Love What You Do

I despair and simultaneously get elated when I hear mantras like "love what you do".  This particular mantra comes from Seth Godin's The Practice.  In that book, Mr. Godin writes: 

        "Do what you love" is for amateurs. 

        "Love what you do" is the mantra for professionals.

I despair when I read words like those because I often find myself stuck on what Brian Tracy called "Someday Isle".  At that isle, I sit and dream about publishing a major work and enjoying the perceived glory that comes with it.  While living in that enchanting isle, I envision myself spending my days doing what I love (writing), while back on Mother Earth, days are slipping by with minimal shipping (Mr. Godin's expression for sharing our work with the world).

On the other hand, I get elated by the advice because it describes my journaling experience.  I often get up early in the morning and start typing (I prefer to use MS Word).  Once I commit to typing, the words start trickling into my journal.  Eventually, I produce few hundreds of words.  Of course, they are not always the best, but the daily practice is done.  At least I have a wealth of ore from which I can pan out nuggets of blogpost material.  

However, fear creeps in as soon as I start working on a blog piece.  Knowledge that I have to ship my work petrifies me into inaction.  I keep forgetting that courage does not imply a total absence of fear; courage is, indeed, the ability to go on despite fear.  I also keep forgetting that competence is built with each blogpost I manage to ship despite the crippling fear.  Most importantly, I forget that this debilitating fear can be turned into an ally that helps me craft and edit my blog to the best of my ability.

I understand that the love for one's work ensues as a result of sustained effort.  I understand that I need to stop visiting that seductive "Someday Isle".  As enchanting as it is to dream of doing what I purportedly love, a bias for action is the way to cultivate love.  

I need to expand on my daily practice of journaling to develop a regular habit of shipping out my work.