Are You Cruising When It Comes to Passion?

“You might be a redneck if you take a fishing pole into Sea World.” Since I love to take a fishing pole most everywhere I go, Foxworthy may have nailed me on this one. I wish I had a dime for every time my wife has said, “When are you going to get those fishing poles out of your truck?”

Another thing I can relate to is that I have a little “cruiser” in me. It happens to me before I know it and it is the easiest trap to fall into, especially after a big success or when I feel that I have hit my comfort zone. It feels so good—I don’t want to change a thing! 

Don’t we all cruise sometimes? In fact, it’s so easy for us to enjoy our comfort zone that before we know it—we are a full-fledged cruiser. Now, if you haven’t caught on to what I mean by “cruiser,” just check out this blog, but be careful, the self-awareness questions are as powerful as using live shrimp for bait in Sea World. (That was a great fishing trip by the way.)

One of the easiest areas to cruise in is our level of energy and passion. It is so important to our team to experience and witness our passion. Are you a passion cruiser? A passion cruiser tends to not share their personal “why” for other team members to understand what drives them. A passion cruiser might use logic like, “I never had to have someone motivate me.” Yet, we know somewhere in our career, it was a passionate, high-energy person that helped us along the way.

A passion cruiser tends to lower the energy in the room rather than raise it. A passion cruiser might not take the extra energy to connect by just being present. When people encounter a passion cruiser, they rarely express how motivating it is to spend time with that person. A passion cruiser just remains constant, never hot nor cold—sorta lukewarm.  Yuk, reminds me of lukewarm milk. So here are a few quotes this week to help us evaluate our level of passion and energy: 

1. You might be a passion cruiser if your team prefers to attend a required ethics class rather than attending a leadership session led by you.
2. You might be a passion cruiser if the drive-thru attendant at Taco Bell is more enthusiastic about their job than you are.
3. You might be a passion cruiser if new team members always ask you when you are going to retire or leave.
4. You might be a passion cruiser if everyone wonders what you think is wrong this time.
5. You are definitely a passion cruiser if they ask you to audition for Stankface.com

Please join the conversation and share your favorite “You might be a passion cruiser if…”