Be Obsessive!

So this is one of those controversial blog posts. At first glance, many will disagree with my title but hear me out and if you disagree, that’s fine. We each have that right. I am a firm believer is being obsessive over your passions. You shouldn’t let your passions control your life or identify who you are but you should obsess.
First off let me say that we live in a society that accepts mediocrity. For whatever reason, we have become a society where it has become okay for people to just be okay. No one ever changed the world by being mediocre and one way to not being mediocre is by being obsessive over your passions. If you are passionate about something then you should research everything about that subject. For me, I am constantly studying and researching new ways to be a better coach. The world of sports athletics is constantly changing and there are always new ways to be better. There are multiple videos and articles to read about my sport and my insights from the best in the world. I obsess over my passion and am constantly reading. You will never see me without a new book in my bag. I owe it to my athletes and myself to be the best that I can be and if I’m not learning I am not progressing. I wake up every day at 5 am to go upstairs and read to get my mind right in the morning. I have a rule for myself- no technology before 6am. This is meant to force me to read because nothing I will find on Facebook or Instagram or in my emails will help me to be a better person, but reading will surely make me better. When you sit on Instagram or Facebook you are taking time away from your passions and not focusing on your priorities. You are wasting time. These are ingrained habits that we put ourselves into and now it’s time to start ingraining better habits. Habits that make us better. Sometimes creating a habit doesn’t have to be doing anything. Sometimes we just need to do nothing. Meditation is a perfect example of this. Take some time away from technology and people and discover was your passion is and find out what you should obsess about.
I typically read about other passionate individuals in their career fields, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney being two that I admire. I admire them because they each had visions and never compromised on that vision. I especially love reading about them because they are outside of my career field and there is so much to learn about how to apply what they did to my craft. They obsessed over perfection and I hope to continue to have my drive and be that change in my field. I feel we should all strive for perfection in our individual fields. If you are a soldier, be the best possible soldier out there and expect nothing less than your best from yourself and your subordinates will replicate you. If you are a parent, be the best parent possible and never compromise your morals and your children will replicate you. If you are an athlete and you are not a student of your sport, then how can you expect to be the best? It’s important to obsess over something that you are truly passionate about. Obsession requires grit and fortitude to sustain. Don’t obsess over something that is someone else’s passion, but find your own.
One of my favorite movies is “A Bronx Tale”. In that movie a young Robert De Niro tells his son, “the saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” I am a firm believer in this statement. All too often we see people waste their talent and accept mediocrity from themselves and others. If we don’t obsess over our passions and visions, we will never be truly great at them. BE OBSESSIVE and accept nothing but greatness from yourself.