At some point, our passion becomes A JOB.
I mean, if we want to get good at it at all, we have to work at it. And when we work at it, it feels like a job.
I’m brainstorming and working on the ideas for a children’s book. And it might be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. Right now, it is work. Hard work. And at some point, we don’t feel like working hard.
The growing entitlement of our culture desires the results without the work. It isn’t everyone, but ask any teacher that has worked over the last twenty years and the cultural shift is real. But the facts of life aren’t shaken by a cultural shift. It still takes hard work to be good at something, even the things we are passionate about.
Whether working through “writer’s block” or editing or revising or pushing ourselves on a new project, it is hard work. It isn’t FUN. And so we don’t want to do it.
Learning the discipline of writing when we don’t feel like it, when the words don’t naturally flow, when the creative juices seem dry, is important. It takes hard work.
The secret is this – the more we push ourselves to work at something when we don’t “feel like it,” the more we see the reward in the end. That’s how you learn the discipline.
Because I can guarantee you this, no matter how awesome something is, no matter how passionate you are about it, no matter how much you love it, at some point we have to work at it when we don’t feel like it.
Peace.