Results are arbitrary. They’re not the driving force, the obsession is. -Tim Denning.

I subscribe to Medium.com for two main reasons.

First, is to have a back-up of my blog that will forever (I hope) be there that helps spread my ideas.

Second, is to read Tim Denning’s work. Medium.com for me is essentially the Tim Denning app. I don’t know what it is, but his work really strikes a chord with me. Besides having the best first name in the world, I find I can really relate to what it is Tim has to say.

(Plus a lot of medium.com is rehashing the same ideas of how to make money online, or at least that’s all that seems to come up in my feed)

His recent piece Go All In on Your Obsession. It’s What You Were Born to Do is a classic example. Especially when he says the results are arbitrary. It’s something I’ve found myself thinking about a lot recently. You aren’t doing it for the results, you’re doing it simply because you’re obsessed.

Which is how it should be.

The problem is when the results actually matter in a way that affects your livelihood. Or, your desired livelihood.

If you do it right, the results should take care of themselves. They should be a symptom of your hard work, or your obsession.

However, in order to do that, sometimes you need to do a little background work, the kind of stuff your obsession doesn’t cover. If you really were obsessed, you’d find a way past all this. Although, sometimes the obsession gets in the way.

I think what Tim is trying to say, and what I’ve been trying to tell myself, is that you should double-down on your obsession, and if you do that enough, the results will speak for themselves.

Everything until then is mere obsession.