in their personal lives. And that's when I realized, wait a minute, sales is a profession selling's a life skill. These transfer into oth other areas. Let me get the word out. How do I get the word out through a podcast? And so I took what's it take to be good in sales? Only five things. Communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and action. And productive confrontation. Hmm. What's it take to be good in life? The same. Five skills, communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and action, and productive confrontation. This, this is why my company is called The Sales Life. It's because selling is a life skill. So even if you're not in sales, you could take the skills that I've learned in sales and apply'em across every area of your life. Your faith, your family, your fitness, your finances, your fulfillment, both professional and creative. See, this is the timeline of my life. In, in, in two minutes. See, over time, sales turned into a passion. Podcasting turned into a passion, but it all started with one thing. Getting good first, And this is the thing that most people miss. Most people don't actually have a passion. They have a lust. They lust for the results, but passion. Embraces requirements. But before you can embrace the requirements, bro, we gotta go back to the origin of passion First. You gotta find something that you're good at or what others notice that you're good at. Start with that. I mean, , what can you do that comes easily for you, but it's hard for everyone else like that. You're, you're that go-to person in these situations or what do people ask your help for? Like, start right there and let curiosity and creativity lead the way. Like have a wondering spirit. Spirit, like a, like a child, like. Willingness to explore. I think that's why the Bible says you gotta have that, that childlike essence about you. It's because that wonder and that play that's curiosity and creativity alive and well. But understand this, like when you discover your passion, it's not gonna be all blow pops, rainbows and unicorns. It's not gonna be a easy road, but the road is gonna be worth it. And that's the key distinction, passion. Once you discover it, once you earn it, it's worth it. It's worth the suffering. It's worth the endurance. It's worth going without. It's worth foregoing instant results. And still coming back to it again and again, because passion doesn't just give you the fire. Passion demands fuel. So let me break down the rules of raw passion, because I think a lot of times people are like a, they're trying to find their passion, like they're just. Look you, you're in great company listening to this. 90% of people around you don't know what their passion is. Start with what are you good at? Start with, what do people ask you for help? Like it's easy for you and harder for everybody else. Like just start right there. Don't worry about where it leads. Just like curiosity and creativity run rampant. Okay? You don't have to. Parlay this into a billion dollar business right now. We're not worried about that, but first we gotta discover it. But understand this, there are some things that passion is going to require of you. Number one, it's the willingness to suffer. It's going to hurt. You're not gonna have support. It's going to be lonely at times. You're not gonna have all the answers. You're gonna lack the resources. There are gonna be days where you're like, fuck this man, and it's not working. That's suffering. But if you push forward, that's the roots of passion. Rule number two, it's the willingness to endure. This is the only way you get endurance. The endurance means that you can hold the line longer than most people can stand. I mean, you bend, but you don't break. Like when you're at the end of the rope, you tie a knot and you hold on. This, that passion, the suffering, the endurance. Makes you unshakeable, unflappable. It's training rule number three. It's the willingness. Raw passion is the willingness to go without see, there are gonna be people who are seemingly more successful than you. They're gonna be out traveling, they're gonna be buying things, they're gonna be enjoying the indulgences of life. And here you are with a pair of socks, with holes in 'em. You're gonna go without, you're gonna sacrifice, you're gonna delay gratification, and the only thing that's guaranteed is a struggle. There's no guarantee that you're gonna succeed. But see, I don't know, man. It's that I can't even, I can't even contextualize it for you. It's, it's something inside of you that you're just like, I'm going anyway. People think that you're crazy. That passion pushes you to get resourceful when you lack the resources and you just use your creativity and your curiosity to propel you forward. Like I don't even know how tomorrow's gonna play. I don't even know how the next five minutes, but I'm going. I'm going, I know people think I'm crazy, but that's if people aren't calling you crazy at times. If people don't need you to, man, tell me what you're doing again for what, you know, that's, that's sometimes, you know, people like, come up to me and like that's probably the first question that people ask me. How long have you had your podcast? This is the first question. And do you make money off of that? That's the first question. They have no idea what it took. To get to where I'm at today, what it takes to get to where I'm going, this, this ain't enough. Like it's where, you know, it's that passion that, that, that pulls me. It's that passion that fuels me anyway. Rule number four, the willingness to forego instant results is where most people quit. See, they set a six month goal and. In two months, it looks like it's not working. They're grinding and they quit. They don't see anything. They give up. Just because you can't see the change doesn't mean change isn't happening you have no idea how close you were to breaking through and you, and you ended up quitting. Passion works. Until, until it happens. Until it comes together. That's where faith grows. See, if it was easy and evident, there would be no need for faith. But see, when you're willing to suffer, endure, do without forego the instant results. You develop that faith because you keep showing up. Anyway, rule number five, the willingness to keep coming back. This one's my favorite because all four of those, yes, I identify with, but the last one, man, it's like, oh my God. The countless times, bro. You know how many times I've wanted to quit sales and be like, fuck this, how many times I've just wanted to quit the podcast? It's like, bro, nobody's listening. Nothing's happening. It ain't helping nobody. You know how many times I've wanted to, when I was fat, I just wanted to quit working out. It's like, man, this, this ain't gonna work. This five in the morning. Crap ain't, it's like I'm gaining weight And, and, and I would just say that, quit tomorrow. And I did like, this is the last day. I swear. This is it. I wake up the next morning, man. I'm like, all right, let's go. Got a brand new tank. Let's go. It was just a life force. It's the thing that just sales is, it's my calling, man. That's my bag. Podcasting, communicating, creating podcasts. That's my energy, that's my life force. It's not just something that's cool to do. It is a requirement. It is a life requirement for me. I'm miserable when I don't do it. So when somebody says, I got a passion for this, I immediately want to respond. Are you willing to suffer? Are you willing to endure? Are you willing to go without? Are you willing to not see instant results? And most importantly, are you willing to keep coming back? Anyway, if the answer's yes, oh my God, what a blessing. You found your passion. But if the answer's no, it may be that it's just lust. Most people lust for success, but few develop the passion to earn it. So here's my challenge to you. Don't chase passion. Chase. The confidence and the competence get good first, and the confidence is that internal. It's not any external validation. The confidence is inside. It's keeping that commitment. It's coming back to it again and again. See if you think about it, all those rules, the suffering, the endurance, the doing without not seeing instant results and the pull to keep coming back to it. That's how you develop confidence. And the confidence pushes you into competence. Like it's just, bro, everything's everything. Everything matters. Everything counts. Everything's linked together. And so these things just come together for you, man. They're going to come together for you. So first, get good first, like what comes naturally for you? What do people ask your help for? Like, you can just do it. Well, don't stop at the surface level, like get even better, like be the best in that area. Like you should have some sort of niche, some sort of specialty. My, my bag for me is not being a great interviewer. Okay. My bag, and I had to discover that I was doing what everybody else was doing. That didn't work for me. What worked for me is setting a timer for 15 to 20 minutes and getting some sort of meaning out of a book, a random book, have no idea what I'm gonna read, break that down in my mind, write about it, and then teach it. Boom. See, it's that, it's, it's that pressure. I have that pressure. That's what I'm good at. See, I recognize that, but I earned it. Now let me, let me preface this with a, this is super important. Finding your passion shouldn't cost you anything monetarily. This is so important to note. Finding your passion is not found in a student loan. It's not found in a 50,000 line of credit. It's not found in cashing out your 401k and putting all chips in to start this business and it's damn sure not found. In some sort of degree. If you think a degree is where you're gonna find your passion, you're gonna ask around, you're gonna find a lot of miserable people. People think that a diploma a degree is gonna help 'em find their passion. I would start with this intern with your passion first. See when you intern. Like, you're not being compensated for it. Like you're just, you're doing the work, but the payoff is intrinsic, right? So for you in turn, with your passion, meaning you start with what you're good at, start with what people say you're good at, start with what people come to you for. Start with free. Start with what you already have. That is God's way of saying, bro, here. I mean, you got some skills, you got some talent. Now, you know it's a seed of it. Now work it, work that soil, grow that tree. Get the roots. So start with what you have.'cause you don't want to add any pressure by piling on a bunch of debt. And chasing some idea of passion. Like you don't even know, like, you know how many people I talk to and they're like, what are you gonna do with your degree? Uh, I don't know what, wait a minute. You just, you just added a hundred thousand dollars of debt to your life and you don't know what the fuck you're gonna do, and then you get a $35,000 a year job. Shouldn't we have put pen to paper on this? No. Shade. Been there. So I'm saying, bro, like some of these, and this is something you need to share with a young person who's like venturing into college, they're graduating this year. Like, bro, let's, let's talk this through. Let's make sure if this is what you wanna do, then understand you got, here's the cost, here's what it's gonna cost. See, here's another thing. Passion's going to cost you. What is it going to cost you suffering, endurance. Do and without no instant results, and are you willing to keep coming back? That's what it cost you. So start with the skills that you already have. Just build on this thing. This is what I love about life. I mean, dude, we get a brand new set today, and I want you to hear this man, and just go out there and rock out, man. Don't put so much pressure on yourself, like loosen up. You, you can't force passion. Passion's just, it's gonna come, but you gotta give it space. You gotta give it breathing room, and then when you find it, man, start building on it like Cuban said, he didn't just stop at knowing one piece of software or a system. He kept going back to it. He kept getting better and better at it. He kept learning, adding more, adding new skills, embracing new technologies, and that investment, that continual internship is what turned into passion. I think sadly, too many people feel trapped. Because they never did this. They picked something as a means to an end, and it's come to a sour ending. Like they got the degree thinking, this is what I'm supposed to do, thinking that you know, I'm gonna find my passion. And now it's sunk costs. They've spent all this money, and they're like, well. Oh, well, and they just, they forego their lives. And you don't, it doesn't have to be that way, but if it, if it happened this way for you, it doesn't have to stay that way either. And that's, that's my message to you. So don't chase passion. The passion's gonna come to you, man. Start where you are. Build on what you're good at and let that internship, that self internship, grow into passion. A passion that I hope you, one day you and I will meet and you're like, I found it. I found it. And you found it because you put in the work. Alright, let's get outta here. Keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.