Passion
When looking for motivation, I ask the "What drives you?" question to myself:
What motivates you to get up every morning and seize the day?
My answer may vary, from achieving a mini task, to being excited for something new, or making progress for a long term goal.
Most importantly, I have come to realize the key ingredient for success is feeling passionate.
So that's it for me. Passion. One word, easy to remember.
But where does it stem from? Does it contribute to the overall happiness and sense of fulfillment?
Being a full-time Software geek for the past years, I had a taste of the satisfaction it has to offer. And it was good enough to make me commit and feel passionate about it.
But is it enough?
s/hobbie/passion/g . Or, if you don't speak sed, replace every occurrence of "hobbie" with "passion" in the previous picture.
I am more than happy with the fact that being a Software Engineer, can pay some bills. And in most cases, writing software can be very satisfying, giving a great sense of fulfilling, if the engineering is elegant, efficient, and simple.
However, software most certainly doesn't keep me in shape. It includes spending a lot of hours sitting in a chair, staring at a screen.
Apart from that, it also doesn't help me communicate with others in a personal, intimate, and meaningful way. Which plays an important role for us humans.
So the journey for fulfillment continues, while searching for things that make me feel passionate.
So far, I have tried different hobbies. First it was tennis. Then I started drumming and joined a rock band. Then it was Improvisational Theatre. And recently I have started jazz dancing.
But, how much stuff can you stuff into 24hours per day?
How much stuff can you stuff in a stuffie till a stuffies stuffed enough stuff?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?