You should market yourself. It's a very nice thing to do, create something awesome and make a lot of people watch it. It is worth all the effort and the money. Just to argue against my last post against marketing. I really actually am pro marketing a lot. It's just the best feeling to know that one thousand people heard my song. Really worth it.
But here is another point that I wanted to write about this time. You have all the time in the world. Don't be in such a rush to get successful. Despite what many Guru's and people will tell you, you actually have all the time in the world to express yourself professionally and create so much stuff and market it and all of that. So don't be in such a rush. Pace yourself and take it slow and remember the journey is the point. The fun is in the making. So just take it easy and take it slow. There is really no rush to get rich at all, sure if you have zero money then lend some from a friend or something quickly hahah.
But don't be in such a rush to get rich. There is a lot of value in being calm in that area of your life. You don't need to make a million next year, first of all if you ask me I don't really need a million to begin with, but there really isn't so much rush always to get something. Life isn't about getting things, it's way deeper than that. Say no to stress about getting successful, if you even want to do that. Success is only one area of life to focus in, you really have all the power in the world to choose something else. I know people who got successful and actually dropped chasing it alltogether and didn't want to earn more anymore.
If I'm being honest with you, I am these days interested in having a great conversation. I tend to get bored easily and I feel like I want to express myself more in terms of language (that's just a nerdy way of saying that I want to speak with you). So I would rather have a great conversation than earn a bunch of money, I already have everything I need in financial.
So I am rather interested now in having a conversation rather than making a bunch of money. So my posts are now really different than that. I still need to pay my bills and etc, sure, don't get me wrong, but really there are more interesting things than pieces of paper and digital numbers and stuff that you can buy. I really know a lot of people who agree with me as well. For example brings to mind a friend who lives in a house. He lived in his owned house and all of other friends lived in rented apartments and were much "poorer" in that sense.
As an exercise I want you to write and contemplate about this - what would you want if you already had one hundred million euros in your bank account? What would you now be doing? What would you do if you had all the money in the world and could not care less about making more? Do that thing now. That is the way of a happy life, because that thing is your passion and it's like your favorite food that you want to eat every day. So eat it every day, and never stop.
And remember, you have all the time in the world. It has never ran out before. It has kept going for many eternities already. Like Jesus said, Time Is An Illusion.
For example my passions include making music and writing these shitposts for your benefit. I don't even know what I would do if I had all the money, maybe buy some new clothes and stuff.
But you can usually get everything you need for way less you're going to be making in business. I really don't understand why people want to make hundreds of thousands all the time, to me it just doesn't make that much sense. Especially if you're stressing out about it all the time, that makes it actually bad. So just relax and remember, you will get there eventually anyway, so just pace yourself and don't be in such a rush about making money all the time.
I used to stress out so much that I didn't make much passive income in my first few years of trying to do it and to be honest these days I just don't care about it anymore and I let things slide way more and I am in such an enchanted mood about it. It's really the best feeling in the world to stop caring and let it come if it comes and if it doesn't, then not care about it at all and just focus on the good stuff instead and stop unnecessarily suffering about things that I can't fully control and overworking to death isn't always the solution either.
Rather you should ask yourself - what do I really love to do the most? Get this specific answer down and your life will be even nicer. Also if you do what you like to do the most, you'll tend to be a lot more effective than if you really dislike most of it. So do what you love instead, and forget about the money. You will be more detached about money when you're simply being a genius in a field where your uniqueness really shines through. For example as a writer, nobody else can really do the same as I am doing, so writing is a genius activity for me.
Many thanks to Gay Hendricks for sharing these ideas in his book The Big Leap.
So remember to do what you love every day, because it is like eating your favorite food and listening to your favorite music at the same time. The ultimate pleasure of course. I need to confess that writing this article is like that ultimate pleasure for myself. I really enjoy the movement of my fingers on the keyboard as I am writing this and I have a feeling of confidence because I know that I am a pretty good writer with lots of experience and that I can really bring something valuable to the table, in business and life alike.
So when I choose to rather want to have a great conversation than to make a maximum amount of money, I am really setting for myself a goal that I am in control of. Nobody is 100% in control of their income all the time, maybe only 50% or so, not always even that.
Having a great conversation? Fun, easy, enjoyable. Making a lot of money right off the bat tonight? Probably not that easy and enjoyable. So I will rather choose the conversation over the goal of money and hit that goal instead for my dopamine needs.
Indeed. I hope that I am succeeding in that goal of having a nice chit chat about this. Because I feel like it is important to be happy and I know that flow state activities lead to happiness. I would define flow state as an enhanced pleasure of being really good at something and doing it for an extended period of time whilst losing track of time and having goals one is trying to achieve. So for example setting a goal of a blog post, being a good writer, really loving writing and losing the track of time whilst doing it really is a flow state activity for myself. And those are important for two reasons for me which are mastery and happiness. For me being excellent is a pleasure of it's own, really the reason why people love sports too, is simply that. So being good at what I do is a pleasure and doing a pleasurable thing well is really important for me.
So what are your flow state activities? Be sure to think about them and write some down perhaps. Then start doing them and one tip I have is to do them extensively and for extended periods of time, that way the pleasure of the flow activity will really flood your system with feel good chemicals and you'll probably end up being of inspiration to others as you're doing it, too.
So come up with atleast one flow state activity which you are good at or want to get good at and start doing it every day, perhaps for a few hours at a time. I know some writers write for 12 hours every day while writing books and I really can see where they are coming from. It really is the best thing to do for yourself, and the money will be only a side effect as you get very good at your habit.
So make your flow state habit everything and start focusing on that. Really put your focus in there, breathe with it and see where it will take you. I promise that it will take you to new worlds, completely.
That way your success will be also the highest, when you do what you love and forget about everything else. Maybe you have to choose making money very slowly whilst being a genius versus making quick money? I could go around the corner and try to sell some weed too. Probably would make more money tonight than as a writer, but maybe writing is still a better strategy over the long term, what do you think?
Whatever your field might be, I think that is what The Big Leap as a book name implies - to reach the next level, we must take a Big Leap in creativity and love, so we can reach the next level in life, where our successes are quadrupled and life gets really good at this point.
When you reach that point where life gets really good, that is when the gratitude starts to get deep. Because real goodness is what we're all after. It's a real pleasure to live on the maximum in that sense. I am talking about being on fire creatively, and in love.
So I hope you are with me in what the plan was to do next. The plan was to extend your creative muscles and start living in a new level of abundance and happiness - living in the joy of the moment of creation and it's fruit.
Best, Aapo