Passion. It is a word that often gets thrown around when it comes to seeking happiness in what we do.

We hear something in the form of: “______ is my passion.”

Music is my passion. Helping people is my passion. Sports are my passion. Passion fruit juice is tasty.

When I began my undergraduate studies, I struggled to find passion in my schoolwork. I would do my best in my classes to get a good grade with the hope that it would somehow put me in a better position in the future. Even when I graduated from college and began my career, I struggled to find passion in what I did for a living. It was great making a decent starting salary compared to other fields, as it made those years of undergraduate study feel worth it. It was nice to tell people that I’m a “Software Engineer” when asked what I do for a living, as it is considered a respectable career. But even then, it felt empty.

It was early October and my co-worker goes on a three-week vacation. Our team in the office was in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) testing phase, known as Quality Assurance (QA) Testing. QA Testing involves thoroughly testing applications to make sure there are no software bugs before the applications are sent to a third-party vendor for even further testing. My co-worker and I are responsible for updating and maintaining an application, where any software bugs detected during QA Testing must be resolved in a timely manner. I was put in a tough spot, as any issues my co-worker is normally responsible for would become my responsibility. The QA Testing phase did not start smooth, when numerous software bugs were detected. I would be constantly asked when those software bugs will be fixed, adding to the pressure.

Like any challenge that is presented to us, an opportunity lies in learning something new about ourselves. After a bit of complaining, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I took ownership that the success of the application’s delivery rides or dies with me. I worked additional hours at the office in the daytime and at home in the evenings, to investigate what is causing those errors. As each software bug was resolved, I gained more confidence in understanding the application and myself. I felt confident that in one team meeting, I simply laughed when my boss asked me about my progress, despite the numerous unresolved software bugs. Later that day following that team meeting, I made a fix that resolved the remaining software bugs. Two and a half weeks since QA Testing phase began, all known software bugs were resolved for our application, and testing was finished a week and a half ahead of schedule. My boss was happy, and I was no longer asked about my progress. Easy squeezy lemon peasy.

It was upon reflection after my co-worker returned from his trip that I learned the essence of passion: you develop passion in your craft when you put in the work towards a cause that aligns with your values, and start seeing progress while feeling useful.

People who find passion in music have put in the hours making mistakes in learning how to play an instrument or how to sing.

People who find passion in helping others have put in the hours sacrificing their time and humbling themselves to make a positive impact on other peoples’ lives.

People who find passion in playing sports have put in the time getting into physical shape and making mistakes in learning the rules of that particular sport.

Passion fruit juice is tasty…because it is full of sugar.

In the words of economist Charles Wheelan, “Data is the raw material of knowledge.” As you see, seeking knowledge is the secret sauce in finding passion. We obtain data through our life experiences, and lessons learned. By making connections across our various life experiences and lessons learned in different subject matters, we form our own unique knowledge base. It is what we do with that knowledge that makes us useful in life, and hopefully, leads us to our passion. You may be thinking to yourself, “Well shit, Noy Sauce. That’s easy for you to say.” I’d like to share a few passions of mine to make the essence of passion more concrete.

One passion of mine is running. When I first started running, it sucked. I cursed at myself that I could not run a quarter-mile without getting tired. However, by persevering through the initial challenge of getting physically fit, I eventually found the passion. A quarter-mile became one mile. One mile became five miles. Five miles became a half-marathon. A half-marathon became a marathon. Once I started seeing results in my increased endurance and in my reduced belly fat, I became passionate in finding ways to optimize my fitness. I made changes to my diet, by reducing my carbohydrate intake and increasing my fat and protein intake. I made changes to my physique, by lifting weights to strengthen my arms and core, in addition to my runs.

I feel useful because I can go for a run, and do nothing else productive for the rest of the day, yet still feel good about myself. Running aligns with my values of staying fit and healthy, and saving money. In being reasonably fit, I save money by enrolling in lower-priced health insurance policies, and earn money by participating in programs with monetary incentives.

Another passion of mine is cooking. When I first started learning how to cook, it too, sucked. Why are there so many ingredients involved? Why do I need to use many utensils to make a meal? Why does it take time to make a good meal, and leave a mess in the end? However, I started simple. Cooking rice became cooking a fried egg. Cooking a fried egg became cooking spaghetti. Cooking spaghetti became cooking chicken adobo with rice. Once I started seeing results in making my own meals, I became passionate in creating more exotic dishes, such as LA Kalbi Korean barbeque, and chicken marsala with pasta. Each time I made a dish, I repeated the process a week later to make sure I have a good understanding of cooking that dish. I became passionate in the process that goes into the preparation of mixing ingredients together to make a creation that I can savor.

I feel useful because I learned a life skill that will pay dividends in the long run. Not to mention, knowing how to cook is a turn on for the ladies. When I tell ladies that I often cook, their interest level rises and they respond, “Really?” as they play with their necklaces. As my homeboy Emeril Lagasse would say, “BAM!” Cooking aligns with my values of knowing what goes into what I eat, lifelong learning, and saving money. In knowing what goes into what I eat, I have control on the seasoning and preparation that goes into making a meal tasty. There are a myriad of dishes to cook, which will keep my interest towards cooking going and keep me continuously learning. By knowing how to cook a number of dishes, I save money from having to pay (usually) overpriced food in a restaurant.

So what is the moral of the story? It takes time to develop our passion. The problem is that many of us are afraid to take the risks and make the mistakes needed to become good at something. To overcome this fear, we must take action. We start small by learning the basics. Eventually, we become competent in understanding the basics, and move on towards more complicated steps. And as we start making breakthroughs after persevering enough, we make connections across what we have already learned, while adding our own style to make it our own. If the endeavor aligns with our values and makes us useful, the passion becomes ours and we move one step closer to a better version of ourselves. BAM! BAM!