***5 Steps to Building Passion and the Drive to Achieve

Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration, and inspiration.
—Evan Esar

As we come to the close of yet another year most entrepreneurs begin to take stock of their successes and failures. They begin to energize for the coming one. Goal-setting and planning to take on the new year become center-stage. In this blog post my desire is to focus you to the need to start with having the necessary and unflinching passion to pursue your goal of becoming a millionaire entrepreneur.

Anyone who hopes to get on the path to riches in the United States must harbor a passion for financial success. Those who rise to the top—those who come to champion companies like Google and Yahoo!—do so at least in part because their desire is greater than that of the competition. Anyone can say they want more money; it’s the truly hungry who go out and make their businesses work.

My research suggests that yes; a burning desire otherwise referred to as “passion” can be learned. While some entrepreneurial traits are inborn, passion for success can be developed with practice and care. Observe and absorb the following five steps, make them a part of your everyday life and you will have what you need to stay more passionate than the competition:

• Think and live positively

Those who positively believe they will achieve success are far more likely to reach their goals. Part of what makes the Millionaire spirit is a sense that being in America, the land of opportunity, means no matter what happens, success will come to those who work. This is an overwhelmingly positive message—the veritable fuel for acquiring a burning desire. Staying positive even in the face of difficulty is therefore an essential component to passion.

• Lose the excuses and start committing

 The single greatest hindrance to the burning portion of burning desire is the natural human tendency to create escape routes. If you set up a goal to meet a certain sales figure by a certain date, but then don’t achieve that goal, you might find yourself making excuses. “Well, the economy declined this quarter.” “The competition just rolled out that new product.” “I was sick for part of July.”
The first and most important step to becoming passionate is to eliminate your escape routes. Don’t give yourself excuses. Make them disappear. Instead of telling yourself you hope to make a certain sales goal for the next quarter, set yourself up with actual consequences for not achieving that sales goal.

• Visualize your success

 It’s one thing to dream about a better future. Burning desire (passion) calls for you actually to see it. There are many books on what it means to visualize success and how such techniques can work to build a more positive reinforcement of self-image and personal drive. The reason for this is simple: visualization works.

• Dress the part

 Now that you have a clear picture of your ideal future, ask yourself this one important question: what kind of clothing was your future self wearing? Were you in an office behind a sharp mahogany desk? And if so, were you wearing a tracksuit? Of course you weren’t. You were wearing a powerful business suit. So why would you wear a tracksuit while still in pursuit of your dreams?

“Dress for success” may be a cliché, but it works. The more you go to work in sweatpants, the more you will perform like someone in sweatpants. In such comfortable and work-inappropriate attire, you will be closer to a burning desire for sleep than a burning desire for success. Wear nice clothing. Wear clothing that makes you feel powerful and in charge.

• Get to work

 Sometimes the greatest fuel for burning desire is simply action. Goals are never achieved without some sense of momentum. If you allow your momentum to waiver because of a perceived need to rethink or revise,” you run the risk of losing it entirely. Nothing undermines desire like over-planning and procrastination. So stay focused on the task at hand. Get things done.