If you've never been to Burning Man, stop whatever you're doing, go to BurningMan.com and get tickets to next years event. It will change your life. Here's the story of how it changed mine...
At last years "burn" (what attendees affectionately call the event) I ran headfirst into the most difficult and important question anyone's ever asked. I was running to escape a sandstorm when I literally ran headfirst into an art installation. As I wobbled up and my vision cleared I saw the question, "Why do you do what you do?" To the right and left of the question were pictures of people holding up written responses, things like, "Because I love it" or "Because it's been my dream since I was 9!"
I thought about my life and the things I did... wake up early, go to the gym, work late, go home, pass out. These were the things I did, but why was I doing them? The question stuck with me for months and when I boiled it all down it was apparent that my motivation for everything, was to find a mate. The sad part was that I was so busy working I didn't actually have time to find or pursue what I really wanted, the love of a good woman.
The question still haunts me to this day and every time I ask it to others they give one of two answers, “because I have to” or “because I want to be successful” It wasn't until a chance encounter with a friend of a friend that I heard anything different.
While car pooling to an event I randomly ended up riding in the car of Jason Evans, eventually I asked him the question and for the first time I heard a new answers, "I work with my best friends on a project I'm passionate about, every day I wake up excited, I do what I do because I love it, I have a great life!" I was hooked, I needed to learn more and Jason was kind enough to share his story. He’s in his early 30’s, loves how he spends his days, works with his best friends and is changing the way the world produces electricity.
So... how’d he do it? He and his best-friends saved up as much as they could, quit their jobs and started a project they’re passionate about; building large-scale solar power plants at his start-up, TUUSSO energy.
Here’s the story in his words...
“Six years ago I was a patent attorney working relatively long hours and not enjoying life. Work was work, and I viewed it primarily as a means to an end.
After a few frustrating years I had had enough and realized that law firms suck! I was a cog in a money-generating machine for partners. My only hope as a laywer was to someday become a partner myself and start making “serious money” (over $250,000/year). Looking at the partners in my firm it was clear they were slaves to their paychecks. As they made more, they spent more. With every raise in pay, they had a corresponding rise in expenses and eventually they desperately needed every penny of their paychecks.
As time went on I became increasingly frustrated with my job as a patent attorney, I needed a change, I needed to find a job that I was passionate about, I needed to work with people I enjoyed but I just didn’t have a good enough reason to quit. I’d joke with my friends that we should just leave our jobs and start a business together, we’d all laugh and no one took it too serious, until one day... I went over to my buddy Owen’s house and found out that he’d just quit his job at McKinsey & Co (the consulting firm). Suddenly I had the reason I needed to quit.
The day I resigned the partners at my law firm confided in me that I was making the right decision, they told me that if they could have done it again they would have never worked in a law firm, they would have much rather done something they enjoyed and earned much less.
Initially, I had no idea what business we were going to start. We considered starting all sorts of different ventures: I looked into starting a pool hall (something I’ve always been extremely passionate about), selling energy-related software and dozens of other ideas, eventually we landed on Solar energy. Owen had been discussing starting a renewable energy business since business school with a couple classmates, and we had a strong team to get the venture off the ground. It was near perfect timing with the industry (still nascent then) set to explode in growth over the next few years.
Owen, his friends from business school (Vivek and Byron) and I had soon dedicated ourselves to this new venture. We dove head first into the world of large scale solar power plants, raised enough money to be taken seriously as an energy developer, and are now poised to complete development on our first power plant in southern California.
So... I feel extremely lucky. I love my work, spend my days solving interesting problems with my best friends, do what I believe in and make a good living. And you know what... everyday I wake up excited and happy to tackle my work, in a way that I never would have felt punching the clock for someone else.”
Why do you do what you do?
At last years "burn" (what attendees affectionately call the event) I ran headfirst into the most difficult and important question anyone's ever asked. I was running to escape a sandstorm when I literally ran headfirst into an art installation. As I wobbled up and my vision cleared I saw the question, "Why do you do what you do?" To the right and left of the question were pictures of people holding up written responses, things like, "Because I love it" or "Because it's been my dream since I was 9!"
I thought about my life and the things I did... wake up early, go to the gym, work late, go home, pass out. These were the things I did, but why was I doing them? The question stuck with me for months and when I boiled it all down it was apparent that my motivation for everything, was to find a mate. The sad part was that I was so busy working I didn't actually have time to find or pursue what I really wanted, the love of a good woman.
The question still haunts me to this day and every time I ask it to others they give one of two answers, “because I have to” or “because I want to be successful” It wasn't until a chance encounter with a friend of a friend that I heard anything different.
While car pooling to an event I randomly ended up riding in the car of Jason Evans, eventually I asked him the question and for the first time I heard a new answers, "I work with my best friends on a project I'm passionate about, every day I wake up excited, I do what I do because I love it, I have a great life!" I was hooked, I needed to learn more and Jason was kind enough to share his story. He’s in his early 30’s, loves how he spends his days, works with his best friends and is changing the way the world produces electricity.
So... how’d he do it? He and his best-friends saved up as much as they could, quit their jobs and started a project they’re passionate about; building large-scale solar power plants at his start-up, TUUSSO energy.
Here’s the story in his words...
“Six years ago I was a patent attorney working relatively long hours and not enjoying life. Work was work, and I viewed it primarily as a means to an end.
After a few frustrating years I had had enough and realized that law firms suck! I was a cog in a money-generating machine for partners. My only hope as a laywer was to someday become a partner myself and start making “serious money” (over $250,000/year). Looking at the partners in my firm it was clear they were slaves to their paychecks. As they made more, they spent more. With every raise in pay, they had a corresponding rise in expenses and eventually they desperately needed every penny of their paychecks.
As time went on I became increasingly frustrated with my job as a patent attorney, I needed a change, I needed to find a job that I was passionate about, I needed to work with people I enjoyed but I just didn’t have a good enough reason to quit. I’d joke with my friends that we should just leave our jobs and start a business together, we’d all laugh and no one took it too serious, until one day... I went over to my buddy Owen’s house and found out that he’d just quit his job at McKinsey & Co (the consulting firm). Suddenly I had the reason I needed to quit.
The day I resigned the partners at my law firm confided in me that I was making the right decision, they told me that if they could have done it again they would have never worked in a law firm, they would have much rather done something they enjoyed and earned much less.
Initially, I had no idea what business we were going to start. We considered starting all sorts of different ventures: I looked into starting a pool hall (something I’ve always been extremely passionate about), selling energy-related software and dozens of other ideas, eventually we landed on Solar energy. Owen had been discussing starting a renewable energy business since business school with a couple classmates, and we had a strong team to get the venture off the ground. It was near perfect timing with the industry (still nascent then) set to explode in growth over the next few years.
Owen, his friends from business school (Vivek and Byron) and I had soon dedicated ourselves to this new venture. We dove head first into the world of large scale solar power plants, raised enough money to be taken seriously as an energy developer, and are now poised to complete development on our first power plant in southern California.
So... I feel extremely lucky. I love my work, spend my days solving interesting problems with my best friends, do what I believe in and make a good living. And you know what... everyday I wake up excited and happy to tackle my work, in a way that I never would have felt punching the clock for someone else.”
Why do you do what you do?
- Here's a homework assignment, spend 15 minutes thinking about why you do what you do, write down the top 3 reasons.
- Ask a few of your closest friends the question.
- How does your reason compare to theirs?
- How does your reason compare to Jasons?
- How far would you go to love what you do everyday?
very good article cousin!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to reading more articles, and to seeing some of the awesome visuals that I know you will be creating.
ReplyDelete