I once had a client say to me: “Lee, you must admit…you’re a little over the top” and I said “Well I’m just as obsessed with getting you to your dream as I am with living mine if that makes you feel any better”.
I’ve found that when our focus is precisely directed at the one thing that we want; we get it! If you’re completely consumed by it then you become it! Oh, you may appear slightly insane at times or “a bit over the top” but who cares! I can tell you with certainty that most onlookers secretly wish they were as committed as you and someday will ask “How do you do it?” Life’s crossing guards with their good intentions beg us to choose safe routes, social acceptance, and paths free of danger. However by doing so, we get side tracked with tasks that keep us busy as bees but fail to provide true fulfillment in our lives. Every treasure in my life was challenging to attain and keep. I sincerely believe that the reward is equal to the effort. Still we unceasingly feel we’ve worked hard enough…when we’ve almost done so. As a tadpole struggling to catch my first wave I was treated to a profound bit of advice by a 19 year old wise man & surfer. As he paddled up alongside me he said;
“When you think you’re there…take two more hard paddles to finish the job, and you’ll drop in”. That’s all it took! Go further, harder, faster, and longer than it takes…because that’s what it takes. For too long I’ve heard people say the word obsession with distain! Irony is; many of them obsess about why they don’t have what the obsessive people have from being obsessive! Start obsessing! Obsessive types never use the word to describe themselves. In fact we don’t consider ourselves obsessive at all; just focused. I once cried when the counter guy at the Greenbrier GNC told me he was out of my favorite protein powder. Do you think that’s obsessive? I don’t either! Anyway the guy thought I was out of my mind, and I thought he should die for being out of my favorite protein! I wasn’t obsessed; just hungry! So let them gasp, gawk, cringe, or whatever folks…“Long live obsession”!
“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen for you, to you and because of you.” – T. Alan Armstrong
Obsessions leave impressions!
Michael Phelps won 23 gold medals and ate 12’000 cals per day.
Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s rights…and won.
Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon…first.
Patrick Henry passionately demanded “Liberty or death”…and our nation rallied back.
Thomas Edison patented over 1000 inventions and left obsessive people like us with the perfect quote: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10’000 ways that won’t work”
