What would make success your only option?
The next M.A.P. Maker Podcast is from an interview with Brian Johnson, founder of Zaadz.com (now Gaia Community since he sold it late last year) and currently founder of thinkArete.com. It was an inspiring conversation, and I'm completely psyched to share the results with you (watch for it next week).
During the course of the interview, we got to talking about the secret to his success as an entrepreneur. Here's what he had to say...
I had a conversation recently with a young entrepreneur who just won a competition in Texas, and had a great idea and was asking me for advice...
My success [didn't come from] the experience or particular skill in building businesses. I think that hands down what allowed me to be successful was my absolute commitment to an idea. That when I come up with an idea and it really takes hold of me, success is my only option. And a willingness to go through that wall and that wall and that wall and that wall, because it’s an idea that I love creating, and I think the world needs, and I feel called to go out and bring to the world.
When I look at the M.A.P. concept, what Brian is really talking about there is the amazing fuel that results from blending both passion ("I love doing this") and meaning ("I'm inspired to make this kind of difference") in what you do.
I've experienced that in my own journey. When I look back, there have definitely been times when I felt like I was just banging my head against a wall. Like I had the talent, but not the skill to breathe life into my vision. There have even been times when I've said, "Screw this! I give up!"
But any time I said that, I would know immediately that it wasn't true. Part of it is because I'm over the moon in love with what I do, and I'm not really willing to give it up. And part of it is because the idea of cheating the world of the positive impact that my work has the potential to make makes me almost sick to my stomach.
Is success actually the only option? No, of course not. I've never been trapped on one path. I could hang up my hat and find some other direction any time I wanted. What it really boils down to is that the pull of that success is greater than the pain of whatever bumps I might experience along the way. And that is because of the powerful mix of passion and meaning.
Take a look at your journey. Where is that intersection of passion and meaning for you? What would give you that unquenchable fire in the belly to turn those dreams into reality? What would make success the only option?
Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
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