Passion vs. Desire
“It’s not about passion. Passion is something that we tend to overemphasize, that we certainly place too much importance on. Passion ebbs and flows. To me, it’s about desire. If you have constant, unwavering desire to be a cook, then you’ll be a great cook. If it’s only about passion, sometimes you’ll be good and sometimes you won’t. You’ve got to come in every day with a strong desire. With passion, if you see the first asparagus of the springtime and you become passionate about it, so much the better, but three weeks later, when you’ve seen that asparagus every day now, passions have subsided. What’s going to make you treat the asparagus the same? It’s the desire.”
-Thomas Keller, Renowed Chef
It’s easy to get excited and passionate about something for a short period of time. It’s easy to stay positive and motivated during the best of times. But, it’s the great ones that continue to exhibit that unwavering desire to succeed even when the routine becomes stale, challenges appear overwhelming, and failure seems inevitable. What I find fascinating about people is not how they get to the top, but how they rebound from the bottom.
Passions fade; Desire is everlasting.
