Finding Your Passion
Bottom line up front: "...you know you have found your passion when you can't sleep through the night because you wake up thinking about what you will do to tomorrow."A few weeks ago I woke up in the morning like I normally do and went about my morning routine of making a smoothie, eating breakfast, showering, dressing, and searching for inspiring things to listen to while I go about my process. My search for inspiration always includes a quick browse of my twitter feed, my flipboard subscriptions, and normally and lastly I look to facebook, but on this morning I found a video that had been posted by an old fraternity brother of mine Eric Schiech.
He posted a link to Urban Outlaw which is basically an interview of a man named Magnus Walker and something about the video immediately drew me in.
After a couple of minutes of watching the video I realized I needed to head to my office so I continued to watch the video intermittently at red lights as I drove. The thing is that I was completely captivated by what the man was saying. His interview and his way of talking and mostly his vision and his passion distracted me from everything else around me. So much so that I forgot that I needed to get gas before I went into the office and I ran out of gas on the side of the highway after passing several gas stations.
As I waited for my roadside assistance to arrive and give me the gas I needed to get to a gas station I watched the rest of the video and was struck with the most profound thought. Magnus said, "Obsessive behavior, my wife will tell you all about that. You know I don't sleep all the way through and a lot of time I am trying to mentally… I go through it in my mind, you know what… how am I going to make this work tomorrow? What's going to be the better way to get that fender to fit, or to install those seats, or to get that bolt out with the head sheared off? Whatever it may be it's dummy run in my mind. I got to make the next one better. You know it's sort of like when you hear about bands and they've done their best album, you know they've got to up that with the next album. So for me that's what drives me to make the next car better than the one that came before it." -Magnus Walker, Urban Outlaw
I remembered that you know you have found your passion when you can't sleep through the night because you wake up thinking about what you will do to tomorrow and you can't sleep because the your mind reels with different scenarios and opportunities you may be about to encounter.
Immediately I knew that I was in the right place and that my recent sleep deprived nights and the similar nights that I knew were to come were all a great thing. I realized or maybe I just remembered that stress and obsession were just a sign that I am doing what I was meant to do and more importantly, what I want to do.
I don't know what happened to Magnus. Maybe his ventures and his company and his brand have since failed and I don't care to know what has become of him. What I do know is that he reminded me that we are at our best when we are obsessed and completely involved in what we are doing and I am forever grateful for that reminder.
Work until you've found something that you care about so much that you wake up dreaming about your passion.
George Ferko’s recent efforts have been focused on developing strong sales and leadership skills by working in direct sales, recruiting, and sales management. He runs a sales office in Philadelphia where he recruits , trains, and coaches new salespeople to build large client lists and serve those clients.
In the previous years leading up to the beginning of his sales career he was an engineer conducting research developing the next gen transparent armor under government grants. As an engineer he developed very strong analytical skills as well as skills in instruction and teaching.