Obsession

Can you choose your obsession?

Or does your obsession choose you?

I had a discussion about this on X.

It got me thinking...

I’ve been obsessed with a few things throughout my life:

• Playing the guitar

• Sports

• Video games

And now, online business.

I always thought I could choose my obsession.

For example:

I was obsessed with video games...

But I made the active choice to focus on X instead.

Now, I don’t even think about video games anymore.

This wasn’t without struggle.

It took 9 months to make the switch completely.

(and laser focus)

But I did make the switch.

So, does that mean you can choose your obsession?

Not necessarily.

I gave it some more thought and noticed something:

All my obsessions had an overlap:

Improvement.

No matter what I did, I always focused on progress.

Really putting my all into it.

With playing the guitar:

I pushed myself to learn the hardest songs I could manage.

Progressing until I mastered them.

With sports:

I always tried to improve the amount of keep-ups I could do in football.

(or soccer, for my American friends)

I also worked a lot on my accuracy in basketball.

With video games:

I always chased higher ranks or levels.

Mastering my mechanics.

Video games were the most addictive because they made progress visible.

With online business:

Now, I’m focused on improving myself to become a person of value.

Mastering the skills to ‘’level up my character’’.

• Writing

• Networking

• Speaking

And also developing the characteristics I need to succeed.

I realized that these weren’t actually obsessions.

They were passions.

Why?

Well, there are 2 reasons:

1. If they were truly obsessions, how was I able to let them go?

2. I wasn’t ‘’obsessed’’ at the start

It took me around 1,000 hours to really become passionate about them.

Before that, I had to force myself to keep going.

What kept me going?

Improvement.

That’s my real obsession.

So, on the one hand, you can’t really choose your obsession.

But you can choose how to use it.

Look beyond the surface.

Find the root of it.

Much love,

Tibor