Your actions speak louder than your words. Your kids will pick up on what’s real or fake.
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More and more these days, the word passion has become ubiquitous. We hear it everywhere that you have to be passionate about life, and stop working only for the money. It is true that money will not necessarily buy us happiness, but working on what we are passionate about will! What’s more, money seems to follow the passionate! So yes, cash is important, but if it is at the top of your motivational pyramid, you will never be happy.
There are even fewer reasons to work at an unhappy job.
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To have a passion and to earn a living doing it is perfect, but we also have to share that passion with our children! As a father of four, and with a real passion for the happiness of my four princesses, I said to myself, “I have to turn my passion into concrete actions.” But, I also have to transmit this concept to my daughters so that they, too, can learn to do this at an early age. Below, I will lay out the four ways in which I as a father convey this value to them and apply it on a day to day basis.
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1. Live your passion
These days, there is no reason not to live your passion. There are even fewer reasons to work at an unhappy job. There are so many resources, tools and people available to help you start your own business or to find the job that is meant for you. All you have to do is expend the effort necessary to make it happen.
2. Tell them about your passion
A fundamental aspect of any message we want to transmit is the way we communicate it. We often think that children do not understand everything we say to them, but they do–sometimes better than adults! The reason for this is simple: they have not yet learned to filter things out. They are not yet affected by all the bad things on the news and the negative people around them. They see very clearly, so talk to them about your job. Explain to them why you are so passionate about it. All the little messages you transmit will convince them that you are happy and thriving in your work.
3. Get them involved
Getting your children involved in your passion is even more efficient than talking to them about it. Assign them some tasks, no matter how small. For example, for my conference series Café des Médias Sociaux (Social Media Cafe), my daughters handle choosing the muffins. They also give me input on my logos and on the pictures I put online, as well as on the hours I should work. They are literally on my board of directors!
4. Find the crossroads where your passion meets theirs
You will accomplish two enormous things that are so important to parents..
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One of the best things in the world is when your child’s eyes light up as they are enjoying what they are doing. Once you have transmitted to them the idea of being passionate about what you do and doing what fires you up, it is time for them to turn words into actions too. Since I am in the process of writing two books, and since at least three of my daughters know how to read and write, I invited them to write their stories to publish on Amazon.ca. One of my daughters also loves anything that has to do with staging and directing, and she loves to script videos, so I made one of my cameras available to her. I found her tutorials online so she could learn about everything from shooting the video to editing and publishing online.
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Through these four actions that you can put into practice every day, you will accomplish two enormous things that are so important to parents: 1) You will transmit your passion, 2) You will enjoy important time together with your kids, like never before!
How will you share your passion with your kids?
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Photo: Flickr/ Diego Sevilla Ruiz
Dominic Sicotte, French Canadian, happily married for over 12 years and father of four wonderful daughters. He is an web entrepreneur, public speaker and consultant for business executives on all matters related to web presence, public relations, corporate communication, marketing and business development, for over 15 years. He is the founder of En Affaires Avec Passion (in English, Passionate About Business), helping web entrepreneurs take their projects to the top, and he is the founder of Café des Médias Sociaux (Social Media Cafe), a series of monthly conferences for businesses on everything having to do with doing business on the web. He’s also a volunteer mentor for entrepreneurs via the Quebec-based Fondation de l’entrepreneuship’s Réseau M. in addition to giving talks in high schools to pass on his passion for entrepreneurship to young people.