Obsession is the Best Teacher

Perhaps school is not the most efficient way to learn after all

If you were to map out my professional life, you would see an even yet constantly changing blend of writing and stage/screen performance.

When I was younger, the scale tipped towards performance with writing only being a fun side-hustle that didn’t make any real money. Now that I’m an old and hagged glamour cat, the scale has most definitely tipped towards writing.

I recently secured a gig here in Shanghai as a content writer for an education company. For the next month, I’ll be writing drama courses that can be used to teach adults and teenagers. So lately, I’ve spent my days writing theatre games, creating bad puns, and wondering, “How did I get here?”

I went to university for psychology, but without drastically stretching the imagination, what I’m doing cannot be seen as psychology.

Like many people who’re making money doing what they really want to do, I wasn’t trained for any of it. Luckily, there are far more effective ways of becoming what you want to be than simply going to school. The most effective school of all is the University of Rabid Obsession.

The Obsessed Mind

When trying to learn a new skill, nothing will glue knowledge to your brain like an obsession.

Find any ten-year-old that’s obsessed with Pokemon, and while he may not know how to spell, he can most definitely tell you the names and characteristics of every Pokemon ever invented.

Unbelievably, there are more than a thousand of those anime slave monsters at this point; yet obsessed Pokemon Masters know ’em all.

Obsession is the best teacher, so if you want to be proficient at a new skill, you need to drink in as much of it as you can.

Society teaches us “everything in moderation,” a lesson that seems to exist to make sure everyone stays mediocre.

If your problem is with alcohol, then yes, moderation. If your problem is with opera arias, maybe your destiny lies with classical singing.

Your parents probably didn’t spot your childhood obsessions and see those as glimpses of a future profession, and that’s on them. But now it’s time to take charge of your own life and put your mind towards whatever it is it’s desperate to focus on.

The obsession will make you better, because every time you’re consuming the work of one of the greats in your field, a tiny piece of their technique and discipline rubs off onto you subconsciously.

Filmmakers can watch incredible films and learn techniques that they may never know the technical terms for but will be able to apply to their own work.

A Chef can watch Gordon Ramsey and absorb the passion that he projects through the screen, then months later, cook a dish 10x better because of whatever rubbed off on you and forced you to improve.

Maybe Ramsey’s passion alone permitted you to love food properly; then, it was that love that made you more disciplined and, in turn, made you into a better chef.

To Improve You Must Consume

There are a lot of writers out there who write on a daily basis but never read, and it makes me crazy.

Writing but never reading guarantees that your work will always stay the same.

Without input, your output can never be influenced for the better. That means the royalties you’re earning now will be the royalties you’re earning 20 years from now, is that something you’d be fine with?

I’m not saying that writers need to read books about writing or fluffy self help nonsense, writers need to become obsessed with really great writing.

I’m personally absolutely obsessed with the adult short stories written by Roald Dahl. I must have read ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ over a thousand times.

I’m also obsessed with how Enid Blyton writes about food. She incorporates food into a scene so well that I can taste the buttery toast in my mouth as I’m reading it. Much the same way that you can taste the fish in ‘Old Man and the Sea’ by Ernest Hemmingway.

I’m depressed that I can’t replicate it, I’m in awe of their ability to spin a word. I’m feeling ten emotions at once when I’m reading Blyton’s work, and that level of craziness turns me from a reader into a learner.

My writing slightly improves after each time I’ve come away from one of my usual cycles of reading an Enid Blyton book, ranting about how good it is, then practicing my own fiction and throwing it out in a jealous rage.

My method creeps the line of insanity, but it’s the reason I can be cast in a show that requires skills I’ve never been trained for. Mad obsession is the greatest teacher of all.

Don’t Change, Be Changed

When signing up for the University of Rabid Obsession, don’t feel that you need to change your personality; because obsession looks different for everyone.

But if you’re doing something you only feel apathy towards, then it’s not something you’re improving at.

Teaching is a big part of my teaching job, but it’s not something I feel passionately about, so it’s something I have to try to improve at consciously.

I need to read books about teaching and try to improve my technique manually because I’m certainly not binging content.

Of all the skills that are influenced by my obsessions, the one that’s currently moving at the fastest pace is fermentation.

Every summer, when the heat rises and probiotic bacteria start multiplying, I start pickling and fermenting like crazy.

I binge ferment videos on YouTube and stay up all night reading recipes. By the end of this summer, I’ll have perfected my pickle recipe to the point that your knees will buckle when you taste it.

Unfortunately for my students though, my teaching method will be the same, because teaching doesn’t drive me to these lengths.

Having written about pickles makes me feel a little crazy to get back to the supermarket and buy more products, so it’s time to wrap up this article. Now that you’ve finished reading, it’s your turn to figure out your obsession.

Figure out what drives you, then allow yourself to unleash that passion to the fullest extent you can. No more holding back because Grandma thought it was undignified. I’m living proof that an obsession can turn into money if you just allow your passion to run wild and unrestrained.