Following one's passion

Whether it's going into business or pursuing a career, the common advice is to follow your passion. Most successful entrepreneurs have been noted to achieve great success for doing what they love to do. 

But success has many faces and here's one story which may make us rethink of our definition of success. I lifted the story from the website of Forbidden Knowledge TV and edited slightly for smooth reading.

Here it is:

File photo of a shoe-shine man

Don Ward probably has more integrity and spiritual insight than anyone on Wall Street.

Of course he's been aware that being a "shoe-shine boy" was not exactly a job to aspire for in the eyes of many - most likely including his own family. 

So he went to a culinary school, where he mastered the art of being a pastry chef. While he became a successful chef, he realized that it just wasn't him.

Ward, a garrulous African-American, had decided to be true to himself and live his life - not somebody else's idea of what life should be. He went back to shining shoes on 6th Avenue and 47th Street in Manhattan. 

Bill and Melinda Gates,
our traditional concept of success.

He is happy and fulfilled, doing a job that he loves - selling his services to the hurried, harried and tough New Yorkers who power-walk past him.

What keeps him going is his passion for what he is doing and the thought that he wouldn't have it any other way. 

"I guess, till I leave this Earth, I'll always be pushing for better and not worrying about how someone else perceives life should be," he says.

 "I'm gonna be me. That's it. However you react and respond to it, is your business."

Note: The story has an accompanying video of Don Ward for all and sundry to see.