Pursuing Passion

There is nothing more refreshing that talking to people who are passionate about something. While it would be great if everyone we meet fell into this category, the reality is that most people are less "passionate about something" and more "blah, about everything."

When I meet someone for the first time, I'm going to stop leading with predictable boring questions like "where are you from" and "what do you do." Instead I'm going to start asking "what are you crazy passionate about and how does that passion drive decisions you make?" I think understanding someone's passions and dreams can tell you a lot more about them than knowing where they happened to have been born or for which company they push paper.

It is funny that "dreams" don't show in social networks. They ask you, what is your favorite movie, what is your favorite book, etc. Most of us tend to provide run of the mill answers to these rather "blah" questions. How interesting/unique do you seem when you are one of 10 million people on Facebook that "like rap" or "enjoy hanging out with friends."

I think asking people something a little deeper like "if you could do anything, what would you do," "if you could change the ending of something that has happened in the world, what event would you change," "if you could go anywhere, where would you go," "if you could spend every moment of every day doing something, what would it be." I think answers to these questions would give other's a much deeper insight into who we are, what drives us and what we dream about. Answering these questions might actually require an ounce of thought.

This idea of "pursuing passion" begs the question: why do we do what we do? If we are to devote so much energy and time of our lives to a job, shouldn't there be passion involved. Sometimes their are circumstances that make working a job where there is no passion necessary, but more times than not I think other things drive these decisions (fear, social expectations, etc).

One of the things I've done a lot of following my move to Silicon Valley is meet with a lot of entrepreneurs. The great thing about entrepreneurs is that many of them are truly passionate about what they are doing. Their passion is not just a hobby or something they spend 1hr a day one, rather it is something that they are throwing themselves into, financially and physically. I don't always agree about how great someone's idea is, but this willingness to pursue a passion without hesitation is a rare quality that is contagious.

I guess the whole point of this post is that we are all interested in something but very few people seem to be outwardly passionate about anything. I want to do a better job myself of pursuing things I'm passionate about and would love to meet more people doing the same along the way. Before I can ask someone else, I should really ask myself "what am I crazy passionate about and how does that drive decisions I make."