Passion - When you don't negotiate the price of success

Passion - when you don’t negotiate the price of success

My West Point class motto is, “Courage and Drive, ‘75”.  My personal motto when I graduated was “’75 – Out in Five”.  You see, all West Point graduates incur a 5-year obligation to serve in the Army as soon as they graduate.  This is the “payback” for a great education fully funded by the American taxpayer.  But the reason I knew I was getting out after five years was because I didn’t see myself staying in for a 20-year career or longer, and thus, there I was running around knowing I would get out after five years. 

The irony in all of that rookie thinking was that I ended up serving not five years but 43 years instead!  And of the almost 900 classmates who graduated that day, I was the one and only graduate to have served the longest of them all.  You may ask, “what made the difference”?  The answer quite simply is, “I found my passion.” 

I played team sports my entire growing up years and played in the incredible brotherhood of the Army West Point football team.  The bond created in these teams was closer than the bond I had of my own blood brothers.  There was such trust and respect that you would do anything for them.  You were always by their side in thick and thin, and they were always there with you no matter what.  And I became drawn to men and women who would lay it on the line for each other every time.  Little did I know that in a post-Vietnam army, that was full or drugs and racial problems, I would find that same trust, respect, sacrifice, and brotherly love in a U.S. Army infantry platoon that I would be in charge of on my first army assignment. 

And when the five-year mark came around, I told my wife that I was enjoying what I was doing, and I’d like to hang on for another assignment and to reassess after that.  Shortly afterwards, I found myself in the Saudi Arabia desert during Desert Shield, standing in the gap between Saddam Hossein and his Iraqi Army, and the American people and our Nation’s national interests.  There is something special about earning the trust of your client – in this case the American people – and knowing you would never want to break that trust and confidence.

Standing in some God-forsaken place in the world, earning the trust and confidence of your Nation, with a group of men and women who have formed an incredibly strong brotherhood and sisterhood, convinced me that there was no other place I wanted to be at.  And to be there, serving our Nation with a group of men and women who would never, ever, let you down, that I wanted to be with no one else than with these teammates.  So said another way, I found my passion.  Which is why my “Out in 5” motto was trashed, and 5-years ended up being 43-years. 

So, what happens when you have found your passion?  Quite simply, when you have a passion towards achieving your goal, you will not negotiate the price of success. 

How many times have you started a project and did not realize what it was going to take to achieve it, and you found yourself rationalizing that it was not worth the effort, and it led to abandoning that goal?  A passion will make you persevere under adversity.  A passion will develop in you the grit and determination to never quit.  And a passion will motivate you to accomplish your goal, your mission, your vision, and your dream.  But it all starts with purpose because the purpose will give you the “why.”  And when you find your “why,” you’ll not negotiate what it’s going to take to get there.  You’ll do whatever it takes – as long as it is moral and ethical – to accomplish your goal. 

If you want to start the new year with a commitment to change, find your ‘why,’ build your passion, and don’t negotiate the price for success.