Real Passion - The Daily Gwei #362
You can't buy it, can't fake it and you can't inherit it - it must come from the soul.
Most people tend to have at least 1 thing that they’re really passionate about - whether that be their work, a hobby, their relationships or sometimes a mixture of a few different things. As Joseph notes below, it’s quite difficult to fake real levels of passion and even attempting to do so requires more effort than what it’s worth. On top of that, when someone is really passionate about something, it can be infectious and it’s typically why passionate people can make great leaders.
There are a lot of passionate people in the Ethereum community whether they be builders, researchers, community members, investors or really anything else. I believe that Ethereum has the largest concentration of people who are actually passionate about the underlying mission, ethos and values of this ecosystem and this level of passion and commitment can certainly not be faked in any effective way. It’s why Ethereum has been so successful as a grassroots movement in the face of so much adversity - passionate people are not so easily swayed by frivolous things like promises of increased riches or status - if they’re really passionate about what they’re already working on then why would they give that up?
Now, of course, not every aspect of one’s passion is going to actually be fun or enjoyable but I think passion is an amazing motivator that allows people to keep doing the “boring stuff” in pursuit of the exciting stuff. For example, say you’re really passionate about traveling, well the fact that you have to spend 10’s of hours in airports, going through security, and sitting on a cramped plane is probably not going to be very enjoyable - but you deal with it because it enables you to actually travel. A more relevant example for crypto would be those who build through bear markets - it’s tough, it’s grueling and there is constant doubt about the future but people persist because the fiery passion is there.
I personally talk to lots of individuals and teams within the crypto ecosystem so I’ve gotten pretty good at picking up on when someone is actually passionate about what they’re building. The signs are clear once you know what you’re looking for - they talk about what they’re building with a sense of great excitement, they reflect on major milestones with glee, they speak about their future product releases as if they already exist and, most importantly, they don’t care what the market is doing as their passion is not altered by market conditions being bullish or bearish.
I often get asked how I can spend so much time in the Ethereum ecosystem and never get bored. Well, the answer is simply that I’m extremely passionate about what’s being built and want to be able to play some sort of role in this decentralization revolution. Passion is what keeps my fire burning to get up every day and do this newsletter, do the YouTube videos, talk to people about Ethereum, do the deep research and more. I honestly don’t think I could do any of this if I wasn’t truly passionate about Ethereum - I definitely couldn’t fake it - and faking it would be a miserable existence anyway.
I hope that each and every one of you reading this have something that you’re truly passionate about or that you find that thing in the near future - the feeling that real passion brings is irreplaceable.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Anthony Sassano
Enjoyed today’s piece? I send out a fresh one every week day - be sure to subscribe to receive it in your inbox!
Join the Daily Gwei Ecosystem
All information presented above is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice.