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I have been pondering making this thread for a little bit now. As I have come across more and more threads that require saying this, I have decided that now is the time.
"Go on the damn adventure."
This is in response to the people asking to do "x, y, or z", such as traveling, going to college, going against their parents' wishes, moving out of their parents' house while balancing their financial situation, or just otherwise taking a chance which feels foreign to them.
The default response of the forum, which is also a great response is "the forum can't make that decision for you." And that is as true now as it is ever been.
But I also offer an alternative point of view, which might be equally important, though admittedly not always the best solution.
Go on the damn adventure.
The problem is a lot of these questions and threads are overanalyzing a relatively small decision in the grand scheme of things.
The proposed adventure usually does not interfere with other life goals, and in many cases, it benefits them.
Let's take a look at one of the most common questions on the forum: do I go to college or not?
Your potential biggest adventure to date. It usually requires moving out of your parents' house, involves some kind of financial implication, putting yourself in a new environment, and accepting the challenge of being in a structured, "scripted" environment while knowing that there is some alternative out there that doesn't require all of this.
Here's the thing: for the vast majority of you asking this, college is going to be a bigger adventure than whatever business aspiration or idea you have and will consistently carry out from 18-22. In other words, the external challenge of college will be bigger than whatever challenge you impose on yourself, and that is actually one of the most important reasons to go. It is inevitable that for most people, the slowlane trenches will be a guarantee while developing their entrepreneurial pursuits. If you cannot juggle a few classes while getting served all-you-can-eat buffets and being in walking distance of literally everything you could ever need, how do you expect to cope with the real challenges of life while still trying to pursue entrepreneurship?* (disclaimer: this isn't an excuse to spend a fortune on college; practically speaking, being able to graduate debt free and/or with no private student loans is the exception to this adventure)
Adventures build capacity, safe choices build comfort. In both life and business, I have continually found that success comes from moving forward through discomfort, and as things get more uncomfortable, you move forward even harder.
I worked a grocery store job for five years through college. A painful five years, bagging groceries, playing cashier and stocking shelves. 40 hours/week, $12/hour. An upgrade from the $8/hour part time I had started with. What is that even - $24k/year? It was comfortable enough, but one day I had enough, wrote a note, and walked out. I had no immediate plan or backup. But I can still remember the feeling I had that very same night - when the store manager called me, asking me to come back, we'll settle things, etc. and I continued on. Discomfort was high, but a new adventure was starting. A couple of months later, I found a job in insurance sales and started at 32k + commission. A lot of people at that job made $32k. I pushed, learned, adapted every day and made it an adventure, and was doing about double that.
Until one day, a couple of years later, the office was getting closed in favor of our office in the city. In the back of my mind, the fastlane and entrepreneurship was clawing away more than ever. I had faced this challenge before, because I went on this adventure before - being jobless but having to hustle. I had a developed sense of urgency, a bit of momentum behind me, and a bias for taking action.
This bias for taking action, in the face of all adversity and other life challenges, some might call grit. And you develop this by GOING ON THE DAMN ADVENTURE. The more adventures you go on, and the more you stack small wins, or overcome failures, the more you build this up. And then you realize, the perceived problems you had in mind were pretty tiny all along. Within one year, I ended up making my first website and have been on the entrepreneurship train ever since. There were definitely some rocky roads in there, and it has been an adventure that someone looking on the outside might say, "what the F*ck. that's insane". But I had stacked enough resilience, small wins, and momentum that it had felt like less of a gamble than you might think when looking from the outside.
The next time you face a decision, keep in mind that the best outcome or impact might not be something that you can immediately measure. It might not even make sense right now, but that's because you're comparing it to your current circumstance instead of thinking about how it might prepare you for what comes next.
There are some things you cannot measure in life.
Go on the damn adventure.
"Go on the damn adventure."
This is in response to the people asking to do "x, y, or z", such as traveling, going to college, going against their parents' wishes, moving out of their parents' house while balancing their financial situation, or just otherwise taking a chance which feels foreign to them.
The default response of the forum, which is also a great response is "the forum can't make that decision for you." And that is as true now as it is ever been.
But I also offer an alternative point of view, which might be equally important, though admittedly not always the best solution.
Go on the damn adventure.
The problem is a lot of these questions and threads are overanalyzing a relatively small decision in the grand scheme of things.
The proposed adventure usually does not interfere with other life goals, and in many cases, it benefits them.
Let's take a look at one of the most common questions on the forum: do I go to college or not?
Your potential biggest adventure to date. It usually requires moving out of your parents' house, involves some kind of financial implication, putting yourself in a new environment, and accepting the challenge of being in a structured, "scripted" environment while knowing that there is some alternative out there that doesn't require all of this.
Here's the thing: for the vast majority of you asking this, college is going to be a bigger adventure than whatever business aspiration or idea you have and will consistently carry out from 18-22. In other words, the external challenge of college will be bigger than whatever challenge you impose on yourself, and that is actually one of the most important reasons to go. It is inevitable that for most people, the slowlane trenches will be a guarantee while developing their entrepreneurial pursuits. If you cannot juggle a few classes while getting served all-you-can-eat buffets and being in walking distance of literally everything you could ever need, how do you expect to cope with the real challenges of life while still trying to pursue entrepreneurship?* (disclaimer: this isn't an excuse to spend a fortune on college; practically speaking, being able to graduate debt free and/or with no private student loans is the exception to this adventure)
Adventures build capacity, safe choices build comfort. In both life and business, I have continually found that success comes from moving forward through discomfort, and as things get more uncomfortable, you move forward even harder.
I worked a grocery store job for five years through college. A painful five years, bagging groceries, playing cashier and stocking shelves. 40 hours/week, $12/hour. An upgrade from the $8/hour part time I had started with. What is that even - $24k/year? It was comfortable enough, but one day I had enough, wrote a note, and walked out. I had no immediate plan or backup. But I can still remember the feeling I had that very same night - when the store manager called me, asking me to come back, we'll settle things, etc. and I continued on. Discomfort was high, but a new adventure was starting. A couple of months later, I found a job in insurance sales and started at 32k + commission. A lot of people at that job made $32k. I pushed, learned, adapted every day and made it an adventure, and was doing about double that.
Until one day, a couple of years later, the office was getting closed in favor of our office in the city. In the back of my mind, the fastlane and entrepreneurship was clawing away more than ever. I had faced this challenge before, because I went on this adventure before - being jobless but having to hustle. I had a developed sense of urgency, a bit of momentum behind me, and a bias for taking action.
This bias for taking action, in the face of all adversity and other life challenges, some might call grit. And you develop this by GOING ON THE DAMN ADVENTURE. The more adventures you go on, and the more you stack small wins, or overcome failures, the more you build this up. And then you realize, the perceived problems you had in mind were pretty tiny all along. Within one year, I ended up making my first website and have been on the entrepreneurship train ever since. There were definitely some rocky roads in there, and it has been an adventure that someone looking on the outside might say, "what the F*ck. that's insane". But I had stacked enough resilience, small wins, and momentum that it had felt like less of a gamble than you might think when looking from the outside.
The next time you face a decision, keep in mind that the best outcome or impact might not be something that you can immediately measure. It might not even make sense right now, but that's because you're comparing it to your current circumstance instead of thinking about how it might prepare you for what comes next.
There are some things you cannot measure in life.
Go on the damn adventure.
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