Cutting Your Teeth

In The Black Swan, Taleb tells scientists to spend less time in the lab and more time experimenting with life because that is where their next discovery will come from. I forgot who it was, but a one of the Stoics used to say that even the sleeping were doing their job. On an individual level, sleeping is as much a part of your job as answering emails or taking a meeting. Everything is work. Everything is part of developing yourself. The job – the part the pays you – is just a small percentage that.

You never know where a relationship can happen. Brian Clark commented on the 3rd post I wrote for this site because I’d linked to a CopyBlogger article. By the end of the week – almost 15 months later – he, TheExecutive and I should be wrapping up a deal where will be working together with one of the biggest young actresses on cable.

I’ve only been formally employed for two years now but I am constantly withdrawing from things I did on the internet long before a paycheck compelled me to do it. Articles I read and remember. Sites I used to have accounts on. People I’ve heard of or talked to. Something I taught myself when I was trying to figure out how to get music without paying for it.

So how can anyone expect these things to happen without actually being involved? Brian can’t leave you a comment if you don’t have one. You can’t chance across some new business opportunity if you’re not actively seeking new things in general. And you certainly can’t begin to build a name for yourself if you haven’t bothered to put it out there. You have to set yourself up for good things to happen. There is a reason why when I stop and look around I don’t find many competitors – most people don’t do anything.

I’ve said this before, I know. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is that you want to do, you can be doing it now. You can be laying the groundwork to be better at it than anyone else. And specifically if new media is what appeals to you, that stuff is so easy it’s laughable.