What's your passion?

(pas-sion): a strong feeling or emotion

Speaking about motivation from passion gets me more excited than my morning coffee. You know when you meet someone motivated by their passion because they're ignited by a fire within and it shows in the way they speak and behave.

If you're currently looking for a new job, think about this time as an opportunity to ignite the fire within you. What's your passion? Think about the adage "do what you love and the money will follow". As a veteran career coach, successful business woman and living example of this philosophy, I would amend it to say "do what you love, focus your energy on a strategic plan and the money will follow."

Life will throw you curveballs, like any other time. Here are two of my favorite Real-Life Success Stories that prove, if you follow your passion, money and success will be yours.

Daniel Michael "Danny" DeVito Jr.
In a recent interview on the Biography channel, Danny Devito said:
"I remember one audition I went on early in my career. After handing the woman my headshot, she threw it back and me and said "No one wants a 5 foot tall character actor" "

I thought "Whoa!"

Many of us first met Danny DeVito in his Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning role as Louie DePalma on the TV Series Taxi. He, and wife Rhea Perlman, also own Jersey Films, a production company known for films such as Pulp Fiction, Garden State and Freedom Writers. He's currently back on TV in the FX Sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I'm thinking the director who tossed back Danny DeVito's headshot has kicked herself quite a few times by now. There's nothing like a good dose of passion to get revenge on a nay-sayer.

Cesar Millan (aka The Dog Whisperer)
At 13 years old, on his way to a judo competition, Cesar declared to his Mother, he would one day be the best dog trainer in the world. He lived in Mazatlan, Mexico and spoke only Spanish at the time.

8 years later, at 21, he illegally crossed the border into the U.S. unable to speak English, and got a job at a dog grooming store working with the most aggressive dogs. Fast forward 20 years and Cesar Millan has his own TV Series The Dog Whisperer which is in it's sixth season and broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide, has founded the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, the Millan Foundation and written three (3) New York Times Best-selling books that have sold two million copies in the United States. (quite an accomplishment, take it from a fellow author)

In addition to the aforementioned, he's also released a magazine, Cesar's Way, and is working with Yale University to create a children's curriculum based on his work.

Making it real
When it comes to pursuing your passion, ask yourself:

• What ignites my fire?
• What do I love doing?
• What brings a smile to my face?

Keep the idea of how much you can make seperate from the questions to get to the core sense of what your passion is and how to pursue it. After all, I doubt Cesar Millan, or his mother, ever thought that being a dog trainer would lead to a global brand and business empire that he has today.