Many people like to ask themselves what the right path in life and business is, where they should focus their attention, where they should invest their money and how they should be educating themselves.

In my opinion however, there is one question that come before all of those: “What am I passionate about?”

Passion ignites the burning fire that resides within all of us. This is the fire that's ultimately going to propel you to the levels of success that you always dreamed of.

Passion is going to provide you with the determination to move forward even when you're tired and want to give up.

Passion is going to provide you with the energy needed to wake up every morning and look forward to investing time into something that's going to pay you back immensely at some point.

Aside from all that, passion is extremely beneficial when trying to influence others.
Passion leads to captivation and captivation leads to engagement which positions you to influence others.

Most people want to be passionate about something so when they come across someone else that is passionate they are immediately drawn to them. They can see that you are driven by something, that you believe in something and within them comes a sense that you can provide them with some sort of help that is going to improve their lives.

Just because you’re passionate doesn't mean that people will like you but they will respect you for the fact that you can identify something in your life that you truly feel strong about and are determined to either attain or protect with immense conviction.

Past passion also allows you to transmit charisma which will enable you to tap into the hearts of others and get them emotionally vested in whatever it is that you believe in. Passionate people are constantly letting others know about their message and in turn, converting them to follow their cause.

True passion also allows you to diplomatically defend your point when someone disagrees with you by openly listening to their feedback, points of view and opinions and then making a counter argument without insulting them.

It has been said that enthusiasm is contagious but so is passion. You can transfer your energy to others by simply showing them how passionate you are about something and it will have a positive impact on their life as it pertains to the subject you are passionate about.

For example if you are trying to teach people how to sell more (and you are truly passionate about it), you will transfer that energy into the people whom you’re teaching; causing them to become more confident, more optimistic, more proactive and more willing to learn about becoming a master salesperson.

While passion is an important part to the influence process is not the only part. If you can combine education, practice and persistence on a particular subject with your passion about it, you will then begin to experience even higher levels of success.

Remember the question I asked you just a few minutes ago? “What are you passionate about?”

Most people either can't answer this question because they either don't know or they think they know but they're actually confusing passion with excitement or hype about something.

When you’re truly passionate about something, you can easily speak about it and it doesn't feel forced or fake.

If your target senses your passion is not real or that it’s forced, your persuasion efforts can actually backfire on you as people will view you as a phony. Being viewed as a phony destroys one of the most critical components needed to influence others which credibility.

Passion also never stops being developed or enhanced. Sometimes the only way to increase the level of passion is to step out of your comfort zone and do something different. Oftentimes this includes things you might not be so enthusiastic about doing but the more you expose yourself to, the greater your chances are of finding more reasons to be passionate about the things you love.

Here’s how I sum up the importance of passion in persuasion and influence. Passion leads to charisma which leads to emotional engagement. Once they are emotionally engaged, they are able to be lead in whatever direction you choose.