I'm not successful because I'm too busy
jasonleow • 3 Dec 2021 •
I’ve never been busier the past few months.
100 days of marketing.
Tripling my publishing volume.
Trying new distribution channels.
Experimenting with new approaches on Twitter.
Consulting for a project for a government organisation.
And this is how I know I’m not successful. Yet.
Because to me, true success is a blank calendar.
True success is the freedom to be able to wake up every morning and say:
“I can do whatever tf I want today.”
And going back to sleep.
Or not. Whichever way the wind blows that day.
True success is being able to chase my curiosity as a child would.
Sure, when I get there, I might still find my calendar being pretty full. I’m a restless soul. I like to move. But I won’t be busy. Because I can just drop whatever whenever tf I want then, and it’s okay.
Sure, the number in your bank account plays a part in that kind of freedom, but it’s an enabler, a means to an end, not the end itself.
I know my current busyness is helping me get to the lifestyle that I want, the success that I desire. For that I’m not complaining.
But for every day that I’m busy, I know…
That success is still not in my grasp.
Comments
It would be great to have that empty calendar and wake up every morning excited to work. To know I have something valuable to create. To wake up with a sense of ikigai.
@therealbrandonwilson yaasss.
@Winkletter yes I think you just described what ikigai really feels like! (not that abstract intellectual venn diagram)
@jasonleow HA! I’m so annoyed by that diagram! Thankfully, I came across Ken Mogi’s little book Awakening Your Ikigai first. When I went looking for more information that ding dang diagram was everywhere.
The grind before the eased mind.