In his book Superconsumers: A Simple, Speedy, and Sustainable Path to Superior Growth, Eddie Yoon addresses the concept of a job versus a quest: “A job is often something people have to do, whereas a quest is something people want to do. People tend to think of jobs as a nine-to-five experience, but a quest consumes you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
This sent me into a deep-thinking spiral. I love my job, but I have to do it every day. What is something I want to do, not just every day, but every hour, every minute, every waking second? What is my quest in life?
I really enjoy lots of things—traveling, sparking conversations, reading, mentoring young professionals; I have a long list of passions. But what is that one thing that I want to eat, sleep, and breathe?
Then, it hit me. I love to learn. I’m what they call a life-long learner. I’m an old dog who wants to learn new tricks. I want to know the who, what, when, where, and why. It’s probably a big part of why I enjoy my job so much. I get to wake up every day and write about new technologies, people, and experiences. My quest in life is to learn.
All of the passions I mentioned above lead back to this pursuit. I travel because I want to learn about other cultures. I love speaking with people because I want to learn how their life experiences have shaped them. I read because I want to explore new worlds and beef up my vocabulary. I mentor young professionals because I enjoy sharing the things I’ve learned. I also enjoy mentoring because I learn from my mentees—I’ve gained so many new skills and found new ways of thinking from working with the next generation of leaders.
I guess you could say I’m a “superconsumer” of books—especially library books. Yoon defines a superconsumer as a someone who is “passionate about and highly engaged with—and maybe even a little obsessive about—a category. Check, check, and check. I’m particular about what I read but I also read across a wide variety of categories; you’ll find everything from the latest celebrity biography to Kurt Vonnegut, to modern poetry laying around my house. I’m passionate about what I read. I want to shout it from the rooftops when I find a great read—check my social feeds and you’ll find all my most recent recommendations. I love to purchase a new book and then give it away for someone else to enjoy so we can have a shared experience.
What kind of shared experiences are you creating, and is that cultivating your own group of superconsumers? I recommend finding an answer to that question and finding it quickly.
