passion begets performance
I learnt this lesson when I was training to be a competitive weightlifter.
There's a lot of gurus out there that sell 'if you want to be successful, you have to love what you do... so buy my course and I'll show you how to find it.'
This has led to scepticism about the phrase and truth.
But I want to break down for you, why passion and curiosity (which eventually leads to love of your craft) really IS the path to success. And no, I won't sell you a course on it. Not at all.
When I was training to be a weightlifter, I used to train 4-5x per week. I would schedule my time, my work and studies AROUND my training schedule.
It wasn't because 'I had to make it work,' it was because I actually LOVED it. I was always thinking about it.
In my downtime, I was watching lifting videos because I loved it. I didn't watch them because I wanted to 'train my brain.' I watched it because I really enjoyed it.
When I went to train, I remember speaking to one of my training partners and he said 'bro, how do you stay so consistent with training?'
And I looked at him a bit puzzled - I said... 'dude, what do you mean? I get to train! I get to train today!' (If I sound like a young lad, I was. 20 years old at the time).
He looked at me and said 'man, if I didn't need to train, I wouldn't be here. I've got better things to do.'
I thought to myself... 'am I the crazy one? Why does everyone around me seem to 'hate' coming to training? I love it!'
If I wasn't training, I was reading about it. I wanted to learn more about it. I wanted to learn so much, I took a flight to China and learnt from the Chinese coaches for a week.
My passion and curiosity was genuine. I never 'forced' myself to watch videos. Nor did I 'force' myself to go train. I did all these things because I loved it. I loved learning about it. I loved feeling my body get stronger. I loved everything about it.
In one of my recent posts, I wrote that you can never beat the person in a game whose goal is to play. He doesn't care much about winning or losing, he just loves playing so much that that's all he cares about.
If I got to train 5-6x a week, I did. Because I loved to. It was very different from someone who 'had' to train 5-6x a week like a chore. One of us is eventually going to 'fizzle out,' and it's definitely not going to be the guy who does it because it is fun for him.
Not long after my training journey started, I started surpassing others because
a) My body was built for it but more importantly
b) I was most consistent
It had little to do with discipline, and more to do with a genuine love and thirst for the sport.
If I was having trouble somewhere, I'd talk to my coaches or YouTube everything.
I ate to make sure I could have training sessions that were productive.
I slept to make sure I had the energy to go to training.
Passion and curiosity drove me to high performance.
'How do I get better here? How do I improve this? What can I do to recover better?' These are all curiosity based questions.
In contrast, if you're constantly slugging it out with yourself mentally everyday, you might be able to force yourself to 'turn up.' But you will not be driven to ask questions. To find fundamental ways to improve. Because you can't 'fake' enthusiasm, the same way you can't 'fake' your feelings for someone.
If you are not wired for it, you just aren't.
If you're going to reach high performance, you need to be in the 1%. This is not easy. But it's easier if you have a genuine passion and curiosity for it.