On loving what you do

"Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may."
Jon Stewart

Most mornings, I wake up before the sun and wander down to my office. As offices go, it's a humble place, a smallish room with a delightfully huge and beloved l-shaped desk, a giant birds nest chair for thinking, and an office chair that I sit in and not on, that seems just comfortable enough to make spontaneous naps possible.

After flipping on all my screens, computers and tablets and the one desk lamp, I find myself in the middle of a small pool off light within a deliberately darkened room, a quiet place where I rest my hands on my beloved keyboard - Apple, wired, with keypad - and pull words out of my head that, if the universe cooperates, will find their way to some pretty fascinating places.

I don't think I'm wired to do anything but write. It never feels like work, but at the same time there's a certain hierarchy of difficulty within the craft: Some pieces seem to write themselves, while others are decidedly more stubborn. Even when it's a struggle, being in this solitary place, with the light that splays out over the weathered wood of my desk and the well-worn keys of my keyboard, always feels strangely right, as if I belong here and nowhere else.

Perhaps Jon Stewart is on to something. Maybe we'd all be better off if we went back to base principles, found what we love, and focused on it. Maybe we all need a quiet, dimly lit place where we have the luxury of finding out precisely what that unique-to-us competency is.

Your turn: What do you love to do? Why?