My Secret to Success: I Work With My Heart
(and the recipe for all the drama)
Whenever you open LinkedIn, or other social media, even TV or any sort of motivational literature, this is the advice you get:
“Do what you love.”
“Work with passion.”
“Put your heart into your work.”
Well. I do.
And it turns out that working with your heart is both a superpower and a guaranteed recipe for drama.
The Advantage Nobody Talks About
When you truly care about your work, things happen differently.
You notice details others ignore. You go the extra mile without someone asking.
You stay up late to fix something that (technically) could wait until Monday.
You do not do it because someone told you to. You do it because you cannot imagine not doing it.
This kind of energy is incredibly powerful. It is what separates work that is simply done from work that actually matters.
In industries like the space sector, where projects stretch across multiple years and involve a multitude of partners, that level of commitment is not optional.
People who care deeply are often the ones who carry things through the difficult moments and make sure they actually reach the finish line.
That is the beautiful part.
The Part Nobody Mentions
But there is another side to working with your heart.
When you care deeply, you also feel deeply.
You celebrate the wins almost like personal victories.
But you also feel the misunderstandings, the mistakes, and the tensions much more strongly.
Small issues can feel bigger because you are emotionally invested.
You notice when communication breaks down.
You notice when people do not pull their weight.
You notice when decisions go against what you believe is best.
And most of all, you notice all the injustice. (Or, at least, what you believe is injustice).
And sometimes you end up asking yourself:
Why do I care this much when others seem perfectly calm about it?
The answer is simple: Because your work is not just work to you.
The Drama Ingredient
Working with your heart creates a specific dynamic.
You become the person who pushes harder.
The one who follows up again.
The one who tries to fix things before they become problems.
Some people love that… and some people find it uncomfortable.
And occasionally, it creates tension. Because caring deeply about outcomes means you are less comfortable with mediocrity, silence, or vague commitments.
In other words, passion is great.
But passion also makes conflicts/problems/mistakes harder to ignore.
The Balance Question
If I am completely honest, life would probably be easier if I were more rational and a little less emotional about my work. Calmer reactions, fewer sleepless nights, less drama. Sometimes I genuinely wonder what that would feel like.
But then another question appears:
Would my career, my work, and the results I have achieved look the way they do today if I were built that way?
Probably not.
Most of the things I have built happened precisely because I cared too much. Because I pushed when it would have been easier to step back. Because I felt responsible for outcomes even when technically I did not have to.
So what is the right balance?
The honest answer is that I do not know.
And that leads to another uncomfortable thought.
Can I really give advice about balance if I am not even sure I want to change who I am in the first place?
Working with my heart is part of how I operate. It shapes how I approach projects, partnerships, and responsibility. I do not think I would want to remove that part of myself even if I could.
But there are things I do need to improve. Not who I am, but how I react in certain moments.
Taking a pause before responding. Giving emotions time to settle before acting. Allowing space to think and analyze instead of reacting immediately.
Sometimes the smartest move is simply not to act right away.
So perhaps the real goal is not to remove the heart from the work, but to learn how to steer it better. Passion can build incredible things, but it works best when it is not the only force behind the wheel. The balance might also come from working with people whose strengths complement your own.
And in my experience, nothing great has ever been built by people who felt indifferent about their work.
PS: And just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with working for stability. There is nothing wrong with paying your bills, doing your job well, and being satisfied with that. This perspective is simply about those who choose to push their passion further.