Why your obsessions are the hidden answer to a better life
A framework from Global Leadership Summit 2024
I just got back from attending The Global Leadership Summit 2024. This is the biggest leadership conference in the world, and the guest speaker lineup was incredible.
The event provided a ton of inspiration, ideas, and initiative.
In this post, I want to share one of my favorite ideas I took away from this event that Craig Groeschel (host of the Leadership Podcast) presented.
The idea is to uncover, own, and follow your obsessions.
Yes, obsessions, not passions.
That simple change was liberating because passions are hard to uncover. But obsessions, well, you only have to go through your YouTube history to uncover them. Ask your partner, friends or family heck even your neighbor because obsessions are often the things people try to talk you out of.
People cheer your passions and talk you out of your obsessions.
Implement the idea 💡 Find your obsession
Spend 15 minutes uncovering your obsessions. Write them down. Don’t judge them. It may be collecting baseball cards, collecting fragrances, cooking, or cultivating the newest cannabis strand.
Ask yourself, What do I think about day and night?
The following questions may also help:
Once you know your obsession, this is how you can start obsessing strategically and turn your idea into a business, a lifestyle, and a medium to serve others.
How to obsess strategically?
Focus :
If the devil can’t make you bad, he will make you busy. Therefore, don’t overcommit. Focus on the key things. - Greg Groeschel.
Focused people are not busy people.
They don’t prioritize activity. They prioritize productivity.
If you have an obsession, focus on that even more intensely. Bring it to life. Remove the meaningless distractions.
If you struggle to focus, your obsession is either not clear enough or not big enough. Remedy that by using the WHALE model.
Your obsession needs to be bigger than you. Something that can provide instant meaning to your life. Once you are there, the focus will come naturally.
Care & Serve :
Your obsession will lack meaning if it doesn’t serve others.
My obsession is simple—get better.
I am obsessed with learning and becoming more capable than yesterday.
To improve my intellectual capacity, I like learning new languages and researching wide-ranging topics. To have physical capacity, I like to be healthy and fit. To have emotional capacity, I pray and try to deepen my faith.
But all of this is somewhat selfish. So, how do I insert care and service into the equation?
The answer was quite simple: Help others get better.
Remove the biggest obstacles stopping them from improving and building better lives.
I have always disliked long-winded communication and literature. Maybe I am impatient. At school, each yearly curriculum had many books. I would always pick up a book and ask myself - Why on earth did someone write this book? What are the 2-3 main points they wanted to convey in this book, and how do I find those pages?
You could say my dislike for long-winded content is my side obsession. I combined this dislike with the desire to serve others, and that is why you are reading this post right now.
And the truth is, publishing this newsletter has helped me improve faster by consolidating my ideas and sharing it with the world. So, caring for and serving others has built-in dividends for you.
I believe serving others intentionally is a master life hack to happiness and satisfaction.
Commit :
The potential of your impact is a reflection of the intensity of your commitment.
You know your obsession. You are focused. You have figured out how to insert service and care. Now, there is only one thing left - Commit.
Commitment is often defined as the willingness to give one's time and energy to a job, activity, or cause that one believes in.
Simply put, commitment is showing up despite the setbacks and progress.
Implement the idea 💡
Once you are clear on your obsession, for the next 90 days, show up daily for a minimum of 9 minutes to work on bringing your obsession to life.
This could mean starting a substack newsletter like mine and writing daily for 90 days. It could also mean making cold calls to improve your network.
Create evidence for your commitment.
and the best evidence is action.
Remember, Conformity is the quickest path to mediocrity.
You are not mediocre. You have tremendous potential. Unlock it by tapping into your obsessions.
So, in case you need it, I leave you with a permission to obsess.
Much Love,
PM
It looks like a great line up and I love how you summarized it into 2 simple words:
Focus > Care & Serve > Commit. Super actionable.
Knowledge is only power when acted upon right ☀️ Plus it was a reminder to combine the obsession with serving others. I get excited about finding more ways to combine the too.