“When you really want something to happen, the whole world conspires to help you achieve it” – Paulo Coelho

Couldn’t be more true.

Over the last few years I’ve had the opportunity meet and interact with lot of people considered ‘successful’ by the society, mostly from the entrepreneurship domain. I have also done extensive research on the lives of many successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Brandson etc trying to understand what sets them apart from the rest. Most were pioneers in their fields. There were also cases of leaders disrupting existing domains. No matter how and where they succeed, a single thing that unifies these people is their passion for what they do.

Doing things for a reason works, but only to an extend. Some reasons that drive normal people – money, acknowledgement, fame, respect from peers, possibility of career upliftment etc. When your actions are driven by a reason, it puts an upper cap on the extend you are willing to push your limits.

A piece of inspirational talk by Steve Jobs puts things in perspective-

You need a lot of passion for what you’re doing because its so hard. Without passion, any rational person would give up. So if youre not having fun doing it, if you dont absolutely love it, youre going to give up.And thats what happens to most people, actually.If you look at the ones that ended up being successful in the eyes of society, often times its the ones who love what they do, so they could persevere when it got really tough.And the ones that didnt love it, quit. Because theyre sane, right? Who would put up with this stuff if you dont love it?So its a lot of hard work and its a lot of worrying constantly.If you dont love it, youre going to fail.