My friend Ron turned me on to this fabulous essay by writer and computer genius Paul Graham, about finding and doing the work that you love:
Whichever route you take, expect a struggle. Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it's rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you'll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you're in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you're practically there.
Another of Mr. Graham's essays, which talks about good and bad procrastination, should be required reading for writers, artists, scientists and all kinds of ambitious folk who are trying to Accomplish Big Things:
The most impressive people I know are all procrastinators...they put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff. What's "small stuff?" Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary.
Which reminds me of an exercise I did once in one of those self-actualization workshops: writing my own obituary. It was fun! Kind of like starting to write a script at the end, and working backward to find out how it all happened. Go on: list all your accomplishments, awards, and significant relationships as of the day you die.
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Sawyer, Michelle-June 6, 1970--Miss Sawyer died suddenly and without fanfare last Tuesday, a spinster and hermit. She was a high school graduate who held a number of unremarkable positions in various unremarkable fields (radio, civil service, furniture sales, customer service) before enjoying marginal success as a novelist. Miss Sawyer is survived by her Rottweiler, Ava, her mini-Pitt, Bubba, and Joan Crawford's shoes, which are currently stored somewhere in her garage. Miss Sawyer's untimely death was predicted by her mother, who told her she was too fat and would probably get diabetes or premature heart disease. Her remains can be viewed at Chas. S. Burden and Sons Funeral Home in Jackson, where, though she is to be cremated, a casket will be provided for guests to throw themselves upon dramatically.
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