Time to Reflect: Step 68

“My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” After reading Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk, it became imperative to me to search my heart and soul to determine my true passion. Turning my passion into a business made sense to me. Even those who don’t know the first thing about art know painting was Picasso’s passion. A few readers may know Vaynerchuk’s passion is personal branding. According to Nancy Anderson, a career consultant who wrote Work with Passion and spoke recently at an Experience Unlimited meeting I attended, passion is not only what you love, but also something a person thinks everyone else needs or should have. So, what is it inside of me smoldering like the lava deep at the core of the volcano wanting to erupt onto the scene to create a world where everyone is as impassioned as me? Like Picasso I have no desire to be a soldier or monk, I just want to be who I am. In my quest this morning to find a quotation to reflect my search I turned to the usual sources, essayists, philosophers and world leaders. It was in the revelation of the artist; the acknowledgement that through his art he simply became himself, that I found the journey each of us must take. Unlike Picasso’s mother, my mother offered practical advice when she said to have a profession to “fall back on” should your passion not provide the income needed to live. Considering how many teachers I came to know whose true passion lied in artistic pursuits outside the classroom leads me to assume other mothers may have offered similar advice. But, getting back to the idea of turning my passion into a business by creating a personal brand people can identify with and want for their own, it has become important to me to know what that personal brand is. Not everyone wants or for that matter even likes Picasso. Similarly, not everyone is going to turn to Gary Vaynerchuk for advice on starting a business, social media, or wine. However, little kids can recognize a Picasso and the 80,000 people who visit tv.winelibrary.com know who Gary V is, but what about me. For those readers who have been following this blog watching me struggle with my reflections the conclusion may have become apparent long before I stumbled upon it. My personal brand is looking for the silver lining, which means taking the reader on a trip filled with nostalgia and memories for some, and fun and excitement for others, but a journey that holds value and allows the reader to learn more about him or herself every step of the way.