Leaning Into Obsessions Can Maybe Change Your Life
I'm okay with trying it out. How about you?
This week, a writer I’m helping sent me a message and it basically said, “I saw your LinkedIn. I want to work with you. I’m not sure how you have any time though.”
And I told him, “I make the time for the things I care about.”
In stories, our characters make choices that propel the plot and action of the narrative, right? Elliot choses to go in the shed to find ET, the cute alien scientist. Then he chooses to take care of ET. Then he chooses to let him go so he can survive.
All those choices matter. But they aren’t just in books, those choices. They are also in life.
Tim Denning seems like a pretty decent human, I guess. I don’t know him. He calls himself the most prolific self-improvement/personal development writer on the internet or something like that, which is cool. No judgement here.
He writes a lot. And one of his newest blog posts is about how the “most high-income habit you can start in the next 30 days.”
It’s not getting up early.
It’s not reading a book a week.
It’s being obsessed and passionate.
He writes,
“What’s missing from most people’s lives isn’t the right money strategy or the business idea that’ll make them the next Jeff Bezos of eCommerce marketplaces. What’s missing is obsession.
When you have obsession you have everything.
Including…
Endless motivation
Unlimited energy
The exact path forward
Zero obstacles to getting what you want
A tribe of people who believe what you believe and can help you reach the next level
With that list of things on your side, you become unstoppable.”
This seems true. But the thing is that it isn’t just true about money (or maybe true about money). It’s true about so many things:
Relationships
Nature
Art
Writing
Health
Wellness
Being super focused and staying that way, wanting something and knowing that you want it? Those are big deal and motivating things. I’m positive it’s why I was a successful novelist. I’m positive it’s why we built up a hyper-local newspaper up from nothing last year in a very small community and get so many views in just a year with zero marketing.
PASSION AND OBSESSION
We’re passionate about it. Really passionate.
I’m not super into the word “obsession” because it has so many negative connotations in psychology, but I’m good with passion. But sometimes I wonder why passion or obsession always has to be linked to work, to getting “more” possessions, more money, more everything.
Sometimes it’s okay to stop. To be still. And you can be passionate about that need for stillness, too.
CHOICES
It’s all about the choices we make. Do we choose to dream, to write, to live, to lean into our passions and obsessions. Do I choose to go to a town meeting and write about it after an already full work day? Do I choose instead to play Royal Match or Wordle on my phone? Do I choose to go upstairs and paint for five minutes during a break or do I choose to sweep the floor or answer emails?
Those choices tell us what matters to us, they show us where our obsessions lie.
I spoke at a recovery center this week and gave out some literary awards for people who competed in this contest and I told them what is absolutely true. I was proud of them for taking a chance, for being brave enough to put their poems, their stories on paper, to reach out to invisible readers and be willing to be seen. How gorgeous is that? No, it isn’t going to make them all Bill Gates rich, but who really gives a poop about being Bill Gates rich.
That choice gave them bravery. It gave them a moment. It gave them connection.
We make choices like that every day of our lives. We can choose to have what Denning calls that high-powered obsession. Or not. It’s all really okay.
THE DENNING CHALLENGE
But he writes, if you want to try it, this,
“A challenge for you (if you dare)
If you implement this high-income habit and chase obsession in the next 30 days, I guarantee your life will change in ways you could never have dreamed of.
The outcomes will be so drastic that no one — including me — will be able to predict them.
My challenge for you is to stop stuffing around and go all in on your obsession.
Take the one thing you can’t stop thinking about and dedicate yourself to it. Do it every day. Do it while you’re at your job. Do it on the commute on the way home. Do it on holidays or after hours. Or dare to do it during the dark hours of 5 AM if you have to.
Just stop avoiding it.
Stop pretending you don’t know what your obsession is. You do. So chase it. Follow it to the ends of the world and don’t fear it any longer.
Follow your obsession and you’ll never have to worry about money again.”
Sometimes, though, passion doesn’t work out especially at work. For a bit of a contrary view, go check this out When Your Passion Works Against You
What am I obsessed with? Potentially too many things. But I’ll share in the hopes you’ll share with me too.
Making sure people know that their stories have value and so do they
Painting
Writing
Dogs
Getting people our local news and celebrating cool things that happen in my community.
How about you?
Here’s that link to Tim Denning’s post.
All these random photos are from this week and the things I got to see because I leaned into my news obsession/passion. I’m really glad I did.
