Someone said that passion is "love and anger together". Passion originally meant to suffer. It seems that passion (motivation) causes action, but it happens the

Someone said that passion is "love and anger together". Passion originally meant to suffer. It seems that passion (motivation) causes action, but it happens the other way too. You act, making some progress, and then you feel motivated. Any worthwhile accomplishment involves suffering and sacrifice. Maybe passion isn't the only way. Maybe even deciding to suffer doesn't matter, provided you do it. Every moment we do not spend ourselves in a worthy cause is simply a moment not spent in a worthy clause. Each moment we are given, we get for free. It is up to us how we spend it. Throughout our lives, no matter how we spend it, we are given another in the very next instant. Some startups weren't based on a specific idea. e.g. Woz and Jobs first had a go at blue boxes. HP and Sony began trying a few different products. The motivation was more like: to make something cool, make a business work. If you like, the "idea" had a wider scope than a specific product. I think it's fair to say they were passionate - as in crazy motivated - about that. e.g. Woz loved making cool electronic stuff; Jobs loved making a business out of that. It's not a specific idea; though I suppose you could say they were passionate about each specific idea in a general class. I feel there are two parts to my own passion: (1) that there's an opportunity (problem, need, cool new idea) that would make a difference; and (2) that I could do it. That second one is very important. If I don't think it's within my reach, I won't feel excited. Maybe I'll even feel a little depressed and inadequate. That's why confidence (aka faith, hope, courage) is so important. pg noted a few times that not knowing how hard it is can be a blessing - that some very capable founders would have thought their achievement was beyond their ability if they knew the obstacles involved.