The challenge in life is to be the best YOU YOU can be. That’s something you should expound with ALLCAPS passion.
A trusted colleague used the phrase ‘the passionate ALLCAPS YOU’ in conversation yesterday. The moment I heard the phrase it resonated deeply with me.
We are rightly reluctant to use ALLCAPS. Our shouty outdoor voice is kept quiet to meet with social expectations of politeness and decorum. In most contexts, this makes a lot of sense. Read any political comments thread and you will realise why we prefer discussion to be conducted without ALLCAPS passion. Shouting at others is neither persuasive nor conducive to relationships.
However, external social pressures can have a terrible influence on YOU, your internal passions, purpose and identity. Lots of people from supportive bosses, to helpful peers, to well-meaning family and friends will tell YOU to tone YOU down. They prefer the quieter, safer, more socially acceptable version of YOU. This well-meaning advice can be a source of doubt, frustration and ultimately a discouragement to share your passion and your purpose in action.
If there is one part of your life where YOU are entitled to go CAPSLOCK, it is YOU. When YOU express yourself with this passion, the audience is not the world, it is a reminder to YOU to live up to your potential. The passionate ALLCAPS YOU is more persuasive, more engaging and more effective. It is the version of YOU that attracted the bosses, peers, family and friends in the first place. Passion and integrity are precious commodities in this world. Let out the loud and then chase it out into the world with passion.
YOU ARE CHANGING YOUR COMPANY & THE WORLD. There I said it aloud in a shouty voice for YOU. Maybe at this point nobody, not even YOU, realises this. However, YOU are doing what YOU do for a really good reason. YOU thought a lot about the choices you have made. Your everyday efforts to battle frustration, dullness and administrivia are signs YOU care. YOU make a bigger impact are because it matters to YOU. YOU are in a unique position and you bring your capabilities, ideas and networks. YOU aren’t your work. YOU are your much bigger purpose and your extraordinary potential to learn, to grow and to make change. Your purpose is in the work. If YOU are not sure, go digging with passion and YOU will find it hidden there.
Maybe the rest of the world does not want it yet, but that doesn’t stop that passion being a fundamental part of the passionate ALLCAPS YOU. What the world wants really doesn’t matter when it’s WHO YOU ARE. The only way to express your purpose and potential is IN YOUR FACE ALOUD.
Be the passionate ALLCAPS YOU. It is ALL YOU CAN BE. YOU won’t be YOU otherwise
