This has been my struggle for nearly twenty-six years now. Waiting for work to fall into my lap, and twirling my thumbs until something happens. Not very productive.
I fell into the habit of only being productive when a chance to make a paycheck came around. When there wasn’t? Web-surfing with no purpose. Video games. Netflix. Taking up oxygen. Now, these aren’t inherently bad things, but they can absolutely OWN and DESTROY you if you don’t have any discipline. (Except for using oxygen, never stop doing that.)
When I realized I wanted to be a full-time, location-independent freelance SEO specialist, and have the flexibility to work when I want and travel where I want, I fell into a trap I didn’t even realize I set for myself. Having an excuse.
“I’ll justify pwning noobs all day (which, I can, by the way) on Modern Warfare 3 because I don’t have any work right now.”
“I could read articles and watch tutorials on SEO to learn more about it, but I don’t have a job to use what I learned right now, so I’ll just wait until I get a gig to do that.”
“I’ll wait until I finally get one job to start submitting proposals for others.”
These are all REAL things I’ve done. More than a few times, I’m embarrassed to say. I hate it. A major change needs to happen in my life, and it needs to happen NOW. If you’re struggling with the same thing that I am, then you know deep down what you can be, but are scared, or unwilling to put in the work for it. I want so much to be able to say that I am a disciplined, hard working, successful, happy human being. But I would be lying right now if I said those things. That’s the whole reason I decided to create a lifestyle business, to be happy. So far, I’m failing miserably.
I wrote this as a call to arms of myself, because nobody can do it for me. If I don’t take steps, I don’t move. I’ve got a whole army of support, knowledge, and opportunity over at Location Rebel, and up until now, I’ve wasted it.
No more. I have too much hope for my life not try as hard as I can. Never again do I want to claim “I have nothing to do”.
If that phrase is anywhere in your brain, get rid of it. It doesn’t exist. Let’s do work.