That thing your passionate about? It's important!

It’s important. It’s important that we identify our passion and pursue it. Why is it important? Because the first step to success is passion. Sure you can be a moderate success at something you are just good at and not necessarily be passionate about it. But real success? I suspect Walt Disney was passionate about cartooning. I suspect Bill Gates is passionate about computers. Stephen King is passionate about writing. Stan Lee is passionate about comic books (this wasn’t always the case, but once he got passionate, the success followed). In Stan’s case he didn’t start out doing what he loved, but he learned to love what he was doing. The passion became enthusiasm and the enthusiasm became success. And for anyone who has heard Stan speak, the enthusiasm is also infectious.

It’s not just important for your success, but the world is so much richer when you are working on your passion! You have a gift. Your passion guides you towards that gift. And the world wants you (needs you) to produce that gift!

So why don’t we all do it? Because it’s hard.

It’s hard to write in the evenings when you also have a “real job”. It’s hard to run a second business while in college (both Bill Gates and Michael Dell did this). It’s hard to go out and make music on the weekends when you work all week and people remind you that Nashville is not calling anytime soon.
It’s hard to break into comics, or cartooning, or acting (or is it? Maybe breaking in looks differently than we have been led to believe).

We are afraid people will laugh. My passion is geeky. No doubt about it. It involves super heroes and dragons and wizards and zombies. Nothing any mature male should be interested in. Who says?

I suspect your passion might be just as challenging. This is just a reminder that even though it is hard, there are lots of us struggling with it. By finding each other, communicating, supporting one another and commiserating (sometimes) we will find that it’s even though it is still hard, it doesn’t have to be quite so painful.

The world, the universe, and me all want you to work on your passion. Pursue it. People may laugh. Maybe not. If they do, then you don’t need them. Surround yourself with supportive influences and go create something awesome!