“A sustainable interest is something that you love, a topic you'll have fun with for years to come. But it's also a theme you want to be known for, something that will help you achieve your long-term life goals.”

Why it was said

Mark W. Schaefer defines the term in Known (2017), where finding a sustainable interest is the first of the four steps the book sets out, before choosing a space, producing content and building an audience. He presents it as a deliberate alternative to the advice simply to follow your passion.

What it actually means

The definition has two halves, and both have to hold. The first is endurance: a topic you will still enjoy after years of writing, speaking or making things about it, because becoming known takes that long. The second is direction: a theme you actually want attached to your name, one that serves where you are trying to go. Many people choose with only one half. A hobby can pass the first test and fail the second, and a fashionable topic chosen for career reasons fails the first within months. Schaefer's test asks for the overlap. It also explains why he puts this step first: a well-built audience around the wrong topic is hard to move later.

How to use it

1. 1List three topics you could write or speak about every week for five years, then cross out any you would not want to be introduced as an expert in.
2. 2For the topic that remains, write one sentence on how being known for it serves a goal you have for the next ten years.