To be in business is to take a risk. In a capitalistic society, success is not guaranteed, or even likely. 

The momentum you gain from doing the wrong thing can be easily transferred into the right thing. 

"...once you start making things, once you take that leap, you have the same status as any other artist."

When I’m producing two or three projects at once, and when I have content to write and edit and post, and when pitch calls get put on my calendar, and on top of all that, when someone inevitably has a wedding, or when I have houseguests…I start to dread it all.

“Play hard while you play, but do not mistake it for work."

I mean it. 

There are plenty of fitness influencers and intellectual influencers. There are plenty of classes and programs and institutions to help us develop a sound body or a vigorous mind. But what about developing character?

Good news: your mind is a master negotiator. The bad news? It’s only good at negotiating with you. You know what I’m talking about. You know the crafty promises it makes, when it convinces you to stay in bed for “just a few more minutes.”

“Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.”

So many people claim to have a dream, but they aren’t sitting at the table. They don’t have a chance to win, even by a stroke of luck or genius or happenstance.

I realized I had seven and a half years of hopes and expectations piled on this book release. Hours of daydreams, coloring the canvas of this experience. The real book launch looked nothing like my daydreams.

As Steven Pressfield shares in “The War of Art,” there’s always so much resistance to doing creative work. The resistance shows up in cunning, crafty ways to block us from the creativity we so desire.

How did you discover that views were down? Hopefully, by posting. I have a lot of respect for people who continue to put in the work, sharpen their sword, and stay in the game, even when the economy or the algorithm isn’t exactly in an optimal place.

To do something well, it needs to be boring.

If you’ve been on Instagram for a few years, your followers are probably made up of people you know. Friends, family, acquaintances. This creates a strange scenario if you’re thinking about posting consistent content to grow your audience.

To see my "self" not as myself but as another “self” that I control. One I must listen to and choose to work with and be kind to. But one who is another one. One who is not me, but instead, a future me, or a past me, or a parallel me—all who have, at one point, asked me to drive them…

On November 28th, 2023, I had 2400 followers on Instagram. By December 23rd, I had 10,000. By January 12th—20,000. February 5th—30,000. Next week, I’ll likely hit 40,000.

Guess what? I’m bored of it already.

I don’t brush my teeth every day, but once a year I spend all day brushing them to remove all the plaque at once. Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? Yet we apply this strategy to many areas of our lives.

Jesse Itzler’s net worth is over $200M. But early in his career, he almost gave away 10% of his future earnings in exchange for a $10,000 loan.

You can either say “Well, I tried,” and accept the plausible deniability. It isn’t in your court anymore after all. Other people dropped the ball, yeah? It’s not on you, right? Or you can take radical responsibility.