The Internet is awash with business gurus talking about passion and purpose as the keys to success. “Find your passion and the money will follow” or “discover your purpose, then grind it out, and you will be on the path to riches.” Maybe so for some, but most of my own personal entrepreneurial efforts have derived more from indulging my compulsions.
Webster defines a compulsion as a strong desire to do something which you find difficult to control. That sounds like a negative, right? Let me explain.
My biggest successes have come not from sitting and ruminating on what I’m passionate about or meditating on my purpose in life or making a list, but rather from my stumbling upon a new idea and then playing that idea out to a logical conclusion. That could be a product or it could be a methodology. Doesn’t matter. Once I have embraced it as a good idea, I can’t wait to share it with the world. It becomes a compulsion I simply can't ignore or "turn off."
Passion or purpose are secondary. At no point in my first 60 years on this planet was I ever passionate about mayonnaise. I didn’t set out to one day become the “mayo king of Malibu”. I was, however, compelled to fix a problem that had plagued me for decades: seed oils corrupting almost all store-bought condiments. So, what started in the kitchen as the only logical way to fix my own problem compelled me to make it available to the world.
That’s also how I started my supplement business in 1997: I was frustrated at the lack of choices I had in optimizing my recovery from hard workouts. Because nothing existed that combined the right blends of nutrients, I was compelled to formulate products that were safe and legal to assist in that process and make them available to others.
My blog Mark's Daily Apple arose from my discovery that eliminating grains from my diet completely fixed my IBS and a host of other maladies. I didn’t think so much “hmm, I need to start a blog to build a huge platform.” I just felt compelled to share this information with the tens of millions who I knew suffered along with me, and a blog seemed the choice most likely to succeed.
Now, after I've taken a step back from the day-to-day management of Primal Kitchen I've found the time to address a problem that had nagged me for decades: foot health and shoe comfort. I could have easily cut back on my workload and enjoyed my “twilight years” with golf and travel—and I even tried that for a while—but I kept feeling a strong compulsion to fix a problem I had identified and for which I knew I had a solution.
The result was my newest venture Peluva—a footwear company that has completely reimagined minimalist shoes. You’ll see just how my compulsion to change the way the world eats (with Primal Kitchen) has morphed into changing the way the world walks. Peluva launched just last month, and has already gained a strong following among health and fitness influencers and coaches. Customers are sharing their successes on IG and in reviews. And, of course, I was compelled to tell you about it here in Sunday with Sisson.
What about you? Have you had an experience in business (or any other area of your life) that was driven by a healthy compulsion? Let me know how it goes for you in this week's New and Noteworthy. 
