When you say DNA I hear that you are talking about what we all have: that thing, that passion, that inherent skill deep inside. Something I heard once that I love: everyone has something they are better at then everyone else. Take an idiot savant, he or she may not be able to brush their own teeth, but then they may be able to calculate pi to like 100 decimal places.

Personally I think the difference between those that LIVE their passion or DNA, is whether or not they ever had an opportunity to develop it. Einstein was supposedly a difficult child and his father never thought he could do anything. Dad was forcing his son into living life in a certain way that was “right” to him. When Einstein was freed from that influence he became productive. But, his work habits were very strange from the point of view of the average 9-5er. He needed to do things HIS way for the theory or relativity to emerge. There are many examples of this: musicians, artists, business folks, people who require something a little different for their genius to emerge. So I think that is one aspect, there are certain societal expectations as to how we should act, but sometimes the genius inside, the passion, needs to express itself outside of societal norms. This can be tough, having the courage to do it YOUR way.

The other thing is learning to find your truth inside, your passion and your natural DNA. We are programmed as children with many many messages, which tend to guide and shape our thinking as we grow. This could be: “you need to work hard”, “if you don’t go to college you’ll never get a good job”, “you have to suffer to succeed”, “you don’t get to be happy because life is hard”. These kind of messages make the concept of joyous work seem like a remote fantasy, cause come on, your not supposed to be happy, it’s supposed to be hard, and it’s gonna suck.

Imagine you were raised with these messages: “whatever you do, do it because it makes you feel wonderful inside”, “doing what you love is the most important thing”, “you can be successful easily, by doing what makes you the most happy”.

WOW, now those are some nice messages! They allow you to explore yourself, and discover the truth inside, rather then create fear and struggle. Also, they give you the freedom to try things your way, to do what feels right to you, whether it makes sense to others or not.

For me to understand my dna, I had to forget a lot of what my parents programmed into me, embrace my passion, and have the courage to do it my way. It’s been scary, wonderful and has made me realize the more I do what I love, not only do I get better as a man, but that I can help those around me be better as well.

I like your blog Annie, keep up the good stuff.

I was introduced/realized the power of personal development while in college, and that’s where everything started for me. At least from the standpoint of finally taking action on all the goals streaming through my head.

So, really long answer to say that I didn’t have an unsupportive childhood regarding goals & dreaming, yet I definitely wasn’t in a specifically entrepreneurial, self-motivating, goal-oriented setting. It was my own doing, once reaching adulthood, that took the dreams I naturally had had in my head for years, and actually start turning them into reality by getting into action.

I think you touched upon it perfectly, Cheryl, in that it takes effort, every, single day, to make progress towards our goals, towards our dreams. Dreams might flow through our head pretty easily because of DNA or our upbringing, but what separates the few successful from the unsuccessful masses is the ability to motivate yourself to WORK to make your dreams happen. The ability to decide to make them come true, instead of waiting for them to fall into your lap.

Was dreaming and setting goals always a part of your life, even as a kid?

So we can’t inspire people to stay true to their passion, Cheryl, until we first open their eyes to the possibility of even HAVING a passion outside of the norm. Hmm, our next task!

I’ve been thinking about all this a lot lately too. Yeah, DNA is undeniabley key to success, so why do so many work so hard to just be like everyone else?