loving the doing

"You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences."

~ Ayn Rand, 20th century philosopher from The Fountainhead

We must love the doing.
We must love the doing.
We must love the doing.

I repeated that for emphasis, but what does "loving the doing" really mean? Let me give an example. The past week was arguably one of the worst work weeks I've had in months. This high visibility project went live last weekend and we spent the entire week resolving irritating bugs and problems that came with it. By mid-week, I was on the verge of breakdown, but I know I have to keep going. Why? Because I love what I do. At this time and age of temporary joys and quarter-life crises, it might be difficult to believe, but I do love being able to do the things I do. True, there will be times when I'm so out of it, but then I get back up and love it all over again.

Still, when we say love the doing, it doesn't mean we lose sight of our goals. We do not want to ramble around. I see it this way - part of it is knowing what we want, and the rest is actually doing something to get exactly what we want. If I'm running, I'm more likely to win if I do these things--know that there's a finish line and just run!

You cannot love something you didn't choose. When you love something (or someone for that matter), it's because you consciously chose it--your actions, your situations. Thus, at the end of the day, loving the doing is being in control of your life. And that is extremely powerful.