Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

For the past several months, my motto has been the quote made popular by Steve Jobs, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” The first time I read this quote it resonated with me, and I knew that it fit me well. Recently, I shared it with a friend who told me that they didn't know what it meant. That got me thinking about it. I knew that it spoke to me, but why?

Stay hungry.

It has been my observation that many people, if not most, get to the point in their life where they “grow up” and realize that the responsibilities of adulthood require that they become “practical” and “realistic” about life. They subsequently pack their dreams in a proverbial shoebox and hide them away while they get busy being an adult. Meanwhile, their dreams die from want of attention; the only thing left of them are fond memories coupled with a twinge of disappointment.

In the book Education through Recreation by Lawrence Pearsall Jacks, there is a passage that reads, “A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always seems to be doing both.”

At some point I the past year, I came across some advice that hit me so hard that it stuck with me in a powerful way. Sit down with someone and talk about the things that you enjoy doing in life; when you get to the thing that makes you cry, that's what you should be doing. Are you so passionate about what you do that it invokes such an intense emotional reaction in you?

What if you have a job with great pay, great benefits, and great stability, but it saps your creative energy and leaves you with a sense of meaninglessness? The “adult” thing to do seems to be to suck it up, be grateful for the job, and be responsible; after all, nobody like their job anyway. Quit whining. Work is the result of Adam's curse in the garden. We all till the ground of our lives and work by the sweat of our brow – that's what makes it a curse. I adamantly disagree with this thinking! If one wishes to bring up Scripture, Ecclesiastes 5:18 says, "Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage." This leads me to believe that God cares deeply about the level of satisfaction in my life.

No matter how “secure” a job seems, security in any kind of job is an illusion. I cannot allow myself to trade my dreams for an illusion of security. I cannot surrender my passions for money. Maybe you're not doing what you're passionate about now, but don't give up on it! This sums up the meaning of “stay hungry”. Keep the fire in your spirit raging. Don't surrender your dreams in the name of being an adult. Stay hungry – for life, for happiness, for your dreams.

Stay foolish.

As far as I'm concerned, staying foolish doesn't mean acting without wisdom and prudence; it means being foolish enough to believe that your dreams are obtainable. It means doing the thing you would do if you knew that you couldn't fail. It means being ready and willing to act, regardless of fear. Step into the unknown – like what many would consider foolish. Don't be afraid of marching to the beat of a different drummer. Don't be afraid to leave the comfort and security of an illusion in order to realize your dreams. Be foolish enough to believe that you can make it happen; and then make it happen.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.