A few months ago I had to take the Tax Commissioner on a tour for work. Let your minds-eye dream up what a tax commissioner looks like. Yep. You are bang on: Shortish, neatish, 50-ish man in greyish suit...
I ushered him into a conference room, offered boiled coffee and biscuits and started my usual bang-on spiel. In addition to the technical points, I waxed on about how much I loved the facility we were touring, how it was great to work with employees across the entire value stream and how passionate I was about seeing mining evolve into the 21st century. He stopped me at 'passionate'...I was confused and beginning to get a little alarmed. Was my usual passionate pitch upsetting the man responsible for the nations taxes? A little too much emotion unnerving our 50-ish man in grey?
Quite the opposite. He burst into life. He actually said that he loved hearing the word 'passionate' and it was something he encouraged in the tax office... (I'm sure he meant 'enthusiasm' and not, well ahem, 'passionate' in the photo-copy room kind... ). Knock me for six, my first impressions were completely off the mark and I immediately loved this man, who takes almost half of my salary, to bits!
It was brilliant to meet someone else passionate about passion. Today's blog pays tribute to the tax commissioner and passionistas everywhere. Engage me in a conversion and you'll quickly uncover a passion. They are many, confused and diverse. In no particular order, here are 20 things I passionately discuss:
- Explosives - you can take the girl out of the mines...
- The propeller head
- Rugged yet sophisticated men
- Inspirational women
- The team I work with
- Sharing and collaborating
- Good manners
- Saturday mornings
- Baking bread
- Drinking wine
- Diversity
- Flexible work
- Seeing people grow
- Great leadership
- Cheese
- Laughing
- Technology
- Gin and tonic
- Riding down hill
- ... The list goes on indefinitely...
Reading is the common link. When I am am not actually engaged in one of my passions, I love to read about them and discover more. The following books have made me laugh, cry, cringe and learn. I hope that you have enjoyed them too.
- Where the Wild Things Are - what's better than monsters, sea voyages and hot dinner?
- Birdsong - Miners, mud and missed opportunities,.. oh dear I might cry again.
- Jasper Jones - The crazy dialogue of clever kids and the adventures of youth.
- The Importance of Being Earnest - A good slapping for those that take life too seriously.
- Breath - Risks and rushes.
- Raising Boys - Yes I need a manual.
- The Old Man and the Sea - Man v fish.
- A Confederacy of Dunces - Ignatius J Reilly is flatulent, eloquent and pretty much employable.
- A Fraction of the Whole - Crazy schemes and inconsistency ... a story after my heart.
- NOT 50 Shades of Grey - if there were not already books written about how appalling this one is, I'd write them.
So go ahead and enjoy your passions. Pick up a book, tickle your kids, tell a dirty joke, pour a good drink or get stuck into that project and be passionate about it!
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