Michael Kelley is that kind of guy that is just passionate as is. When he talks about anything, he has this warmth and excitement in his voice that makes you want to listen to more stories. No wonder why he started vlogging. Growing up with a dad that was peculiarly good at telling stories, and thinking it’s an art that got lost, he always wanted to get good at it himself.  Extremely devoted, he wants to create good content and put together great videos, while getting better at story telling. But his passion goes far beyond editing. It is all about creating something, anything that might possibly change the world, a day at a time. Basically just putting himself out there and most importantly, staying out of his comfort zone.

I met him in this authentic coffee shop where they brew their own coffee and make oh so good coffee. To quote Michael: ” This coffee makes you feel high”.

Here’s what she had to say about passion…

Define Passion:

”If you have a goal, a dream, you’ll do everything you can to achieve it.”

Michael truly believes that any risks or obstacles should not hold you back from reaching your goal, your passion or your vision.

What’s your passion?

I wanted to meet him first because of his complete motivation toward his vlog, but I learnt his passion was in fact numerous things. That’s the wonderful thing about passion: It grows and spread like branches out of a tree.

Michael wants to create something that can modify the course of society. Which you can do when you recognize what you are good at, he adds. Therefore, telling stories on those platforms gets him to create content and edit from a raw film to a movie and that’s super exciting.

 I wanna leave something behind, be out of ordinary by creating something new for the world.

He explains that all that surrounds us wouldn’t be as we see it if creators wouldn’t have changed the course of things. This very act of creating is what changes ideas and the current state of the world. In fact, he brings back this example that if everyone would always just have followed the model of going to work under your boss’s order, sleep and do it again the next morning, we wouldn’t even be here; have laptops or Iphones among other things.

He than used this surprisingly accurate anology i’ve never heard of before; the cookycutter analogy. He explained that if you put cookie dough in a cookie cutter, the cookies will all be the same, little exact replicas of one another.  But if you’d have to choose you’d want to be a hand made cookie, wouldn’t you?

 I don’t want to live the American Dream, I want to be an anomaly.

How did your passion evolved in your life?

My passion evolved when I realised those very creators I talked about were people just like me; an everyday person.

He explains that what differentiate those two types of individuals is that creators are everyday people that acts on their thoughts and passions. He thus believes anyone can do as great as their favorite mentors or idols. That’s why he uses vlogging as a vehicle to share his toughts, ideas and passions to other people.

After making sure his thoughts were not ”all over the place”, he said this statement about passion that I found very inspiring:

”There is no way to rightfully express passion, words just don’t do passion enough justice. I kinda have to show you.”

What inspired you?

His parents come first as he describes them as really extremely hard working people.

Elon musk, a 21st century innovative figure, comes second. He started companies that were world changing with his ideas such as Tesla, Paypal, SpaceX. He wants to work for the environment and the space accessibility for anyone.

If you see that something needs to be changed, change it.

What if your passion is not your passion anymore?

Him that wanted to be a Paleonthologist, a DJ, a nurse, a businessman and finally an entrepreneur knows that it can change over time.

But if he wakes up one day and is passion is not anymore,  he suppose he  would just live with it! Michael would simply put everything that he has in that next passion, just as he does now; put everything he got!

In the end, his real true passion is to do whatever, keep creating and always be out of the norm.

I have a tattoo that says: Make your own kind of music. If your life is a song, you got to sing your own song. But people sing other people’s song.

What does taking a flight means for you?

Leaving your current position, not literally but for an emotional, spiritual or  physical. journey.  Someplace out of your comfort zone. It’s about changing the current state of where you are; experiencing, learning, just being.

What would you tell to someone who is scared?

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: ”Do one thing every day that scares you”

So, so true, if you stay in one spot and don’t do the things that scares you, you’ll never get anywhere else than where you are.

Wise comment on what Roosevelt had to say!  He adds that you must do something scary over something you love. If you love something it’s easy. Although, if you’re scared, it requires way more energy and courage.

That is where magic happens isn’t it?

Do you regret dropping everything to follow your passion?

Michael actually already had to drop everything coming here in germany for an exchange year. This exchange required him to extend his bachelor study of one semester in order to do what he believes in; taking the perfect opportunity to do something that not everyone gets to do, or would even do.

I would drain every penny out of my bank , every minute of every single day, give up anything to follow my passion.

But he adds, after I did an interrogated face, that of course he was talking about money or any given material things. Never would he drop his friends, parents or memories!!

What is the worst that can happen if you take a flight toward your passion?

You need to fail first in order to understand your success. Failure teaches you a lot more than success. So the worst thing is also the best thing. Even if failling is subjective, it sure brings opportunity.

What do you tell yourself when you get discouraged?

This energetic vloggers says he would just keep pushing forward.

If you got to succeed, there’s gonna be time where you get discouraged but you got to keep pushing forward.

 I think about sucessfull people, because everyone gets discouraged at one point. The one that succeeds are the one that kept pushing.

If he pushes through, he believes he can be one of those. If he gives up, it would mean he throws it all away.

Should you pursue your passion if you are alone in the world?

”Alone, meaning in the desert? Meaning you live on Mars? Well in that case if your passion does imply people…then you should perhaps give up. But if it doesn’t involve anyone, being alone on mars, you should pursue it most definitely.”

I could have stopped him but I was laughing too much. He did although say that he would pursue it 100%. No one told him it was a good idea to vlog, people could hardly understand the bigger picture. He brought out the example of Mark Zuckerberg telling people to trust him about the Timeline idea for Facebook that no one would support, but in the end worked out really well.

He thinks that the right people will eventually follow your ideas, so you just have to do it, especially if you don’t do it for others.

Any closing remarks to add?

Don’t make choices disguised as practicality, make choices solely based on what you love.

Also, as he noticed I was nothing all the laugh, pauses and querky sentence, but wouldn’t allow him to change his sentences has they came out, he made fun of me…

One more thing: Marjoline didn’t let me edit this…So it’s as good as it goes…Marjolane, marjane, Marjelane…OMG [laughter] !

Yep, my name doesn’t get easier to pronounce, especially not after that long of an interview!

Huge thanks to our second Flighter, Michael Kelley. Discover his passion here:

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