The Lure of Secret Genius

Each of us is capable of fire, but rather than picking up whatever sticks are nearby and rubbing them together, we keep looking for the perfect sticks. You don’t need perfect sticks. What you need is friction. You need to start rubbing things together and generating energy yourself.

This idea that passion will get us somewhere else, somewhere better, to that ocean over there, is an illusion; the water, however, is real. And it’s not something you have to go find. It’s all around you. The only thing to do? Start swimming.

The desire is to believe that if and when you discover a talent, or someone discovers it in you, maybe, just maybe, you will know that that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s the appeal of “I wasn’t even trying and I crushed it” mentality.

The point here is that passion isn’t limited necessarily to a topic, a subject, an industry, or even one specific goal. You don’t have to choose one forever.

but something you undertake and put muscle behind, because you want to create something that matters, despite the risk that no one may read it. Sure, you could do a book as a kind of glorified vanity plate (many do). But honestly, if you want to do something that feels exciting, and requires a lot less effort, you’re better off jumping off the

The point is not “OK, now do that thing forever,” but rather to become a keen observer of where and how your own passions rise and fall over time. You’re certainly not less of a person because you were into one thing or because you aren’t anymore. But what it shows you is that passion is a sustainable force, and will keep surging and rising to

Having a fixed mindset or tunnel vision around anything—passion, an industry, an idea of what you’re good at and not (I have to work in fashion or I’m bad at money) may make it tougher for you to try, to keep going, when you face a challenge, not to mention less likely to seek or discover other things that would be just as, if not more, exciting

It’s worth looking at your bucket list (if you have one) to understand what you think is worth doing once, or more than once, and why. Meaning: Are you using a bucket list to hide behind a no-stakes, just-trying, I’m not really here kind of way? Do you believe you have to be really good, scary good, at one thing to make it worth doing?