"A regional German newspaper recently headlined generously, "Tom Cruise saves the cinema."
Exactly the Tom Cruise that probably most of us have seen jumping across the screen at some point in the last 40 years. The Tom Cruise who turned 61 years old this year.
What drives someone who has already achieved everything in life at the age of 61 to go even further and make yet another movie - as the main actor, stuntman, and producer? Why doesn’t he take it easy?
Here are a few unflattering attempts at explanations:
- He has a problem with aging
- He is addicted to money and success
- He always needs to be in the spotlight to feel good about himself
None of the reasons mentioned above really convince me. Negative motivations can sometimes lead to extraordinary results, but they rarely last.
So, what is it then?
How about passion?
Passion — or more precisely, the ability to generate passion over and over again. Something that never burns out, something that can always be reproduced—once we've figured out how it works.
In our imagination, passion often exists as something we either have or don't have. Something we might stumble upon someday, like an object that coincidentally fits us, something given to us from the outside.
However, passion is never given; it arises through action. It is the result of thoughts, feelings, and actions.
So, my advice to you: Don't seek it; create it! Make it your task - your Mission Possible. Sometimes taking action toward passion doesn't feel as passion at all - until it does. Think of learning playing an instrument for example. There are days ahead when it comes to pure discipline and the ability to feel frustration, perhaps even boredom - without running away from it. If you don't give up and still practice on these days, you will arrive on the other side, where there is passion. It comes down to your own thinking, your attitude toward it. If you expect something to give you passion, you will lose it soon. Passion is always build on your own thinking about the thing you use to create passion with. Your thoughts which tune in while you practice passion are exactly what makes you feel passion. Do you see why this is good news? Don't know where to start? No idea what to use to create passion with? Try a Life Segment Recall: Look at the individual stages of your life chronologically or backwards and remember the things that interested or inspired you in these stages. What were the happy moments in these phases and why? Was there something you used to dream of learning or doing one day? Write everything down. There's a reason you took a liking to those things. They will also provide you with important information today. You might be thinking, "That doesn't make any sense, I'm a lot older now!" My own rediscovered passion goes back to a phase of life between 6 and 12 years. Another one on something that excited me as an idea at the age of 18 and become real when I turned 45. Passion is something that exists completely independent of age. We can awaken it at any time, even in the middle or later stages of life.
My name is Martin Skopp and I am a passionate Life Coach, I give my best to help people who want more in their midlife.
📌 I offer a free online coaching session where you can learn about what my coaching can do for you:
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