You want to know why successful people aren’t making in the business? Passion. That’s right, I said it.

“Whoa!!! Hold it right there! What?!”

Yes. I know. The Number 1 thing everyone says you need to make it in the business is PASSION. Whether you’re a fan, a reporter, a journalist, a talent, a performer, whether you’re watching an interview, you hear it ALL the time.

“You’ve got to have PASSION” to make it.”

And you know what? I agree.

“WHAT? You just said it’s holding great guys back.”

It is. Because the word “Passion” has drifted so far away from what it really means in the eyes of talent.

Have you ever played the telephone game in elementary school? You whisper a message in the first persons ear, and then everyone has to whisper it down the line, and then by the last person, it’s a TOTALLY different message. Remember that?

Yeah. That’s what’s happened to passion. You want to know why?

Because the word “PASSION” has gotten collapsed into a totally different meaning. As a matter of fact, you want to know why so many people get stuck? Because Passion has MULTIPLE meanings.

Here’s ONE of the meanings, and this is the one that makes most sense for guys in the business…

“Passion: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.”

But you want to know the other 3 definitions of the same word? That are actually ranked higher above the one I just mentioned?

1. SUFFERING
2. EMOITONS DISTINGUISHED FROM REASON
3. The Suffering of Christ the Night before his Death.

The very word passion, in 2018, implies SUFFERING, RABID EMOTION without REASON, and DEATH.

So you hear all these people saying “You got to have passion for the business!” Which on the surface means, “You have to have a desire for this business.”

But what you get is a whole bunch of really well meaning talents who literally take it to mean, “I HAVE TO SUFFER FOREVER, HOPE SOMEONE DISCOVERS ME, AND IF I SUFFER ENOUGH IN SILENCE, WAITING, MAYBE SOMEONE WILL THROW ME A BONE, TAKE PITY, AND OFFER ME A SPOT TO BECOME FAMOUS.”

It’s tragic.

There was a GREAT interaction, and it was so small it might have gone unnoticed. But I wanted to point it out to you now. On Twitter, Tyler Breeze makes a comment that says, “At some point, opportunity has to come… right?” I don’t want to mind read what’s going through Tyler Breeze’s thoughts – I think just what he wrote is enough to be self explanatory.

Here’s the interesting thing…

Cody Rhodes responds to him. Arguable the most successful independently contracted talent of the modern era. He responds to Tyler Breezes comments, and goes, “NO, FRIEND! YOU HAVE TO SEIZE IT.”

No. You have to go out and seize it friend. https://t.co/HHuQHH7D9N

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 16, 2018

I want you to take a look at Tyler Breeze’s career right now. And it’s no knock on him. He’s a very talented guy. Just look at his relative spot right now compared to his talent.

Now look at Cody’s spot. Did Cody once have a similar, maybe slightly better, yet still underutilized spot on the WWE main roster?

Are they in two totally different UNIVERSES right now? No pun intended.

And just take a look at those tweets. Just take a wild guess. They’re both talented. They’re both in great shape. They’re both good at what they do. What’s the difference?

Look at the tweets again…

• Who’s hoping “Passion” is going to pay off?
• Who’s hoping “opportunity” will find him if he just works hard enough and keeps his head down?
• Who is GETTING opportunity by taking it?

Passion isn’t enough. It’s the biggest lie that a talent can believe in these days.

I’m going to take it one step further to say “Passion for the Business without Measured, Focused Action, is Delusion.”

You’ve got to be passionate about what you do, or else why do it?

…but where does the line cross from being Healthy Passionate, to disproportionate, unhealthy passionate? Both from a fan perspective, and from a talent perspective.

And by the way, what are guys so afraid of? I know, it’s their dream job, they don’t want to get heat, they don’t want to get fired…

But what’s the alternative?

Stick around for a while, say you’re passionate, never get your true worth or recognition, then get released after a while and be unsatisfied with your career? Yet try to tell yourself you had a great run, but it was politics? Or you could have been more, but the stars didn’t align? And then you end up selling your 8×10’s at a local show saying, “Formerly on TV?”

What’s so wrong with taking a chance and betting on your own career?

It worked out TREMENDOUSLY for Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks. You just have to be smart and you have to be a plan.

I interviewed the former head of WWE Talent Development for a special seminar for my coaching clients in my program “Double Your Bookings.”

He goes, “I don’t know what all of these guys are suffering for. Suffering for what? We are in a predetermined sport where the object is to fake throw your opponent into ropes and pretend to bounce off.”

They’re suffering because of lack of perspective.

The greats were passionate about this business, of course – but they were just as passionate about putting food on their family’s tables. They treated wrestling as if they were grown men going to a job.

It seems as though a lot of guys today, even more so than treating it like a grown men going to a job, treat it more like star struck fans who can’t believe they actually made it, so they try not to rock the boat just hoping the opportunity doesn’t go away.

And it’s real interesting – I coach talent one on one so I can speak from personal experience.

Some will say, “Well Stone Cold has passion.” Because they romanticize the part where Steve Austin had to live in his car and eat tuna. So they mistake “Passion for the business EQUALS starving in your car and eating Tuna.”

But they miss the part where Austin’s passion for the business meant he’s going to step up and succeed by any means necessary and speak up and create his own opportunity. Yes, Stone Cold is a passionate guy… and if Stone Cold stayed quiet in the corner, waiting for an opportunity to come, he would have been stuck as the Ring Master, Ice Dagger, or Chilly McFreeze.

He spoke up.

He took risks.

He took chances.

That’s why Austin happened the way he happened.

I’m happy guys have passion – you’ve got to have it to survive in this business. But if you’re going to mistake passion for, “I’m going to show them how much suffering I can take in silence, and hope for an opportunity to arrive someday,” you’re going to have a hard time making it.

If you want to be successful, model success. And between Cody, The Young Bucks, guys like Austin, The Rock, HHH, all these guys, model the ones that are DOING IT. Not the ones that romanticize “Respect my passion” yet use it as an excuse to stay stuck settling for less than what they’re capable of achieving.