Do What You Love, Love What You Do
Sep 5th, 07 | 5 remarksIt’s funny how the simplest of things can get your wheels turning. A recent meme that propagated among my circle of friends got me thinking about self-taught individuals, and the drive associated with them.
The people I’ve met since I started blogging have been a source of motivation and inspiration for what they’ve accomplished. To name just a few: Paul, Tara, Charlene, Randa, Brian, Aaron, David and Daniel. They are designers, graphic artists, bloggers… each outstanding in their own right… and obviously just by doing what they love.
David, for example, is hosting a helluva contest to celebrate his blog’s first anniversary. Brian recently released a terrific premium CMS-based theme. Char runs a slew of blogs and still manages to raise three children! Randa has been an interviewee and done some guest posting as well. Daniel just reached a milestone of 5000 subscribers in under a year! If these examples aren’t inspiring, I don’t know what is.
Sometimes it’s hard to persevere in your efforts - hard to come up with fresh content, a new concept, a better product, or whatever. Sometimes you miss your mark despite your best efforts. If you find yourself in an ebb rather than a flow, I implore you to look around and take in what others are doing. Everyone has a different spin on life, design, blogging, business, freelancing, [insert your own passion] - and it spurs ideas.
A line from an old favorite movie comes to mind…
“When you stop trying, you fade away, and I don’t plan to fade away until I absolutely have to.”
~Shirley Maclaine, The Evening Star
What a testament to life and success! Anything we do in life takes commitment to be successful. But what comes before that is love for what you do. Commitment to life-long study of your niche requires a love of that niche. If you have that, success is inevitable.
Maybe I’m just in a sappy mood, but to all of you who have taken an interest in Design Adaptations - be it passive or active - thank you. :) And to all of you self-teachers out there who share your wealth of knowledge with other self-teachers - many blessings.
Where’s my box of Kleenex??? Charity, I am so grateful for the blogosphere and all the wonderful people like you and the rest of the group you listed. Blogging has opened up so many doors and connected us with some amazingly talented individuals that we would have otherwise never known.
Beautifully written post!
Sep 5, 07 | 8:25 pmYeah I have definetly learnt a lot about the topics that I cover from my blogging partners. It is really motivating to see other people in the same field achieve tremendous success.
Sep 6, 07 | 8:07 amCharity, it goes both ways - the design community that exists right now is great. It’s awesome that we see ourselves as allies, and not competitors! And for what it’s worth to all, I highly suggest doing what you love. It’s so easy to spend time doing something if you are passionate about.
Sep 7, 07 | 10:12 amHi Charity, blogging is really great when you work on your own, it gives you a sense that you do meet and chat to other people in the day, and you know if you get stuck chances are someone will give you a hand.
Sep 7, 07 | 12:28 pmI think it’s really interesting how many of us are self taught. I feel very blessed to get to do what I love and be at home with my son. Often reading blogs like yours and the others you mentioned keeps me motivated and gives me ideas, so thanks for always posting great stuff!
Sep 8, 07 | 8:27 am