The secret that will cost you everything!
It'll cost you. Friends. Relationships. Peace of mind.
The old man sat at the bar.
His hands were rough and calloused. He'd been a fisherman once.
Now he just drank.
"What's the secret?" a young man asked him.
The old man looked up from his glass. "To what?"
"To life. To success."
The old man laughed. It was a dry, harsh sound.
"You want to know the secret, kid? Obsession."
The young man waited.
"Find something you love. Something that consumes you. Then chase it. Chase it like your life depends on it. Because it does."
The old man took a long drink.
"I've seen men waste their lives on things they don't care about. They drift. They settle. They die with regrets."
He set his glass down hard.
"But the ones who make it? The ones who really live? They're obsessed. With their work. Their art. Their dreams. It doesn't matter what it is. What matters is how much it matters to them."
The young man nodded slowly.
"So that's it? Just be obsessed?"
The old man smiled. It wasn't a happy smile.
"No, kid. That's not it. Being obsessed is hard. It'll cost you. Friends. Relationships. Peace of mind. You'll suffer for it."
He leaned in close.
"But it's worth it. Because in the end, you'll have something. Something real. Something you built with your own two hands and the fire in your gut."
The old man sat back.
"So yeah. Always bet on obsession. It's the only thing that's ever changed the world."
The young man thanked him and left. The old man ordered another drink.
He stared at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar.
He saw a man who'd lost his obsession. And with it, everything else.