If something feels like play to you but looks like work to everyone else, pursue it with everything you have.
This is one of the most important pieces of advice I can give. And it's the one most people ignore.
Most people will never find this thing. They'll spend their entire lives searching for something they genuinely love doing
and the vast majority will either never find it, or they'll find it and still not pursue it fully. They'll treat it as a hobby. A side thing. Something for "later."
They'll tell themselves the responsible thing to do is focus on the "real" work first.
This is one of the great tragedies of modern life: people who found the thing, then talked themselves out of it.
Why This Matters More Than Talent
When you find something you love so much that the hours disappear, that the difficulty feels like a game, that the practice itself is the reward, you've found something rare.
You've found the one thing that will let you outlast everyone who's merely disciplined.
Here's what people don't understand about success: it's not a sprint. It's not even a marathon. It's more like a war of attrition.
The people who win aren't always the most talented or the smartest. They're the ones still standing after everyone else quit.
And the only people still standing after 10, 15, 20 years are the ones who actually enjoyed the process.
Think about it like this:
Imagine two people learning to play guitar.
One practices because they want to be a rock star. The other practices because they can't put the thing down. Who's going to be better in five years? Ten years? It's not even close.
The first person is fighting a daily battle against resistance. The second person is just doing what they'd do anyway.
Discipline is a finite resource. Love is a renewable one.
The Sports Proof
There's a reason every athlete at the highest level started with a love for the game.
Not a love for the money. Not a love for the trophies.
A love for the game itself.
That love is what carried them through the years of obscurity, the injuries, the losses, the moments when quitting made logical sense.
It's what got them to practice early and stay late—not because a coach demanded it, but because they didn't want to leave.
You can always tell the difference between someone who loves the game and someone who loves what the game can give them.
The first one plays with joy. The second one plays with tension. The first one improves because the reps feel like fun.
The second one burns out because the reps feel like a transaction.
The man who loves the walk will always travel further than the man who only loves the destination.
This applies everywhere. Business. Art. Science. Writing. Relationships. The people who go the furthest are rarely the ones with the best strategy.
They're the ones who found something they couldn't stop doing.
The Mistake Almost Everyone Makes
Here's what most people get wrong: they try to love what everyone else loves.
They chase industries because they're hot. They pick careers because they're prestigious.
They see what's working for other people and assume it should work for them too.
They ignore the strange pull toward the thing that actually lights them up, because that thing seems weird, or impractical, or doesn't fit the narrative of what a successful person is supposed to do.
This is like trying to fall in love with someone because they look good on paper.
It doesn't work. You can't negotiate with what excites you.
Some people are wired for football, others for finance. Some for code, others for conversation. Some people genuinely love rocks. Some people love spreadsheets. Some people come alive when they're organizing chaos.
That's a feature of the human programming
The things you love aren't random. They're clues.
Your job isn't to manufacture passion for what seems sensible. Your job is to notice what already feels like play and then take it seriously enough to build something with it.
How to Find Your Thing
So how do you actually identify it?
Look for the thing you do when you don't have to do anything. The topic you research without being asked. The skill you practice without a deadline.
The conversation you never get tired of having. The thing you'd do even if no one was watching and no one would ever pay you for it.
Look for what you were doing at 12 years old, before anyone told you what was realistic or practical or smart.
Look for the work that makes you forget to eat.
That's your signal.
Most people see this signal and dismiss it. They think it can't be that simple.
They think real success requires suffering through something you hate, and loving your work is a luxury reserved for people who already made it.
They have it backwards.
The people who "made it" usually made it because they loved it. The love came first. The love is what gave them the stamina to keep going when the results weren't there yet.
The love is what made them put in the hours that looked insane to everyone else but felt natural to them.
The Real Competitive Advantage
The thing about competition that nobody talks about: most of your competitors don't actually like what they're doing.
They're doing it for the outcome. They're doing it for the paycheck, the status, the validation. And that means they're always looking for shortcuts.
They're always calculating the minimum effective dose. They're always one bad month away from reconsidering their choices.
But if you genuinely love the work? You're not looking for shortcuts. You're not counting the hours. You're not grinding—you're just doing.
And that means you'll put in more reps, more naturally, for more years, than anyone who's just trying to get somewhere.
You're not competing with their effort. You're competing with their willingness to sustain that effort. And no one can sustain effort they hate.
Find the thing that feels like play. Then play it like your life depends on it.
Because in a way, it does.
-Anthony
P.S. If this resonated, hit reply. I read every response and genuinely appreciate hearing how these principles land with you.
