“Do you want another idea for what you should do next?”
No.
I used to think that some careers were more important than others.
I used to.
I don’t now.
The difference is paper.
Some things just look better on paper. The same way people do.
Timing is everything.
You’ve heard the phrase, “To the world you are one person, but to one person you are the world.”?
Some work is vital to your immediate health, there is no question about it.
But those same people who perform those tasks have outside interests, outside desires, and impulses that they cling to in order to function.
It’s kind of like Reaganomics.
The trickledown effect of creativity can’t be measured. It can only be appreciated.
Long story short, what you do matters… to more than just you.
It takes 10,000 hours to be an expert.
I don’t know how long it takes for you to be respected in that field, significantly longer, but you can be an expert in 10,000 hours.
If you work 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, it will take you 5 years in that specific endeavor to make you an expert.
However, if you were to work 125 hours per week, 52 weeks a year for 80 weeks, you would get to the same hourly requirement.
It might kill you. You might not want to be the “go-to” person for expertise in that field after achieving that number, but you’ll have done it.
Odds are you’ll have no friends or family cheering you on by the time you get there, but hey, congratulations.
You did it.
Good luck.
What brings this to mind is that I just drug 3 first timers on a 125 hour work week production. Straight into the fire, we skipped the furnace.
When the job was done I asked how many of these weeks we could string together if we needed to do more.
The answer was… no more.
Not one more.
One wasn’t enough.
It was too many.
They weren’t wrong.
I just woke up from a dirt nap that accounted for more sleep than I had in a week, and then I woke up and went back to work.
You don’t miss the fight if you never let the bell ring.
There’s always another round if you’ve got a good stitch man.
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of Master Class. It’s great to hear candid accounts from people who’ve been where you are and come out successful on the other end.
What I find myself saying at the end of every class though is, “Yeah! But then what did you do?!”
Most of them didn’t knock it out of the part on their first go.
Even their second.
There isn’t a fast track to getting to the end.
It isn’t a race.
No matter what your circumstances are or where you want to be.
The hardest thing isn’t finding people who can spare the change.
You can look in the gutter and find enough to buy paper and a pencil.
It’s finding someone who will take the time.
Take the time to sharpen your skill.
You don’t need fans.
You need to get things done.
If you can’t take the time to do it, how can you expect anyone else to?
-Zeke