We can all be stupid from time to time. We say something that’s not very classy. We lock our keys in our car. We try to impress someone by name dropping and fail spectacularly.

After observing my own stupidity for many years, I’ve found that the more clever I’m trying to be the more stupid I become.

Name dropping is a great example. When I name drop, it’s because I want someone else to accept or like me and I think, “Well if they know I hang out with this cool person, then they’ll know how much I rock.”

But this shortcut rarely works. If you really want someone to like you, there are no shortcuts. Yes, you have to be interesting, but you also have to be interested in who they are. True connection can only be created by attentiveness and hard work.

Doing what you love is no different.

Tweet, When you do what you love, there are no shortcuts to creating outstanding work.

There is no alley to sneak down or fence to hop over. All the alleys are inches wide and the only way to get down them is to shed your ego and simply be yourself. All the fences are 1000 feet tall and the only way to get over them is to get bigger and keep stepping forward with the best of who you are.

Most of us think goals will make us into our best selves but that’s only half of it. The goals are only there to help you stay focused on what’s driving you from deep inside.

It’s not about the goal, it’s about that bone deep passion. It’s about that ineffable part of you that arises in the midst of great work. That’s where the great work comes from. That’s where powerful service arises.

But you can’t get to it out by buying a PBR; you have to wine and dine. You have to flirt subtly and share vulnerably. You have to show up again and again as the best person you can be. Then and only then will you begin to speak with a voice of wisdom that the world longs to hear.