Monomaniacal ambition

A monomaniac is a person who has an exaggerated preoccupation with just one thing.

In other words: Hyper-focused. Obsessive. Always keeping one’s eye on the ball.

The once-a-week dilettante is a hobbyist. The round-the-clock enthusiast is monomaniacal.

I’ve come to think this may be the best path to success for most people, if success is defined as ‘doing what you set out to do.’

For two reasons:

1. More choices = more difficulty. It’s psychologically difficult to focus on more than one goal. By keeping it strictly to one, you increase your odds of it happening.

2. Keeping in mind that ‘success’ is achieving a goal, by way of a single activity, or continuous string of experiences, actually doing that thing is a far better way to focus your time, attention, and energy than waiting (stalling) until the time is right.

Example: If your goal is to run a profitable business, it’s better to get started now than to spend two years going to business school. That you’ll be so maniacally focused on success (and that you won’t be also taking classes or saddled in student debt) might actually increase the chances that your business will be a success.