Passion fuels success

Many long-term projects require sustained mental and physical focus.  Without focus, it is difficult to get excited about the routine tasks necessary to complete a project.  That's why we often set goals – to provide a target, an achievable benchmark, a destination.  Goals mean different things to different people, but those who create an emotional tie to their goals will achieve success more often than not – and that is passion.

I was visiting New York City for the very first time in early November 2012 for the New York Marathon.  That's the year that Superstorm Sandy ravaged the East Coast, and the marathon was abruptly canceled 36 hours before the race was to start.  Without a marathon to run, I had a few extra days to be a tourist, and while many places in New York were closed, the Empire State Building was open for business.

The story of the construction of the Empire State Building is fascinating.  The art deco building, which was built in 1930, stood as the world's tallest building for 40 years, and is still the fourth-tallest building in the United States.  Today it is the second-tallest building in New York City, running second to the One World Trade Center building.  What was fascinating to me was the story about how the Empire State Building was built – the passion of the people working the project, and the relatively short amount of time it took to complete.   

The construction project started in January 1930.  At the time, New York City had a few construction projects happening – all vying for the title of the "worlds tallest building".  The Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street had already started construction, so the Empire State crew was already behind schedule.  The entire team was passionate about winning the title, and they kept building at a frantic pace.  In fact, workers did not know how tall the building was going to be – that was kept a secret.  When all was said and done, the 3,400 workers built the world's tallest building, 102 stories tall, and 1,454 feet high.  What is truly remarkable is that the entire project wrapped up in April of 1931 – exactly 410 days after they started excavating.  As a comparison, the One World Trade Center building took over 7 years to construct.  The building is now 85 years old, and still stands strong.

As the tour guide told the story of the building, I thought about how exciting it must have been to be on that construction team.  Going to work every day with the goal of completing the world's tallest building – not to mention the competition between building crews in the City at the time – must have been thrilling.  That passion was transferable to every member of the team, and they achieved a mark that stood for almost half a century.

 We don't always have the opportunity to build the tallest building in the world, but we do have the chance to link passion to our goals.  How can your life (or others) improve if you reached your goal?  Perhaps it is driven by money, health, fitness, or creating a better future for your family.  It makes the everyday task(s) of going to work, going to the gym, going to class, or simply jumping out of bed before the snooze alarm goes off that much easier.  Passion can make that a whole lot easier, and passion can help you reach new heights.