What is your Magnificent Obsession?

Do you have a magnificent obsession?

I recently read an article by solo-preneur expert Justin Welsh. In it, he advises solopreneurs to go beyond just focusing on a niche to successfully build a business. Rather, he suggests taking it a step further and focusing on your obsessions.

Whether you are building a business or not, there is something so fun about giving yourself full permission to lean into your obsessions (as long as they are the healthy kind - ha!)

What you are obsessed with is where the magic lies. It will require little effort to take your obsession to the next level. You will likely very quickly know more than most people about your topic of choice and will have have a unique, experience-based perspective that will be worth sharing.

Does something already come to mind for you?

It got me thinking about what I’m obsessed with.

I love style and design, reading, writing and travel, but my true obsession is the topic of personal growth. Personal growth is defined as the act of developing as an individual. I am obsessed with the notion that there are no limits to how each of us can develop as individuals.

I dug back into my memory to figure out the roots of this obsession. I remember being in the audience when a motivational speaker (the first time I heard such a person existed) gave a talk at my high school in St. John's, Newfoundland. I was riveted and in awe (wow there is a job where you walk into a room just to inspire people to believe in themselves?) But it was a flash in the pan of high school experiences and it was soon forgotten.

Upon further reflection I realised that I first became obsessed with the topic of personal growth because I HAD to. My now late husband was critically and chronically ill over an eight year period that started in our early thirties. Because of what I was going through in my life, I had no other choice but to find a way through. It was a matter of float, flounder or sink. Sinking was not an option. It wasn't really a float kind of situation. But my self-prescribed personal growth education helped me flounder my way through.

Personal growth, self-help, whatever you want to call it, was my savior. The words I read on the pages of those books reflected back to me something I inherently already felt within. Something within me whispered, you know what to do here. You know there is a path and it's up to you to find it. Overtime, I've realised that we all have that inner voice. It gets dampened and muted so that we often can't hear it, but sometimes, when we most need to hear it, it gets through.

Really and truly, I can say that it is because of Wayne Dyer, Robin Sharma, Deepak Chopra and Eckart Tolle (and countless others) that I made it through those experiences with resilience and strength. I will go as far as to say that I have even more optimism and a greater love for life than I ever had before. All because of my consistent, persistent, dedication to personal growth.

I don’t need to study personal growth content to survive anymore. But opening that door allowed me to see the limitless field that lay ahead. And it didn’t feel daunting, it felt exhilarating and exciting. How much more could I learn, how much more could I grow, how much more me can I be?

That is why although I don’t need it to get by, I am still just as obsessed. Maybe even moreso. Because once you use these tools to get you through something hard and they change your way of thinking, you realize that maybe you can use them to get you somewhere wonderful.

I care so much about this work because I know how transformative it is. I have allowed it to transform me and I transformed myself by doing the work. Which means it is possible for everyone.

We need more of us to step into our power. We need more of us to let go of false limitations. We need more of us to understand that a bird can’t fly too high and a tree can’t grow too tall and a human can’t love or be too much.

We need to understand that most of what we believe about ourselves and those around us isn't true. We are all love. We are all connected. We are all more alike than we are different. We all want to feel free, fulfilled, joyful and at peace.

But wait, you say, what if I don't have a magnificent obsession? Maybe you don't have one yet. Now you get to explore and follow every curiosity until it just hits you. And it will hit you. What a fun journey!

And there you have it, my magnificent obsession. Tell me what is your magnificent obsession? Hit reply and let me know. I love hearing from you!

Once you find the way, you'll be bound.
It will obsess you.
But believe me, it will be a magnificent obsession.

- Edward Randolph in the 1954 movie,
Magnificent Obsession.

With love,

Kena xo

Kena Paranjape, Founder, All You Are