| Monday, June 05, 2006 |
| Passion for Excellence |
Scene from FRIENDS (Season 3)
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Rachel: (sitting down next to Chandler) I’m training to be better at a job that I hate, my life officially sucks.
Joey: Look Rach, wasn’t this supposed to a temporary thing? I thought you wanted to do fashion stuff?
Rachel: Well, yeah! I’m still pursuing that.
Chandler: How... exactly are you pursuing that? Y'know other than sending out resumes like what, two years ago?
Rachel: Well, I’m also sending out.... good thoughts.
Joey: If you ask me, as long as you got this job, you’ve got nothing pushing you to get another one. You need the fear.
Rachel: The fear?
Chandler: He’s right, if you quit this job, you then have motivation to go after a job you really want.
Rachel: Well then how come you’re still at a job that you hate, I mean why don’t you quit and get ‘the fear’?
Chandler: Because, I’m too afraid.
Rachel: I don’t know, I mean I would give anything to work for a designer, y'know, or a buyer.... Oh, I just don’t want to be 30 and still work here.
Chandler: Yeah, that’d be much worse than being 28, and still working here.
Gunther: Rachel?
Rachel: Yeah.
Gunther: Remind me to review with you which pot is decaf and which is regular.
Rachel: Can’t I just look at the handles on them?
Gunther: You would think.
Rachel: Okay, fine. Gunther, y'know what, I am a terrible waitress, do you know why I’m a terrible waitress? Because, I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care which pot is regular and which pot is decaf, I don’t care where the tray spot is, I just don’t care, this is not what I want to do. So I don’t think I should do it anymore. I’m gonna give you my weeks notice.
Gunther: What?!
Rachel: Gunther, I quit.
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towmpak. Mahal ko talaga ang FRIENDS!!!
Passion in what you are doing is very important if you want to excel or to succeed in any endeavor. Passion gives you the focus, the drive, and the strenth to do what needs to be done. Even if you keep failing at first, if you have passion, you keep trying and trying until fnally you hit home. Without passion, failures eat at you slowly until you tell yourself that maybe this isn't what you want after all and that it's not worth it. Without passion, you just float wherever the wind takes you and you let millions of opportunities pass you by. So find your passion and pursue it.
However, what if by some freak of fate, you find yourself involved in something you eventually discover that you have absolutely no passion for? Will you settle for mediocrity or quit, like what Rachel did? Of course.... NOT. Passion is NOT the only criteria for excelling. Who says you can't excel even if you don't like what you are doing? Being in a job that you hate DOES NOT give you an excuse to be terrible at it. I remember the movie Raising Helen, where Kate Hudson was forced to leave her high-paying and dream job as a fashion consultant (yata) at a top modeling agency in New York and ended up working as a receptionist at a used car company in a small town. She maintained the same cheer and professionalism she had, as if she was still working at the modeling agency. She eventually ended up becoming a used car sales agent, and then when she got her chance, moved back to the modelling scene and paved her way to success.
Excellence is a product of many things - skills, for one, and then there's passion, perseverance, discipline, attitude etc. All these factors work together to help you excel. For instance, you can be like Kate Hudson and have no passion for being a receptionist and yet still excel, because she had the right attitude. The right attitude means rolling with the blows, maintaining humility, trusting your own confidence and skills, among others. But the best thing to be is to have PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE. This means no matter where you put yourself, be it in a job you love or don't love, you will always strive to be excellent.
Wala lang, food for thought. busog na naman ako! ^_^ |
posted by Tami @ 12:58 PM
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