Yiannis, a web designer and friend of mine, launched recently a new Tumblelog. No big deal, just a personal digital notebook of thoughts, videos, pictures and stuff. Neat and nice. In a Twitter conversation we had, I asked him why did he start this new blog.

Specifically, this was the question:

@yiannis_k yep, read it. I mean what’ll you share. Lifestream/pics, small rants, music, videos — everyrhing? :)

— Apostolos (@apas) August 19, 2011

and this was his answer:

@apas You got it. You bet. I’ll try to be an amateur, young, careless, stupid one again.

— Y. Konstantakopoulos (@yiannis_k) August 19, 2011

“I’ll try to be an amateur, young, careless, stupid once again.”

This quote—this quote, I loved it. It made me think how essential is to have in mind those things. Things that drive you forward, push you forward.

Yannis’ quote made me think once again about amateurism, passion, carelesness, fresh ideas, risks and pushing things forward.

Having this mindset helps you stay active and creative. Passion is essential not to succeed in life, but in order to enjoy life and your work. If you enjoy it, then you have succeeded.

To hell with unnecessary formalisms. We need professional amateurs. People who will always explore, try and do new things. People who stay active, who create, take risks, try and fail. Amateur means also loving what you do, as Konstantina correctly says. And by loving what you do, you become more and more better at what you do. You enjoy it. You have succeeded.