It Takes Obsession

I put a lot of thought into what really makes the difference between someone that succeeds at various pursuits in life and those who don’t.

Many people try to get in shape, become wealthy, become leaders, master a new hobby or achieve success in any one of countless other endeavors, but most get sidetracked and never achieve their goals.

What is the one thing that differs between the average person and the one that excels way beyond what anyone around them is able to do?

The answer is “OBSESSION”.

The average person has to drag themselves to the gym. Any excuse in the world is good enough to derail them. Once they miss one day, it is easier for them to excuse themselves from the next day and so on.

They find excuses to eat poorly “just that one time” and continue to do so each “time” thereafter. They may eat a salad or forego a snack here and there, but they are dabblers. They aren’t OBSESSED.

The OBSESSED person wouldn’t think of missing a gym session except for something huge such as a sister’s wedding, being laid up in a hospital bed, being stuck on a deserted island, etc. Even still, they might find a local gym to visit that day. They may do push ups, sit-ups, squats wherever they are or they may workout twice as much the next day when they get back.

The OBSESSED person may get sick at the idea of gorging themselves with cake even “just that one time” because they are more OBSESSED with the idea of a fit body than the idea of a tasty treat.

With work or business the OBSESSED person can work tirelessly for 10, 12, 16 hours a day to finish a project that are focused on.

An OBSESSED martial artist is the first one in the dojo, the last one to leave and is practicing moves several times a day sometimes making somewhat unwilling pals their training partners.

OBSESSED people are thinking of their goals as they drift off to sleep and wake up thinking about their goals the next day. They walk, talk, breathe and ARE their OBSESSION.

The words “OBSESSION” and “OBSESSED” often carry a negative connotation. Often this is merited as in the case with stalkers or serial killers, but in the world of business and personal achievement, OBSESSION is necessary to be in the top 1%.

Don’t be “obsessed” like this

OBSESSION doesn’t necessarily mean banging your head against a wall endlessly. It should mean OBSESSIVELY searching for a better way past that wall.

Natural talent can take someone so far, but to reach the highest levels and most importantly to stick with them requires OBSESSION.

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have all been known to be OBSESSED businessmen. If they weren’t then nobody would know their names today.

Michael Jordan is/was an OBSESSED athlete.

Bruce Lee and George Saint Pierre were OBSESSED martial artists.

The Pope is an OBSESSED Catholic.

Most people are dabblers. They would like to reach a goal, but aren’t OBSESSED enough to put in the time, work and focus. They can’t deal with the large numbers of failures it takes. They can’t deal with a difficult learning curve or the countless temptations to focus on other things.

Not everyone can reach the highest levels of any endeavor, but someone that is OBSESSED will reach a pretty good level nonetheless regardless of their starting situation.

Maybe it’s some magic of the universe, some law of attraction, power of creation spiritual miracle stuff….

Maybe it’s just a matter of incremental improvements over time and rolling statistical dice enough to eventually have something click.

Look back on your life at an pursuit in which you were absolutely OBSESSED with versus those that you were merely dabbling in. It is likely that most of your notable successes in the past contained some degree of OBSESSION.

There’s little sense in wasting time and energy dabbling in something you truly want to achieve. This will just be a waste of time and energy which are valuable life resources.