Professionals undervalue passion. Passion is everything. If you genuinely care, pour your heart into your work, and strive for delivering excellent results out of genuine intrinsic motivation, you will be a rock star. In my experience, those people that excel at what they do do so because it is the labor of love.
Passion is not effort. Excellent results do not come from working extra hours. On the other hand, taking pride in your work product, deeply caring about what you do, finding excitement in delivering outstanding results, and genuinely caring about the results will take you to the moon.
By passion I do not mean extreme emotionalism. Yes, professionals need to be competent. Yes, professionals need to have poise. A lack of integrity is a non-starter. Without passion, though, it is impossible to shine. ‘A’ players have passion. They care. They take pride in what they do and are willing to go to great lengths to deliver excellent results. Why? Not because they have a strong work ethic. No, it’s because they care. Every job will have its annoyances, struggles, and issues, but to excel, you should have true passion for your core responsibilities.
Do you have a genuine passion for what you do? Do you love getting up and going to work? If not, why?