You are supposed to be so good they can’t ignore you
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me how lucky I was to be doing what I love…
Look, do what you love, love what you do, follow your passion, all of it is terrible advice. It just is.
We often struggle to figure out if we truly love doing something or we just love the idea of it or the rewards we imagine.
And that’s why it gets tricky.
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You are not meant to do what you love, because you will always fall in and out of love with what you do.
Yes, I love writing. But at the same time, there are about a thousand different things that I must do that have nothing to do with writing. And sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I don’t feel like writing. Sometimes I just want to do anything but write.
And, yes, sometimes I want to give up. Just like the 99% of the writers who quit after 3 months of blogging or after 10 e-book sales on Amazon.
But I don’t quit, and I don’t give it more than a moment’s thought.
Why?
Because I am good at it.
I’m not being arrogant. I’m good enough at what I do that people don’t ignore me. I make a living out of it. It’s okay.
Do you know how many bloggers I find on the web who are incredibly passionate about writing but are terrible at it?
Do I read their content, even though they are passionate? Of course not.
Would you choose as your doctor someone who’s passionate about your health and well-being, but never actually went through Med school?
It’s Not About Love, It’s About Skill
What we call passion is just someone who worked on developing a skill until they became kind of good at it. At that point, it makes no sense to give up.
That’s why some writers give up, while others keep writing until someone plants them in the ground.
Almost everybodybelieves they have the talent to succeed at what the professionals make seem so effortless, yet few will ever pay the price that is required of them to reach such levels of mastery.
And it’s kind of ironic, because the masters themselves don’t think that what they are doing is this wonderful thing. It’s just work. It’s their work. And they know they’re good, like really good, because that’s why they’re doing it.
It’s all just work. Backbreaking, mind-numbing work.
When I worked as a waiter, I felt the same way towards the work I had to do. The same way I approach cleaning the house or doing the dishes. Like the type of work I hate.
What makes writing worth it, in my case, is the fact that I’m good at it, and I receive positive feedback. Oh, and the money as well. Sometimes I feel inspired, but sometimes I also feel inspired to do the dishes.
Everything is work. And you fall in and out of love with the work you do, no matter what it is, countless times throughout your life.
The contribution you have, however, that’s different.
You see, I write not because I derive pleasure from the act itself, but from the impact my words have. From the ideas that I express, and the way they are received my those I share those ideas with.
My words are my contribution, and I am more than willing to suffer in order to amplify that contribution.
The work is the same, but the other constant changes. I am happier after the fact than I am, for instance, after doing the dishes.
That’s the only difference between the type of work that exhausts the soul and one that you find meaningful, one that others call passion.
Passion literally means to suffer. So does patience. To be passionate and patient in the work that you do means to consciously choose to suffer for work that you believe could be great.
That is all.
Don’t try to find work that you love to do, but rather work on becoming so good at something that your work means something to those around you.
That’s what matters most. Doing something you’re good at and sharing those gifts with the world.
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