Who does what they want?
There’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere about only doing what you’re really passionate about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about look at daringfireball.net, lazyway.blogs.com or slackermanager.com. It seems to be one thing to really take on your dreams if you’re already someone of note, either electronically or professionally. But what if you’re just a space-age cipher with a ton of chutzpah?
I’m a big fan of the ideal: work your passions. The things you love, you’ll love to be good at, you’ll love to persist at, and you’ll really love when you succeed. The problem is most people are living in a hamster cube. Who has broken free? What did it for you? What was your secret, what was your drive?
I’ll anxiously await your comments. It doesn’t even have to be your finished story. Maybe you’ve got a friend. Maybe you’re almost there and you’ve got a plan to finish. Or maybe you just want to know the same things I do.
September 22nd, 2005 at 1:26 pm
> Or maybe you just want to know the same things I do.
I will definitely be trackbacking this later today.
What I’m focusing on right now is, what does it take for the passion to overcome the dollar signs? I’m not just being materialistic when I say that it would be HARD to give up my salary. How do you go to your family and say ’sorry guys, you’re going to have to work more and have less because I’m tired of working for the man.’
And don’t give me any of this ‘if they love you, they’ll support you’ tripe. If YOU love THEM, you make sacrifices. Like JD said, you can’t always get what you want.
Or, alternatively, how do you make the jump without having to give up the dollar signs?
One part devil’s advocate, two parts realist…
September 22nd, 2005 at 1:31 pm
JV - an excellent extension of things I probably meant to say but didn’t elaborate on.
In the absence of knowledge from those who absolutely know, I think at least part of the answer to our questions is a massive amount of conviction.
September 22nd, 2005 at 4:24 pm
Bryan, what are you really passionate about? I’m passionate about a lot of my hobbies, but I’m just unsure as to how to expand my hobbies so that they provide me with income without becoming dull.
September 23rd, 2005 at 12:30 am
[…] echnology where little exists… hacking the simple life « Who does what they want? Fred’s ‘Finding Your Calling’ Exer […]
September 28th, 2005 at 11:53 pm
[…] Doing what you love has become something of a meme in the blogosphere. The sermons at church this month have been about knowing God’s will for life decisions. It’s even turned up on Slashdot. All the buzz eventually kept me awake wondering what my next step should be. I know I want to write, but I’m no closer to knowing what sort of writing I want to do. Writing for one of the bigger sites I read would be a blast. In fact, I applied to one of them. Didn’t make the cut, this time, but at least I was in a position to try — thanks to this blog. That’s a form of progress, I guess. […]