I went with Selena to see the National Symphony Orchestra last night. They featured one of Selena’s favorite pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, (and yes, I’ve already exhausted all the “pianists” puns).

Following the three marvelous symphonies, in the talk-back session, a patron asked Mr. Thibeadet how he possibly finds time to practice and get that good. His response was “there’s no excuse for not practicing, you can always find a piano”.

He went on to speak of how growing up when he was done his piano lesson, instead of going “downstairs and playing with a… balloon” he’d stay at the piano and improvise and explore and just enjoy his craft. (The whole audience gave a bit of a “huh?” at the balloon line, it sounded like he was reaching to try to recall what others did for fun as children).

This reminded me of this post I recently read from Seth Godin exploring the difference between a workaholic and someone who is passionate about their work. To paraphrase Godin, a workaholic is motivated by fear: of underperforming, of being laid off, of being a failure. Someone passionate about their work is okay with skipping the newest reality TV show to update their website design or seizing the opportunity of the long Metro to write blog posts (as I am doing right now).

I like the idea that I found an industry, web design, that allows me to be that passionate about what I do. I have too many friends that can not fathom the idea of having to think about their work after hours. Yet, I shouldn’t go patting myself on the back too hard, I am far from the epitome of passionate web designers, I still enjoy “playing with the balloon” a bit too much, but I sure am impressed by people who can throw themselves completely into their work, people like pianist Jean-Yves Thibeadet.