This article is about the power of hard work and putting integrity into your passion. This isn’t meant to be taken as some corporate cringe of, “hey if you don’t work 125hrs/week” or some speech about motivation. I want to give you the really details, not any fluff.
That being said here are two things this article is about: 1) Love what you do which is the passion aspect. 2) Integrity.
Now lots of people when they are in their late teens, early twenties, play it safe. They tell themselves, hey don’t start that business or explore this. They don’t know that the age they are in is the best time of their lives to take risks. You see inside many of them a fire that isn’t sparked. Then they go on, manage their lives by an instruction book, and this was there whole story. Peers don’t judge them, and they go on that basic path.
This leads to a common misconception everyone has about work. Work is work. However, work that you are passionate about is more than just work. It is the following of a certain mission. You can be that person who wants to innovate and climb up the shoulders of giant. You can also be the one who wants to have the most delicious cake shop in town. If they make you happy, both are likely better than staying in a cubicle or doing some job you don’t like with 36 inches of office space.
People call me relentless. They think I am relentless because of how hard I work. I’m constantly at the curve trying to build on my dreams and goals. What confuses so many others is that I am relaxed doing it. When you have something you are passionate about and hold on to it, it no longer becomes some bearing weight.
Now don’t take this article the wrong way. This isn’t a call to action to go become a workaholic or work insane amount of hours and living non-sustainably. I don’t endorse the workaholic lifestyle. In-fact, I seen some famous businessman talking about how early level employees had to live in their cars, and I was like, “what’s wrong with him?”.
This article is about being passionate about what you do. That constant work that comes as a result of passion becomes a mission and goal. It increases your happiness factor.
That being said, a second part of the equation comes the integrity aspect of it. There is this disease in Silicon Valley happening all over. Many people make “Me too” products for the sake of it, or just start “startups” without really caring about innovation. The whole being in it for the money part of it, and the lack of diversity intellectually isn’t passion. There is also this whole lifestyle of people who once they made it, they become complete narcissist. The whole tough management, fear tactics, and I’m the best attitude comes to mind when lots of these so called founders raise capital. These are the things we would want to avoid.
To summarize: Be passionate, work hard, and be relentless in attitude. Have integrity in your work and once you make it keep your ego low and your humbleness and humility high. Also, not everybody needs to know about your little small successes. Those are my few cents for success.