Dedication - You want this

You want people who will show up.

Those who will be there in the rain, who will put in the work when there’s no supporting cheers. People willing to suffer for a result, and yet have the strength to know when progress is found in stopping.

You want dedication to a level that borders on obsession. The kind of people consumed by their ideas, whose hands are forced in to action by their dreams. You want 6am till 6am, 8 days a week, choosing supplies over for the craft over Kraft dinners. You want something that dips in and out of unhealthy with its dedication.

You want those who use the fact their means and skills have improved, not to settle in to a comfortable reliance, but to use that new platform to push higher and harder. You want van Gough, you want Sarah Storey, you want people who don’t care if you know their name so long as you know what they have done. Those who can shrug of the derision, the embarrassment others demand they feel, those brave enough to forge a career from something others consider nothing more than a passing hobby.

To live in a world shaped in part by the results of this dedication, surrounded by the brilliance of Brunelleschi's domes, inspired by the pace a person can pass a mile, aware of the potential you hold because you see it played out in the passion all around you.

You don't want this because its sensible, because it is comfortable, or because it is easy. Quite the opposite, it is the fear of the unknown and the satisfaction that comes from finding out, the joy in overcoming the ridiculous, in enduring hardship.

You want this because it represents the best of what we can do, it is a pursuit greater than profit, it is passion, it is dedication, it is progress, and it is the art of living.