Follow your unique path. Own your time.

It resulted from dissatisfaction.

I didn’t like what I was up to. Most of my waking hours went in doing something I didn’t enjoy.

Moreover, the growth felt so, so slow.

The Vice Presidents were warming their seats for 17 years to get to this position. That’s a long time.

Fast forward to right now, I’m a solopreneur. I teach, write, and do what I love for a living. I work under 4 hours a day and I’m doing everything in my capacity to buy back time.

Read also: 7 ‘shallow’ tips that will get you 10x further in life

Clarity

It all happened when I was working from home, being a part of Zoom conversations I did not enjoy when I stumbled upon a blog. I obviously thought its BS because it talked about making money blogging.

I’ve been hearing about that one for nearly a decade and it doesn’t quite work out.

For some reason, this sounded a bit more real. It had stories and examples, and I dug into those people (some of who I call mates today!).

Since this was a time when I was stuck at home, I also got into applying the self-help I read, deleted my Instagram, and something happened that never had — self-awareness.

Creative Visualisation

So I started visualising my dream life too.

It wasn’t much. I just imagined working with a laptop by the hills. I’m not sure why because I’m not too fond of the mountains after having lived there for five years.

I guess it signified freedom.

A year after being self-employed, I clicked this photo. I just realised this coincidence while typing this article…

Image by the author
The truth is that visualising isn’t enough. It shows you the clear goal and programs your mind to work towards it, but you have to show up.

There’s no running away from doing the work.

Visualisation and vision boards don’t work unless you do.

Constructive Goal Setting

You need to create goals based around

your strengths/ skill you’re willing to learn
why do you want to do it (know your ‘why’)
what will it take for you to reach there
Don’t throw out empty statements as goals, it needs to align with who you are.

You’ve read this far because you’re probably not content with your work or life, and that’s probably because it’s misaligned. Careers that don’t align with our personality are rarely a good fit.

Systems + Reps

Create systems around whatever you’re trying to achieve.

Say you want to get into animation. Perhaps set 2 days a week where you apply for gigs, study on weekends, and have a few hours each week to work on those gigs.

Do this till you can make enough money on the side that you’re confident you can make it full-time, too.

Create systems that work around your lifestyle. Some of you may want to pursue your passion on weekends and some of you, during the week.

Don’t be ad-hoc and create a process. It makes it easier in the long run.

Experimenting

I try to mention this aspect each time I write about this topic.

And that’s because I did everything as an experiment. It still surprises me that my cohort-based course results from an experiment.

It took me

one tweet
one group I taught for free
getting feedback and testimonials
To run something that always gets filled and has great feedback coming in. How could you not get mind-boggled by this?

Also, this mindset keeps my heart safe. If I consider it an experiment, I’m less hurt if it doesn’t work out.

I’m emotional that way, so.

L+I = Success

I still keep learning via courses, YouTube, and books.

And I try to implement whatever I feel is a fit.

Keep learning to grow in your field. You will never know it all, and the mindset of knowing it all won’t get you anywhere.

Learn and implement because practice is the only way to get better at everything you do.

Read also: 3 effective ways of managing your time

My [Short] Story

I started by side hustling. I wrote online and also hopped onto Upwork for gigs.

I visualised quitting my job 3 months later.

That obviously didn’t happen so soon, but 6 months later, it did. I started freelancing and slowly turned to the ‘creator’ side of writing online.

Once my course Summit 21 took off, I launched digital products and started creating even more online. Last month, I launched another course which is self-paced.

If you told me this two years ago or even told me I’ll get $100 passive income a month, I wouldn’t have believed it.

But it’s happening, and it’s happening so well.

It’s still scary. I still don’t know if what I do will work out. But hey, it’s an experiment.

Summary

If you’ve read it this far, I can imagine that you’re really serious about changing things for yourself.

I hope that curiously and zeal to do better stays and doesn’t get hindered by the inevitable lows that every journey experiences.

Here’s what we discussed:

Clarity
Creative visualisation
Constructive goal-setting
Systems + Reps
Experimenting
Learning + Implementation = Success
I hope this can help you get closer to your goals.

You are a few steps away from changing your life, and I’m living proof that this stuff works. That being said, those who give up will always find a way to diss the process.

All the best!

Contributed by Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi

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