Are you truly living your passion?

On Sunday I sat down and read “Crush It – Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion” by Gary Vaynerchuck.” 

I’ve been following Gary and his winelibrary.tv for about two years now. I’m a big fan of wine and Gary is spot on when it comes to the grape.

When I first heard about Gary’s business book, I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t really sure.

I hadn’t followed much of the business side of Gary and even what I did know, I preferred to keep separate and maintain Gary as my go-to wine guy.

I wasn’t sure I was ready to put Gary on my office book shelf. Oh how I was wrong.

Then I read the book and everything changed. This book replaces nearly all the books on the shelf.

Crush It is exactly what the title says: A book about why NOW is the time to cash in on your passion. It’s quick and to the point. One chapter is only 1 word long. I’m serious.

Another blogger compared his frozen hamburger to the book which was about twice the size.

After a quick two-hour read I began to ponder and discuss the feelings I was having with my wife. (Who’s a real trooper by the way! She constantly has to listen to my wacky ideas and thoughts as I ponder life’s great mysteries)

Such as:

Am I really living my passion?

But more importantly, without truly knowing my passion, how in the world am I going to cash in on it.

And if I even have to question IF  I’m living my passion then obviously something is up right?

Gary even says that if you are passionate enough about worms – you can crush it and you can succeed….and I believe it.

So after reading the book I e-mailed Gary.

I explained to him how the book had hit me in a pretty powerful way. I think most people will be excited and pumped when they read the book but I think it hit me differently than most.

Maybe I’m wrong? I don’t know. The book will certainly make anyone who reads it think and go hmmm… “maybe I should be cashing in on my extensive knowledge of jelly beans or the fact that I know every episode of Star Trek word for word.”

It hit me a different way.

You see, I’m already making decent money and I do believe there have been areas and times in my life when I “crushed it.”

But what I really began to question was my passion.

You can financially crush it but are you living out your passion? And if not, is the money worth it?

Some would argue yes and some would argue no. I’ve heard people close to me say that the only thing that really matters in your adult business life is how much money you make.

I disagree.

But do I disagree only because I’m not faced with the stress of working 9-5 or if I’ll be able to put food on the table?

I spoke to one friend who suggested he wasn’t necessarily happy in his career, but taking a risk to focus on his passion with a mortgage and kids at home wasn’t going to happen.

That’s fair and I think one of the main reasons most people get stuck in a “job.” A job is certainly the safer route in life especially when the mortgage bills don’t stop and your kids need to eat.

I spoke to another friend who suggested that maybe with Gary the “wine” isn’t so much the passion as opposed to the feeling of living a life so deeply  “into something.” Maybe deep down that’s what we’re all searching for?

I’m not sure.  I’ve certainly got more questions and tomorrow I’m heading up to Toronto to see the man himself.

Gary is first giving a talk at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and then doing a tasting and taping of WineLibrary.tv with WineryToHome.com

I’ll be attending both and somehow hoping to  snag Gary for 10 minutes or so of face time. We’ll see….

Do you know your passion and if so are you living it?

Gary did respond to my email rather quickly.
He  said “Dude, this email means the world to me. I wrote “Crush It” for someone just like you…someone making cash but knowing there is way more.“