Are you ready to give away 10 years of your life? Because that’s usually where it all starts.
I’m sitting here on the beach doing another one of my day-trips, and I started thinking about how fortunate I am.
When you find yourself in such a fortunate position you also tend to reflect on what it took to get there.
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, know that most “overnight success” stories usually take about 10 years behind the scenes.
❓Is your idea good enough to give 10 years of your life to?
❓Can it hold your attention that long?
❓What is your exit strategy?
Too often entrepreneurs start a business without thinking about the future. And that’s when you see business owners that might be successful but absolutely hate life.
As cliche as it sounds, focus on ventures that you can be passionate about. Yes, pursue opportunity, too, but happiness comes with the passion part.
Figure out what you like and know that you are passionate about. Then, reverse engineer how to monetize it. That way you know what you like instead of choosing from whatever options are still standing after reviewing a list that is focused on money first.
The other thought process behind this approach is to minimize regret. If you pass on pursing something that you have more of a personal interest towards in order to pursue a unicorn for money, and it fails, you’ll regret not trying the passion project. But if you pursue your passions and it fails, you’ll learn a lot and be proud that you tried.
Jeff Bezos even coined a term for it. He calls it the “regret minimization framework.”
And don’t try to pursue every idea. Many other successful entrepreneurs take on too much and wish they narrowed their focuses down. They’ll admit that they feel the could be more productive in those lesser quantity items, while also feeling less burned out.
