<Discovering the Path from Misguided Jobs to Meaningful Work>

7:00 AM: Waking up and heading to the bathroom. 8:30 AM: Rushing to catch the packed bus, reminiscent of Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. 9:30 AM: Finally escaping the sweaty commute. 6:00 PM: Repeating the morning chaos until the next day — this was my routine after a year and a half post-graduation.

This wasn’t my first job, not even close. At 21, I had been working various gigs since age 15: delivering newspapers, cashiering at a drugstore, interning at a call center — I had experienced it all.

But I wasn't earning pocket money; my goal was to gain experience.

Experience for what? I couldn't say. I had been told that starting work early was beneficial, but I never understood how it would aid my future. Perhaps it was more about building character than gaining professional skills.

By the time I graduated, I was clueless about my own aspirations.

So, when my cousin presented me with a position at his startup, I accepted without hesitation. That decision marked the beginning of my downward spiral.

# The Long Dark Tunnel and the Light at the End

The next four years, from 2016 to 2020, unfolded like this: two failed jobs and two failed business attempts. Quite the balance!

Here’s what I took away from it:

I accepted every job that came my way. This not only hindered my long-term prospects but also extinguished my enthusiasm for work.
I attempted to launch two businesses sequentially. The first was a passion project, which flopped significantly.
The second venture showed promise until COVID-19 brought it to a halt. My lack of entrepreneurial acumen didn't help either.

Looking back, I can’t help but laugh at my own foolishness. Yet, for a broke 25-year-old from a lower-middle-class background, it was no joke.

Despite four years of hustle, I felt lost. I was financially unstable, unhappy, and fearful, all while the pandemic loomed over us.

Things couldn’t have deteriorated further. And yet, they didn’t.

In fact, my circumstances improved during lockdown. How? For the first time in years, I had time on my hands.

This newfound time allowed me to reflect on my journey, enabling me to view the bigger picture and my place within it.

Since then, everything has changed.

In just the last six months, I’ve earned more than in the previous four years combined. Yet, that’s not even the most significant gain.

The real reward has been the authentic engagement I now experience in my work. While it's not always gratifying or enjoyable — burnout still hits me frequently — being an independent writer has truly brought out the best in me.

Ultimately, I discovered work, or rather a collection of tasks, where I genuinely belong.

And it all began with a simple shift: I started investing more time planning my career than I did each night searching for instant gratification. Here’s what I learned.

# You Can’t Win Playing by the Default Mode

When you think about it, we, as a conscious species, understand very little about our motivations. What leads to our mistakes? Those impulsive decisions? How did we arrive at these choices?

Was it ignorance? Foolishness? Or perhaps our minds have been leading us astray all along?

Here's the crucial question: How can you tell if you’re operating on autopilot? An even deeper inquiry is: What drives you? Do your actions, thoughts, and steps stem from:

A powerful desire to experience pleasure
A constant fear of failure

If your answer is yes, then you’re functioning under default settings.

1. The Deadly Trap of Instant Gratification

“We’ve become so addicted to instant gratification that we’re blind to the impact it has on our lives.” ? Frank Sonnenberg, BookSmart: Hundreds of real-world lessons for success and happiness

The urge for instant pleasure signals a craving for dopamine, the feel-good hormone. How does this affect us? The University of Maryland School of Medicine states:

“Dopamine plays a key role in driving behavior related to pleasurable goals, such as food, sex, and social interaction.”

Gratification refers to a state of pleasure. Instant gratification means pursuing that pleasure through impulsive actions.

For instance, consider if I offered you $100 each month for a year versus a one-time payment of $1500 at the end of the year. Your dopamine would spike twelve times with the monthly payment, but only once with the lump sum.

While the thrill of receiving $1500 might be greater, it wouldn't sustain the same joy as the monthly rewards, which would keep you content over an entire year, even if it totals $300 less.

That’s how instant gratification can deprive you of greater opportunities.

I was spending more time seeking instant pleasures than I was planning my career. There, I said it.

2. The Security of Smaller Goals: A Journey That Leads Nowhere

While instant gratification keeps us engaged with minor rewards, the fear of failure drives us to seek solace in smaller goals.

This can be viewed as a form of “action faking,” a concept from M.J. DeMarco’s acclaimed book Unscripted.

You might feel busy and productive, but in reality, you’re not moving forward.

Here are three things to know about this behavior:

It lacks a clearly defined plan, process, or purpose. Such actions hold no value, short-term or long-term.
The sole aim of action faking is to create an illusion of progress.
Action faking is a more deceptive form of procrastination, making you believe you’re actively engaged.

In the case of pursuing smaller goals, only the first rule applies. You’re indeed taking action, not merely faking it. However, these smaller goals yield insufficient rewards and do not compensate for past or future failures. Without a clear direction, your journey lacks purpose — just like mine once did. Deep down, we are aware of this.

In the past, I pursued minor victories.

Now, I still do the same.

So, how are my results different now?

The change lies in my approach. Previously, I was driven by a compulsion for instant rewards and a fear of failure, causing me to aim low. Now, I align my smaller objectives to lead to significant rewards that justify my efforts.

# How Did I Learn to Turn It Around?

I was unaware of all this until I discovered M.J. DeMarco's The Millionaire Fastlane and Unscripted. These books taught me that blindly chasing money wouldn’t yield results. I needed to enhance my output and raise my perceived value.

“Money is like a mischievous cat; if you chase it around the neighborhood, it eludes you. It hides up a tree, behind the rose bush, or in the garden. However, if you ignore it and focus on what attracts the cat, it comes to you and sits in your lap.” ? M.J. DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane

How can we enhance our perceived value? As DeMarco outlines, there are two essential steps:

Solving Problems: The market has challenges it cannot address alone. If your skills and efforts can resolve these issues, you will reap the rewards. We all solve problems to survive; the challenge is recognizing them and identifying which are worth addressing.
Being Scalable: Consider the aspects of supply and demand, profit and loss. Ask yourself: Is your solution impactful for a wide audience? If not, it may not be worth pursuing. Additionally, is it taking excessive effort to generate minimal value? If so, it likely isn’t profitable.

The goal is to create a system that can influence a large audience with less effort.

That’s precisely what I did. I shifted my focus from monetary gain to problem-solving. I reflected on challenges I faced throughout my life and sought solutions to them. Mistakes I wished I had avoided.

Then, I utilized my skills in writing, design, and my passion for books and films to produce content that delivers value in the form of education and entertainment to a broad audience.

Helping my past self or those encountering similar struggles has become a recurring theme in my work. I strive to provide substantial assistance to those in need, and thankfully, the market often rewards my efforts generously.

If you were to ask me what I value most from my modest achievements, I would say it’s freedom.

Transitioning from working for money to achieving independence is undoubtedly sweet. But the true treasure lies in the freedom to navigate my own path and explore new possibilities ahead — it’s, for lack of a better term, invaluable.