And maybe not in the time I want.

I don't see when the result will come.

When this happens, I take a deep breath and say to myself:

Either I move or I stay where I'm at.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

That line comes from The Shawshank Redemption, and it stayed with me because that's how I think about doing something when I don't know what the result will be.

And something happens when you move.

Just starting feels like a small win.

Compared to when I don't start, it feels like I accomplished something. And that small win fuels the next move.

Then the next one fuels the one after that.

It starts to form a cycle.

At the beginning, the work feels hard. Then it becomes a little hard. Then it's doable. Then it becomes easy. And eventually, you go with the flow.

So you don't wait for the flow before you start.

You start, and the flow comes after.

The motion creates the positive emotion.

I think part of the reason work feels hard before you start is because you don't see the end. You don't know when the result will come.

But you don't need to know where it's going to lead.

When you move, you begin to see the next move. Then the next move. You collect feedback along the way until you get to where you want to be.

Think about driving your car at night.

Your headlights only let you see a little in front of you.

You don't see the end of the road. You don't see your final destination.

So you drive.

Then you see a little more.

And then a little more.

You keep driving until you get where you want to be.

I think working for yourself is a lot like this.

When you work for yourself, you are an entrepreneur. And an entrepreneur is someone who connects the dots, brings ideas to life, and manages risk.

So you have to accept the fact that when you do something, there is some risk that it will not get you the result you want.

That's different from what we are taught in school.

The school system teaches us that effort equals result.

You study and get your grades. You get your degree. You work a certain amount of time and get your wage.

But when you work for yourself, effort doesn't always equal result.

You make an effort to get feedback.

Then you iterate.

You get some other feedback.

Then you iterate again.

You can think about it like a lab where you do experiments, get feedback, analyze it, and then move forward based on that feedback.

You keep doing that until you get the result you want.

And when one of those experiments fails, you didn't waste your time.

You just discovered that thing doesn't work.

So you don't have to do it again.

It's like you are eliminating the things that don't work, so you improve your chances of landing on the thing that works.

That's why I don't think you need to know the end before you start.

You make a move.

You see what happens.

You get feedback.

Then you make the next move.

You don't need to see the entire road.

You just need to see a little in front of you.

Then you drive.