What if success as an entrepreneur ISN’T about following your passion …

I was fortunate to be in a small group discussion last Friday with a billionaire who was sharing some of his insights with the group.  There were only about 12 of us so it was very up close and personal.

During the discussion he made an interesting statement, he said …

“Passion is for losers – to be successful you need obsession!”

Then he went on to say …

“Passion leads to a hobby, obsession leads to winning!”

Now, I don’t know if I agree totally with his sentiment, however his business accomplishments can’t be denied and his view certainly challenges the common thinking of “follow your passion and you’ll be successful”. 

The point he was making is that you can be passionate about something and still take little action, but when you have an obsession you wake up thinking about it, you spend the day focused on it and you go to bed planning for the next day and what you’re going to do about it.

Deep down, we all know that Olympic Gold Medalists don’t win because they’re passionate – they win because their sport is an obsession.

The billionaire then went on to say that most peoples’ goals aren’t big enough to be an obsession, they’re only big enough to be a passion – again an interesting view.  Of course, he’s suggesting that most people don’t think big enough and don’t believe in themselves strongly enough to achieve huge things.

It was certainly a confronting discussion.

Being an entrepreneur is a full-contact sport.  Running a business is NOT a nine-to-five job and it isn’t for the faint hearted.  It does require a level of belief and commitment that causes the entrepreneur to “fly on the trapeze without a safety net”.

Does that require more obsession than passion?

I’d love to know what you think about the passion versus obsession debate.