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@zachpogrob

@zachpogrob

Obsession beats discipline - go all-in on your craft until you either die or get reborn.

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Find Your Core Obsession

People searching for what to focus on long-term. Those who have tried many things without finding the one that sticks. Anyone who envies people with clear callings.

Ongoing exploration, typically 1-5 years to find and confirm

What Success Looks Like

You have identified work that feels like play despite being objectively difficult. You have to force yourself to stop rather than force yourself to start. Energy flows into the work rather than being depleted by it.

Steps to Execute

1

Look backward first: what did your 10-year-old self love? What do you return to between projects? The obsession is usually already present, just obscured.

2

Notice what you cannot stop: track what you do with completely free time. What do you have to make yourself stop doing to sleep and eat?

3

Try things seriously: dabbling does not reveal obsession. Commit to each exploration for months, not days.

4

Test with the Hill Test: find work that feels downhill despite being objectively difficult. The never-ending downhill is your obsession.

5

Direct the obsession: once found, channel it into a compounding output rather than letting it remain hobby or distraction

Checklist

Have you reflected on what your younger self loved?
Do you know what you do with completely unstructured free time?
Have you tried multiple pursuits seriously, not just dabbled?
Can you identify work that feels easier the more you do it?
Are you channeling what you found into productive output?

Inputs Needed

  • Honest self-reflection about past and present interests
  • Willingness to try things seriously before concluding
  • Patience with the search process
  • Awareness that obsession feels different from interest or aspiration

Outputs

  • Clarity on what genuinely obsesses you
  • Energy that flows into work rather than being depleted
  • Focus that eliminates decision fatigue about what to work on
  • Foundation for packaging obsession into compounding output

Example

“A person struggling to find their direction asks: 'What do I have to stop myself from doing?' The honest answer is reading about history. They spend hours on historical content while forcing themselves to learn to code. They recognize the mismatch and build a history content business instead of forcing programming. The work that felt downhill becomes their career.”