Losing your passion can have a negative impact on your motivation. But losing your passion is not as bad as you think. It’s taught me to stop relying on passion alone to get stuff done. When passion evaporates, it’s a signal to move from passion to dispassion. It will buy you time and energy until your passion returns.

I’m not saying that you should become the archetypal Robot. You don’t need to function on autopilot to the point of burnout, but dispassion allows you to be detached, objective, measured and controlled when necessary. You can engage and disengage these attributes as you need them.

A dispassionate approach allows you to remain in charge of your situation so you can complete the task or achieve your goal. You’re able to continue, rather than give up. Being dispassionate about getting stuff done maintains reliability and productivity.

Dispassion maintains objectivity. It allows you to keep your wits about you, so you can evaluate situations and make rational, informed decisions. Dispassion reduces the likelihood of being swayed by cognitive biases. When it comes to making a business decision, for example, a dispassionate approach enables you to stick to the facts, analyse the data and potential outcomes, without being overly influenced by preconceived ideas and emotional attachments.

Dispassion facilitates adaptability and flexibility so you’re less likely to be rigid in your approach and more open to adjusting your strategies because they’re based on objective assessment. Dispassion allows you to manage a project objectively, so you can make any necessary changes. It allows you to pivot without losing your focus when faced with unexpected challenges.

Being dispassionate about a task means you’re less likely to be emotionally affected by setbacks or obstacles. In a high-pressure work environment, a dispassionate mindset allows you to navigate challenges with composure. It reduces the impact of stress on your decision-making and leads to a more sustainable and measured approach. In pursuing a long-term goal, a mindful, dispassionate approach involves pacing yourself, avoiding impulsive decisions, and maintaining a sustainable level of effort over time.

Dispassion minimises the influence of short-term emotions that might cloud your judgment. In financial planning, a dispassionate evaluation of investment opportunities involves assessing risks and returns objectively rather than being swayed solely by the excitement or fear of the moment.

“A sign of emotional intelligence is refusing to let feelings dictate decisions. Feelings are electrical signals in the brain. We don’t choose every sensation but we are responsible for how we react. Emotions are rarely a call for action. They’re usually cause for reflection.”

@AdamMGrant, 21/1/24, Instagram

If you’ve lost your passion, then let it a rest. Cultivate dispassion to get things moving again by journaling with the Robot archetype. It will buy you time until your passion returns.

Journal Prompts for the Robot Archetype:

1. Brainstorm a list of 6 negative qualities and 6 positive qualities that you attribute to the Robot archetype. This list will give you food for thought as you respond to the remaining prompts.
2. Reflect on situations where you exhibited the positive qualities of the Robot archetype. How did your ability to embrace these qualities impact the outcome?
3. Think about a challenging decision you’ve made but regretted. How could adopting the positive qualities of the Robot archetype have helped you to approach the decision? What affect could it have had the outcome?
4. Consider a time when detachment was essential for productivity or problem-solving. How did a Robot mindset contribute to a more efficient resolution?
5. Reflect on times where being robotic strained personal relationships. How can you balance robotic behaviour with empathy to maintain healthy connections?

Being dispassionate allows you to recognise when to engage your emotions and when to take a step back, into a clear head, for a more objective assessment of your situation.