As an independent, structure is what you make of it.
when you’re grinding, you are essentially on call for work…usually at the most inconvenient times, trying to make it all work.
There’s not a road map for that.
They don’t teach mania in curriculum.
You have to develop your own guidelines and learn what your own margins are.
Like everything else, that knowledge usually comes after you’ve gone too far and decided that those instances can’t happen again.
It takes experience to come to terms with your own experience.
Notes from other people who aren’t in the same situation or haven’t gone out on their own to hang up a shingle usually aren’t helpful.
It can be isolating, and at times make you feel crazy.
Point of fact, we’re all a little crazy.
But that’s not a bad thing.
The moments when stream of consciousness strike can make it all seem easy, and when you have a bit of an audience, they can also seem inspired.
That’s magic.
When you have those opportunities, seize them.
The problem, at least for me, is that those moments are fleeting and chronically unreliable.
If you spend too much time relying on them to come your way, you’ll end up behind on everything.
I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve had it happen myself.
In my experience, what may look easy to everyone else only comes with chronic repetition and feverish devotion to the craft at hand.
It shouldn’t come easy.
As frustrating as any endeavor can be, if there were an easy button for it, none of us would be necessary.
If what you bring to the table is vision, then hone that vision.
Devote yourself to honing that skill.
Otherwise, what is it that makes you worth investing in?
If you want the reliability of a 9 to 5 with the flexibility of a CEO and the expectation of being retired…I hope you’re still in school waiting for the realities of life to set in.
Lightning is unpredictable.
And since independence has no road map to success, moments of opportunity are lost if they aren’t focused on.
You don’t get to say, I’d like a raise or a new title when you’re looking yourself in the mirror and expect to be taken seriously by your boss…who is already you.
The idea that fortune favors the bold can be both true and false at the same time.
As cheesy as it sounds…it really comes down to what you consider wealth.
Is it your health?
Your schedule?
Your actual bank account?
Your ability to exercise your mind at your own discretion?
No matter what you are trying to do, or hoping you achieve, I’ve never worked with anyone who hasn’t had to make some concessions in some if not all of the “hope” boxes above. Only you can make your own demarcation lines in what you hope to achieve.
Aim for the moon.
Have big dreams.
Don’t lose sight of what’s in front of you as you work towards them.
Lightning doesn’t always grab your attention.
Sometimes you’ve got to squint for it out there on the horizon.