Passion Got Me Started. Purpose Made Me Stay.

 You've probably heard it: "Find something you're passionate about and you'll never work a day in your life."

I think it's some of the worst advice I've ever been given.

The dictionary says passion means a strong enthusiasm for something. But dig a little deeper and the word comes from the Latin pati, meaning "to suffer."

That stopped me in my tracks. Because when I've built a business around something I love, I've learned you have to notice the moment it stops being a passion. If you don't, everything you build becomes a passion project, and without boundaries, that can end in suffering.

Here's why. Passion is internal. It's about how something makes you feel. Even when you're passionate about helping others, it's worth asking yourself honestly: is it about them, or about how helping them makes me feel? The good feeling, the validation, the sense of worth.

Now look at purpose. The dictionary describes it as the reason something exists, or the reason you do it. It also means determination: having a goal and the drive to reach it. Its roots come from the Latin proponere, meaning "to put forward" or "to set before you."

Think about that. Passion is something you suffer. Purpose is something you set in front of you. One happens to you. The other, you choose.

So at some point, passion needs to turn outward. You take what you love and point it at something bigger than you, helping other people. That's purpose.

And that's where things change. Your energy shifts. You're no longer the goal, the mission is. Instead of spinning in circles trying to work out where your passion is taking you, you're driving towards a destination you've set for yourself.

Passion is intrinsic, Purpose is extrinsic. 

Passion got me started. Purpose is what made me stay.

— Amanda Jo