Having knowledge v. being passionate

There is a difference

Set a timer for at least 15 minutes and write (as quickly as possible and without stopping even for a minute to think) about a subject you know a lot about. Keep writing and adding information until the timer goes off. You can revise it later and make it make more cohesive sense later. For now, just get all of your beautiful knowledge on the page.

But, do note, that there is a difference between having a lot of knowledge about a subject and having great passion for it. Passion, while great, doesn’t bring a lot of substance to the party when it comes to writing or speaking with any degree of authority, so lean towards the subjects you already know a lot about rather than the subjects you want to know a lot about.

But, a word about passion while we’re here. We tend to fight naming our big credentials and often lean into naming “passion” as a thing that grants us credibility. Guess what? It doesn’t. Passion is all well and good and can keep us going when things get challenging, but passion isn’t a credential so try to be mindful about where you may be cutting your actual credentials short but leaning too hard on having great passion instead.

Think about it this way, if you’re about to get a tooth pulled, do you want the dentist who is really passionate about teeth but may o may not suck at dentistry, or the dentist who is rated number one in your city, who is board certified, and so forth. Yet, we do that with our own credibility all the time so keep this in your mind as you write today. Let’s go.