Subscribe to the 2W2aB feedSo this is a first. I am linking to Scoble. I am not doing it to get attention or suck up - actually, if I was it would be tragic given the topic of this post. And I am not likely to link to him again anytime soon, either, because our chosen topics rarely overlap.
But I loved this post and found myself saying, "yes, yes, yes," to myself (and my cat Paris) as I was reading it.
Robert is writing about the power of passion, excitement, and intrinsic motivation to make big things happen. Here is a brief bit, but please do read the entire post:
"Here’s a little secret: want to get me passionate about something? Get every single person in my life passionate about it.
Why did I return my Cingular aircard and buy a Verizon EVDO one? Cause my friends were passionate. My readers were passionate. And they were right. At Oakland my Cingular card would barely work. Verizon has five bars here and is fast, fast, fast.
Why did I try CoComment? It’s not cause Laurent took me skiing. Well, that helped. But I started hearing about CoComment from other people at the LIFT conference. Laurent didn’t come to the “A list” first. He just was passing them out to anyone. Passion. It’s not about sucking up.
It’s about being so excited by what you’ve built that you’ll tell anyone. Remember Flickr? Two years ago Stewart Butterfield was so excited that he was just pulling anyone who would listen aside at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology conference and showing them his stuff. That passion won me over as a customer and continues winning me over to this day. (Although he better watch out, cause Albert Lai of Bubbleshare is even more passionate than Stewart was!).
So, don’t suck up, get excited!"
Success - passion - focus - genuine joy for the work ---- these things come together and it's magical.
I also like the general point Robert is making in this post about the power of getting excited in bringing your idea or project into the world and in users' hands. Fully one third of my upcoming book, Focus Like a Laser Beam, is dedicated to the power of excitement in getting and staying focused.
Are you working on a project that sets your heart a flutter and your eyes on fire? If not, why not? Question any major projects that don't do this for you. Say "no," so that you can take the time and energy to get passion about your work.
One more thing -Robert also makes a comment about why he likes hanging around geeks (and he has written this before). It's because they are often working on interesting projects and they are passionate about new and exciting things. I agree - I have a great appreciation for super geeks (married one) and find I am most energized when I let my inner geek out to play.
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