What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about your hobbies? Your career? Or is it something else? Whatever it is, passion should be a part of the equation, something that makes you feel alive.

I have worked for and followed leaders who were not passionate about their work. When an employer lacks passion in a department, it pulls everyone down. How do you expect your employees to be passionate about their jobs when you are not?

Some people mistake satisfaction with passion. They go to the same job and do the same routine. It is comfortable and familiar. The truth is, when you are passionate about something, you will go after it even when it is uncomfortable.

I am not suggesting you risk your life’s stability. Far from it, but I am suggesting you pursue something in your life that makes you feel alive.

I have told this to others who have stated that I have unrealistic expectations of my life. Life is tough and all you can do is work. I have been told that wanting to live passionately is naive and that no one can do what makes you feel alive. You should jump on the bandwagon like everyone else and hope that you make it. Put your gear in neutral and coast, that is all you can expect to do.

I do agree that life is tough and that you have to work toward your goals. I will even concede that you do have to work hard. Hard work builds character and there is nothing wrong with that. I am a big believer in working hard. I know that no one owes me anything, nor am I entitled to anything.

With all that being said, I want my hard work to pay off. I want it to take me to a place where I can do what I am passionate about. I want to be a leader, hero, and author, that everyone can say, “He lived for his passion.”

I have been in a job (one I was good at) and never felt passionate about it. I would come home and just sit. My lovely wife would ask what was wrong and would I say, “Work is fine, but that’s it. It’s just fine.” I worked hard at that job, earning revenue, and got a pink slip for my efforts.

After that, I determined that even if my job did not satisfy that passionate part of me, I would find a way to fulfill it. I find it in writing. It might be something different for you.
I encourage you, to find a job, a hobby, an activity, or anything that can make you feel passionate about your life. Do not just coast, do not be fine, live with some risk, and be passionate.

There are two types of pride.

One is described as, “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority.” This is the type of pride that the wise King Solomon warned us about when he wrote, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.” Yes, this sort of arrogant pride is what drives people away from you. Be very wary of that.

However, there is another type of pride. This one is defined as, “pleasure or satisfaction taken in something done by or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon oneself.” This is being proud of what you have accomplished. This kind of pride is lacking a great deal in our society today where conformity is often valued higher than imagination.

It may seem harsh to say, but it is true. Unless the imaginative is really just being weird in disguise, the value of it is marginalized so much it is often considered to be a rarity. This is not true. Every person has a unique reason to be proud of what they have accomplished in life. 

Many try to say that an individual accomplishment is not truly won by the individual. I have heard it said that if someone may have helped an individual with their project, what it may be, therefore it is a sort of false pride that they have in their work. That individual should not take credit for their accomplishment. A few have fallen prey to this and when they do something big or important, they take false humility in claiming that they could not have done it without support. False humility is even worse than pride, but that is a whole other topic.

It may be true that help was given to you, but if you did it, with your sleeves rolled up as part of team or by yourself, take pride in your work and hold your head high. You still did it and you should be proud of the quality of the work that you did.

What if things had gone differently in the Industrial Age? What if Henry Ford had given up after his first failure in creating cheaper automobiles? Instead, he kept on innovating. He famously said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Here is a man who did not conform, but instead took pride in his work. Not only did he invent a better automobile, but he changed the way businesses run to this day.

Do not be afraid of taking credit for your accomplishments. If you were successful, you have a right to celebrate. Do not become arrogant, but acknowledge the hard work and the effort you put into whatever you have succeeded in. It does not matter whether you are a doctor who found a cure, an athlete who won the gold, an engineer who built a better engine, or a self-starter who founded your own successful business, be proud and take pleasure in your work. It is your success after all.

When publishing a magazine or periodical, it seems that there are so many things to consider. There is subject, peer review type, audience, staffing, online or not, and so much more, but not in the least is the type of style guide you will use.

The choice of style appears to be a minute detail compared to the other decisions editors and publishers have to make, but a concrete style guide determines the format of an article and even how you make citations and references.

Medical and psychological periodicals have it somewhat easier than other disciplines. They can just slap on AMA Style or APA Style respectively, and many, rightly so, do. Journalism makes it even easier. There are exactly three press styles that folks take seriously in that field. A few other industries can find solace in the fact that others have created guides for them. For instance, Web Style Guide for publishing online, Harvard’s Bluebook Guide for legal research, and Gregg Reference Manual for business.

For other types of journals, it can be difficult. There are so many different styles to choose from. It can feel like a literal jungle. You want British English? You got the Oxford Guide to Style. You want American English? You got Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. No, you say. You want Canadian English? We even got that covered with The Canadian Style. I have not even gotten to non-English style guides created by international standards organizations.

With the market of styles flooded, some publications have begun to use an “in-house” style that they have either developed independently or have made from an amalgam of several different styles. For example, while the research paper format may follow the MLA Handbook, citations might be done in the style of Index Medicus. Personally, I find the “mix and match” styles very confusing. 

When I was in college, most of my teachers did not care about the style with two exceptions. My journalism adjunct professor wanted us to use the Associated Press Style Guide and my Sociology professor let us choose between The Chicago Manual of Style and MLA Handbook. Of course, I also knew of APA Style.

It was not until I got into the publishing industry that I discovered the maze of guide styles that were floating around in the atmosphere. While examining various periodicals, I would look in the “About” tab and find the randomness that was there. Now to be fair, most used a pretty well-known style guide, but I would still find ones that were so rare that I had not even heard mentioned.

Like I said earlier, choosing a style guide can be considered a minute problem compared to such issues as peer review or staffing, but I disagree. Choosing an acceptable, easy-to-follow style will make your periodical, magazine, or journal seem more attractive to readers, editors, and even your readers.

For more information, I have a list of the top three styles respected by the writing and journalistic community:

• Chicago Manual of Style
• MLA Handbook
• APA Style Guide