About this quote

Pick one thing and give it everything. Do the work that costs you sleep, comfort, and easy answers. Don't romanticize suffering; be honest about what you'll lose and what you'll get in return. Set a few practical limits so the obsession doesn't wreck the rest of your life. Ask yourself right now: what are you willing to lose for this?

When to use it

• The night I handed in my resignation at the office, I told my roommate, 'Find what you love and let it kill you,' because I couldn't spend another year thinking about the studio I wasn't in.
• At 2 a.m. with three rejected drafts on the floor, I whispered that line and sat back down at the desk to rewrite the whole chapter.
• Before signing up for that brutal multi-day race, I said it to my coach to explain why I planned to train hard even if it meant missing social events.
• When I emptied my savings to press my first run of books, I repeated the line to steady myself while I accepted the risk.