My Work is My Passion

Recently, I got up early and headed to the office. By 5:45am, I was happily entrenched in working on a patent claim for a client.

Many people would ask the perfectly logical question, “WHY, John? Why get up that early?”

The answer is simple: I love what I do, and I’m passionate enough about it that I’d rather miss out on some sleep or skip a break than not do what I enjoy.

In this regard, I am extremely fortunate. I would even go so far as to say I’m blessed. Many attorneys admit they don’t really enjoy the work. For them, it’s a means to an end: supporting a certain lifestyle, a springboard into the political arena or simply something they do because they honestly don’t know what else they would do. Even if they can conceive of doing “something else,” very few of them are willing to take the risks that “something else” entails.

For me, it’s not necessary to look for “something else” because I’ve found my niche, the groove where everything fits and I’m at the top of my game doing what I love. I’ve skipped meals, I've come in early and worked late. I’ve had to get used to drinking cold, stale coffee out of necessity because I honestly forget my cup is there for hours on end while I wrestle with a thorny legal problem or craft the perfect argument to defend a patent claim. Once, I even missed a flight because I got so wrapped up in drafting the claims for a patent application that I completely tuned out the world around me. When I finally reached a good inflection point and looked around me, the boarding area was deserted, my plane long gone—but I had created a patent application for my client which would end up revolutionizing an entire industry.

There will always be another plane, bus, train or even a car if all else fails.

But when inspiration strikes and I get on a roll, I want to ride it as far as I possibly can. Because I love my work and I vividly remember a time when I didn’t. A time when my case calendar and social docket revolved around meeting with a rotating cast of suits in various sober colors, drily arguing even drier arcane points and concepts.

That time was my personal hell, and the most galling part was that I’d taken insane gambles and huge risks to earn my entry into it. I’ve talked before about approaching Saba, my wife, and telling her I wanted to launch my own practice, certain she would freak out, divorce me, kill me or all the above, and not necessarily in that order! Of course, she didn’t do any of the above, and I’ve gone from strength to strength and success to success with her love, care and support.

The one thing I don’t and won't do is miss out on family time.

I can skip a meal or sleep. I can miss a plane, secure that there will be another and I can always catch that one. (The joys of living and working in a first world nation!) I can always get another hot cup of coffee so it can go cold while I forget all about the world outside my computer screen. And so the cycle goes. But I’m also keenly aware that time is marching on, having just sent my daughter off to college and adding goats to the household menagerie as a consequence. (Hey, call it a midlife crisis if you wish, but it beats dyeing my hair and buying a sports car a la Steve Martin’s character in Father of the Bride!)

My kids are getting older, growing up and starting to look toward their own goals, dreams and aspirations. My parents are getting up there in years. In my mind, I’m still a hotshot twentysomething just starting out my life, but my body reminds me more and more frequently that I’m no spring chicken anymore. As passionate as I am about my work, and as much as I define myself in terms of my job and my success rate for my clients, I know time with my loved ones is still the most precious coin in the world, and that is currency I don’t spend frivolously. There will always be another plane, but we’re not guaranteed another day with the ones we love.

As long as I have my family and my mind, I don’t need the golf course, expensive vacations, unnecessarily pricey suits or other pursuits, hobbies or passions. I’ve already got my passion, and I’m lucky enough to be able to live that passion out every day.

For me, my passion IS MY LIFE’S WORK and I will forever be grateful for that.

With this in mind, I’d like to end with a couple of questions and a challenge to you, gentle reader: What are YOU passionate about? And how will you find a way to make it your life’s work?

About the Author

John Rizvi is a Registered and Board Certified Patent Attorney, Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property Law, best-selling author, and featured speaker on topics of interest to inventors and entrepreneurs (including TEDx).

His books include "Escaping the Gray" and "Think and Grow Rich for Inventors" and have won critical acclaim including an endorsement from Kevin Harrington, one of the original sharks on the hit TV show - Shark Tank, responsible for the successful launch of over 500 products resulting in more than $5 billion in sales worldwide. You can learn more about Professor Rizvi his patent law practice at www.ThePatentProfessor.com

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