Doing some really cool project doesn’t only apply to business.

My mom is working on turning her guest bedroom into an “Irish bed & breakfast.” She’s planning on making guests feel more than welcome. She wants it to almost be an “experience.” My mom’s a dork in a lot of ways, but I think that’s totally cool. She’s doing something she’s passionate about, something that will make other people feel good, and something she can brag about, at least over the phone with her friends.

When I was younger I always thought my mom lacked ambition because she was content at her paralegal job. Now I realize that her passions just don’t revolve around business (or law). And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Her passion (I think) is in creating memorable experiences for people. Every other year, my dad (a business consultant) throws a Christmas party for all the people in his network. My mom starts working on it in September. She has little diagrams of where everything will go in the house. She begins baking cookies and snacks well in advance, and freezing them (she has an extra freezer in the garage almost specifically for this event.)

Last year, she made over 20 cheesecakes and 40 different desserts. Insane? Perhaps. But both her and my dad get comments months later. She creates an experience for people, and they don’t forget. That Christmas party probably does more for my dad’s business than any yellow page ad possibly could.

Passion comes in many forms, and I think we fail to realize that. Parents tell their kids that they need to go to medical school, that their “hobby” for drawing won’t take them anywhere. A tragedy. Imagine what the world would be like if Picasso was forced to put down his brush and pick up a scalpel. Probably have some very strange looking surgery patients when he’d be done with them.

Don’t curtail passion in people, no matter what form it takes. Support them, allow it to grow. A dead spirit produces dead work. Just a thought.