The Passion Factor takes a new approach to helping one to learn how to handle his/her innate potential. Many..are endowed with great talents but are devoid of the essential quality to provide vivacity to life. Lack of this essential elementaccounts for the misery that has assailed humanity in every sphere of activity. Peter B. Kaoma calls that innate power from within passion-he ably demonstrate s that when that element isset ablaze ( we are propelled ) to reach great heights in any-human endeavor.. Everyone, rich or poor, can live a remarkable, fulfilled life. You have within your hands a powerful tool that will enable you to live the life you have always wanted.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true story of an ordinary mail carrier whose approach to work and life has the power to transform the everyday into the extraordinary—now in an updated twentieth-anniversary edition “This beloved business classic has inspired millions of people over the years, and today Mark Sanborn’s transformative insights are more timely and necessary than ever.”—Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus and co-author of The Coffee Bean Meet Fred. In this timeless and powerful book, Mark Sanborn, member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, recounts the true story of Fred, an ordinary USPS carrier who introduced himself one day shortly after Sanborn had moved to a new home in Denver. Fred, however, was no average mailman. As Sanborn came to discover, Fred was the kind of worker who exemplifies everything “right” with customer service. Did people want packages left on the porch or prefer a notice to pick them up at the post office? Fred made sure he knew the answer. When another delivery service left a package at the wrong house, Fred shepherded it safely to the intended recipient. Others might have seen delivering mail as routine work, but Fred seized the chance to find meaning in the mundane, competing with himself every day to find opportunities to make his customers smile. We’ve all encountered people like Fred. In this deeply inspiring book, Sanborn illuminates the four basic principles anyone can use to bring fresh energy and creativity to our work and life: how to make a tangible difference every day, build stronger relationships, create real value for others without spending a penny, and constantly reinvent yourself. In this updated edition, Sanborn speaks to the seismic changes that have transformed the world of work in recent years—with employees increasingly hungry for purpose in their jobs—and outlines the book’s fresh applications. By following his principles, you, too, can find more excitement, fulfillment, and success in your career—and in your life.

The coauthors of the bestselling Peak Performance dive into the fascinating science behind passion, showing how it can lead to a rich and meaningful life while also illuminating the ways in which it is a double-edged sword. Here’s how to cultivate a passion that will take you to great heights—while minimizing the risk of an equally great fall. Common advice is to find and follow your passion. A life of passion is a good life, or so we are told. But it's not that simple. Rarely is passion something that you just stumble upon, and the same drive that fuels breakthroughs—whether they're athletic, scientific, entrepreneurial, or artistic—can be every bit as destructive as it is productive. Yes, passion can be a wonderful gift, but only if you know how to channel it. If you're not careful, passion can become an awful curse, leading to endless seeking, suffering, and burnout. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness once again team up, this time to demystify passion, showing readers how they can find and cultivate their passion, sustainably harness its power, and avoid its dangers. They ultimately argue that passion and balance--that other virtue touted by our culture--are incompatible, and that to find your passion, you must lose balance. And that's not always a bad thing. They show readers how to develop the right kind of passion, the kind that lets you achieve great things without ruining your life. Swift, compact, and powerful, this thought-provoking book combines captivating stories of extraordinarily passionate individuals with the latest science on the biological and psychological factors that give rise to—and every bit as important, sustain—passion.

Probing the ominous side of career advice to "follow your passion," this data-driven study explains how the passion principle fails us and perpetuates inequality by class, gender, and race; and it suggests how we can reconfigure our relationships to paid work. "Follow your passion" is a popular mantra for career decision-making in the United States. Passion-seeking seems like a promising path for avoiding the potential drudgery of a life of paid work, but this "passion principle"—seductive as it is—does not universally translate. The Trouble with Passion reveals the significant downside of the passion principle: the concept helps culturally legitimize and reproduce an exploited, overworked white-collar labor force and broadly serves to reinforce class, race, and gender segregation and inequality. Grounding her investigation in the paradoxical tensions between capitalism's demand for ideal workers and our cultural expectations for self-expression, sociologist Erin A. Cech draws on interviews that follow students from college into the workforce, surveys of US workers, and experimental data to explain why the passion principle is such an attractive, if deceptive, career decision-making mantra, particularly for the college educated. Passion-seeking presumes middle-class safety nets and springboards and penalizes first-generation and working-class young adults who seek passion without them. The ripple effects of this mantra undermine the promise of college as a tool for social and economic mobility. The passion principle also feeds into a culture of overwork, encouraging white-collar workers to tolerate precarious employment and gladly sacrifice time, money, and leisure for work they are passionate about. And potential employers covet, but won't compensate, passion among job applicants. This book asks, What does it take to center passion in career decisions? Who gets ahead and who gets left behind by passion-seeking? The Trouble with Passion calls for citizens, educators, college administrators, and industry leaders to reconsider how we think about good jobs and, by extension, good lives.

Winner of the 2017 APA William James Book Award The concept of passion is one we regularly use to describe our interests, and yet there is no broad theory that can explain the development and consequences of passion for activities across people's lives. In The Psychology of Passion, Robert J. Vallerand presents the first such theory, providing a complete presentation of the Dualistic Model of Passion and the empirical evidence that supports it. Vallerand conceives of two types of passion: harmonious passion, which remains under the person's control, and obsessive passion, which controls the person. While the first typically leads to adaptive behaviors, the obsessive form of passion leads to less adaptive and, at times, maladaptive behaviors. Vallerand highlights the effects of these two types of passion on a number of psychological phenomena, such as cognition, emotions, performance, relationships, aggression, and violence. He also discusses the development of passion and reviews a range of literature on passion for activities.

In this instant New York Times bestseller, Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent, but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.” “Inspiration for non-geniuses everywhere” (People). The daughter of a scientist who frequently noted her lack of “genius,” Angela Duckworth is now a celebrated researcher and professor. It was her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience that led to her hypothesis about what really drives success: not genius, but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance. In Grit, she takes us into the field to visit cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. She also mines fascinating insights from history and shows what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance. Finally, she shares what she’s learned from interviewing dozens of high achievers—from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll. “Duckworth’s ideas about the cultivation of tenacity have clearly changed some lives for the better” (The New York Times Book Review). Among Grit’s most valuable insights: any effort you make ultimately counts twice toward your goal; grit can be learned, regardless of IQ or circumstances; when it comes to child-rearing, neither a warm embrace nor high standards will work by themselves; how to trigger lifelong interest; the magic of the Hard Thing Rule; and so much more. Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference. This is “a fascinating tour of the psychological research on success” (The Wall Street Journal).

Nine years ago, bestselling author and business consultant Mark Sanborn introduced the world to Fred, his postman, who delivered extraordinary service in simple but remarkable ways. Fred’s story inspired millions. Companies—even, cities—were inspired to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary each day. Today, with stiff competition from the networked global economy, delivering extraordinary results is more important than ever. With Fred 2.0, Mark not only revisits the original Fred to gain new insights, but also equips all of us with new strategies to achieve more. You’ll not only be inspired by Fred 2.0, you’ll also have the tools and strategies to aim higher and achieve the extraordinary.

In his best-selling book, The Passion Plan, Richard Chang showed individuals how to discover their passion and turn it into personal and professional fulfillment. Now, in The Passion Plan at Work he shows how to bring passion into the workplace--and turn good companies into great ones. Adapting his seven-step model for individuals to an organizational perspective, Chang explains how passion can provide direction and improve performance at all levels of a company. Carefully leading readers through his do-it-yourself process, Chang provides specific guidelines for creating an action plan that galvanizes an organization around passion. Along the way he provides practical tools--questionnaires, worksheets, and checklists--to help assess an organization's Passion Profile and make passion a big part of your company's ongoing success.

This volume provides a comprehensive understanding of passion for work by addressing the origin of the concept and its theoretical issues: how can passion for work be developed, what are the consequences to be expected at the individual and organizational levels, and how can passion for work shed new light on contemporary issues in the workplace.

An authoritative and relevant guide that provides practical advice for how to avoid and recover from burnout and embark on the pathway to thriving. Trapped. Stuck. Helpless. These are the words that people experiencing burnout use to describe their lives, but they don't have to. The words used after extinguishing burnout are hopeful, thriving, flourishing, and powerful. Nearly everyone has experienced burnout. Some have escaped burnout's grips, but at what cost, and after how long? When we find ourselves succumbing to the pressures of today that move us towards burnout, we need a clear path to get out and avoid it in the future. That's what Rob and Terri Bogue have put together - a clear path out of burnout. In the book, you'll learn: - What causes burnout and how to escape - How to more realistically value the results you're getting - When to ask for and receive more support - What four simple physical self-care activities reduce burnout - How to change your self-talk for the better - What to do to manage your demands so you're not so exhausted - How to better recognize your personal value - How to integrate your self-image and reduce your stress - How to identify and eliminate barriers to your efficacy - How to build resilience against setbacks - Why hope is essential - Why failure isn't final - How to be detached without being disengaged Rob and Terri convert abstract concepts into tangible activities that you can do to escape burnout. They convert nearly incomprehensible research into practical steps anyone can take. Intentionally short chapters can be read in only a few minutes, so you don't have to commit to a long book or chapter to start feeling better. "If you need to read one book about well-being, this is absolutely it." - Sharlyn Lauby, Author of HR Bartender