ERIC KIM

Pursue Your Passion

Dear friend,

A basic idea:

In life, pursue/possess/create what you LOVE — not just what you “like”.

Download PDF: Pursue Your Passion

1. Curation

The art of curation is choosing what you care about. So when you look through your photos, only choose the photos you love. If you feel lukewarm/tepid about a photo, ditch it. If you just “like” a photo, ditch it.

2. Tools

Nietzsche once said that the “superman” only needs two things: tools and servants.

In today’s modern-digital world, our most practical tools of empowerment are our technological tools. For example, our laptops, our tablets, our phones, cameras, etc.

With tools, possessions, equipment, stuff– I think you can divide almost all these physical objects into things you “love”, or things that you just “like”.

Ditch what you like, only keep the physical tools and things you LOVE.

For example, upon doing some self-reflection– I look at a lot of my stuff, tools, clothes, objects, etc– and there are certain tools:

  1. Tools which I thought I really desired and liked, but actually they were external totems of success from the external world (Leica cameras)
  2. Objects/tools/cameras I use which feel like more of a chore than something enjoyable. For example, any camera which is heavy.
  3. Tools of creation are almost good– as long as you can make, create, and build stuff with it. I honestly think in today’s world, the best tool is probably a maxed-out Apple MacBook Pro laptop (13-inch). The data-output-rate of a laptop far exceeds any other tool we currently have. For example, I can type around 140 words per minute on a laptop, whereas I can probably type only around 50 words per minute on a phone or tablet. Furthermore, with a laptop you can create almost anything– create computer code/computer programs, you can make music (GarageBand), you can process photos (Lightroom), you can make digital art (Photoshop/Illustrator), you can make websites (wordpress.org), etc. Tablets are good accessory tools, but not essential. Phones are useful, but I still believe laptops are 10x more useful than phones.

3. Companionship

I also think with curating your circle of friends-people-individuals in your life, you can separate 99% of people into the two categories:

  1. People you love
  2. People you like-indifferent-hate-don’t like.

I say be very very protective with the people you associate yourself with. If you love the person, spend lots of time with them, and dedicate your life to them. In Ancient Greek times, companionship (non-sexual) and friendship were the greatest goods for humans.

Don’t associate with people who you feel lukewarm-tepid towards.

4. How to spend your life

Life is short. Why waste time doing shit you don’t like doing?

My practical idea:

Only spend your life working on things you are passionate, enthusiastic, and things you love.

The flesh is mortal, but our art-work and deeds are immortal. We must seek to create great things BEYOND ourselves– works, artworks, and deeds that will (hopefully) be more lasting than bronze (in the words of Horace).

5. Don’t do things you like

Avoid doing things you feel lukewarm, “meh”, or “like”.

Only do things you have a fervent passion for.

Not sure what your passion is? Sit down, meditate, think–

What were you passionate about as a child?

Or–

What are you passionate about in your life, or curious about– but others judge as a “waste of time”?

Generally the things you are passionate about, that others call a waste of time– is actually the best use of your time!

For example, let us say your passion is video games. That is fine! But don’t just be a meddling, weak-sauce player. Strive to become #1 in the world! Make your own world-ranking team! Or maybe build and design your own video game!

And friends– the thing we must be very wary of:

Don’t equate success with money.

Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most epic artists of history, yet he died penniless. Same goes with Nikola Tesla– a genius (100x more profound than Thomas Edison), but he also died without the glory of his contemporaries. Yet Tesla’s inventions and innovations are what power today’s modern radio-internet.

Pursue your passion, and say a mighty “NO” to everything else.

BE BRAZEN,
ERIC