Z is for Zeal

You have to really want it to make it work. No, really, really want it.

Passion, love, hunger, drive, call it what you like, you need to love it beyond just “Oh yeah, I love it.” It’s something that you want to do when you have a minute to yourself, when you have some unexpected free time and it’s the first thing that comes to mind. OK, maybe second or third, too.

Lust & Love

There’s lust and then there’s love … lust might be you want to eat a chocolate cake, but love might be baking that chocolate cake. This isn’t a short-term passing fancy, this is what’s in your blood. Although don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t need to have been in your blood since you were 7, it might be a recent passion, although last week might be too recent, but last year will do. What is the cut-off date? Who judges? Who cares? Well, no one. You do.

Determined. That says quite a bit of it. Determined doesn’t just last half an hour. It’s more something that doesn’t go away with a storm. It’s also not a storm, but it’s the season itself, the whole thing from beginning to end. Maybe it’s the whole year and through all of the seasons. Zeal is up to you, you know you have it, you just have to find it and put it to use.

You don’t take to the streets unless you have a real passion for what you do. [Maiden Lane, San Francisco]