Have you ever thought about what the term addict means in relation to entrepreneurship? When we examine that word, many of us think about a person addicted to a substance, unable to function. But addiction can have different meanings—it seems—in a society that speaks out of both sides of its mouth. Yes, it may denote a functional drug addict, for example. However, it can also describe a person who is vigorously driven to succeed against all odds and at any cost.

Are addicts and entrepreneurs synonymous?

In the case of choosing entrepreneurship, is being an addict necessary? Can you succeed without the manic mindset that yanks your hand and pulls you down the road of progress? Maybe you’ll have a different opinion, but I don’t think so! Ask yourself: What would your life be like without the fire for wanting more…no matter what “more” happens to be? I know my business would not be where it is as a marketer or the founder of a non-profit, without insatiable passion.

I HAD to be addicted to surrender to the mad urges to stay up late/early. To create websites and emails and articles and banners and a podcast and to network and collaborate and write millions of words. I’ve edited roughly 50 books by myself in the past couple of years as well as published most of them.

I’ve asked, bartered, been coached, have coached, purchased technology, applications, storage, high-speed everything, authored a book, hosted columns and learned to fly as I am whisked through the airport in a wheelchair. (A fact that shouldn’t be laudatory, but it is!) The more milestones I pass, the longer the distance I want to run.

“There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that once unleashed can make any vision, dream or desire a reality.” – Tony Robbins

Where would you be without your drive?

When you let your mind roam down the passageways of memory and into the pockets of time where you have been the most productive, obsessed, on the cusp of achievement, could you have done it with a meh attitude?

What is it inside us that is more powerful than hunger and defies explanation for even the most aggressive entrepreneur? Are we born this way or are we preened and primed by our environment? By lack? By affluence? By self-challenge or the need to shed self-doubt? And do we even need to understand what drives us? Or are we called simply to answer the restless ache to make something new, to leave a legacy that others can follow and improve upon?

Where were you when the epiphany of your life’s calling hit? I was paying bills. For so long, I had been operating from a necessity mindset. Planning what was needed to pay for our monthly debts. Separating myself from six-figure copywriters because I hadn’t yet identified my “why not.” And then like a streak into my brain, within mere minutes, I understood.

My realization wasn’t “what do I need to do to succeed?” It was and is “what can I do?” “How much can I do?” It was comprehending, at last, that I was in charge of my limited or limitless aim. I could build an empire. I could scale a company.

My past, sickness, and perceptions of my shortcomings couldn’t compete with the sparkling illumination that I was in charge of me and everything I ever wanted. Of everything I had ever dreamed of when I saw my father fail at serial entrepreneurship. I could beat all the bad memories and all the toxic mojo holding my dreams hostage. I did and I am.

Where do you fall prey to raw spontaneity?

I hate flying. Sometimes, I don’t understand this fear that charges at me when the wheels fold up. But I do it anyway. Every time I’m in the air, I tell myself this is the last time I will travel by plane and when I land, all is right with the world. But then justification and compulsion get me to the next trip. And the next. And the one after that. I can’t wait to hit the air as I simultaneously loathe the engines roaring and rattling my psyche.

This is the same fierce streak that led me to a take-no-prisoners attitude when I lost my job due to a rare neurological disease and had to start over…again. Which was the best thing that ever happened to me. If you have the ability to focus and tear up your goals like the tarmac under a jet, it will carry you all over the world and allow you to accomplish your every desire. It will enable you to catapult past any setback.

“Passion equals drive, drive equals determination, and enough determination equals success.” – Anette Sandberg

The miles logged eclipse the destination

Sure, there may be turbulent moments; the best trips are punctuated by them, but this is when we know how best to navigate. We STILL stay the course despite the pain, the doubt, the pressure, the terror and the exhaustion as we hurtle ahead, addiction the tailwind of our dreams. We know, as addicts do, the next fix will take us closer to what we have long envisioned grasping with straining fingers. Please keep your seatbelts fastened for the “bumpy air” but know every leg of the trip will be worth the destination.