Recently, Clint Eastwood was doing the publicity rounds promoting his movies Changeling and Gran Torino. In one of the television interviews (sorry, I don’t recall which one) he was asked, “Who do you make your movies for?”
Eastwood smiled and replied, “You’re looking at him.”
Good answer. I suspect it’s the answer for most creative people.
When I think of my blogs, I have to give the same answer. Despite the reasonable recommendation that a successful blog or web site has to be designed for its users, the only reason I maintain my blogs is for me. I like doing it.
This doesn’t mean you don’t take your visitors into account. As I’m sure Eastwood would say, if you don’t think about your audience, you’ll likely fail at what you’re doing. But in order to be successful, you need to like – no, love – what you’re doing. How else do you maintain interest? How else do you perform well?
It sounds like an egocentric approach and, in the strictest sense, I suppose it is. But I don’t believe this to be the case in any practical way. Passion breeds quality.
Apart from the quality and success aspects, I think there are other reasons for loving what you do. Such as, you'll probably be doing it a long time.
Life's too short to waste it on things you don't care about.
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