Sometimes you need to get the thing before you realise you don’t need it

You don’t need to be hit by a car to know being hit by a car isn’t what you want.

Why then does it take longer to realise these things with other events?

I had to go to America to realise I didn’t need to move to America.

I had to get a job at a big tech company to realise I didn’t want to work for a big tech company.

I had to get a job at a smaller tech company to realise I didn’t need a job at a smaller tech company.

Were they a waste of time then?

No. They’re all a part of the journey.

But deep down I knew. I knew what I was after.  I knew where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to be a creator. I knew I wanted to make things. Take adventures when I wanted. Work for myself. Do less. Less but better.

If I knew where I wanted to go, why’d it take so long to go there?

Fear. Old ways of thinking holding back new ways of thinking. Adhering to the narrative of others rather than writing my own.

Sometimes answering some of life’s hardest questions. The ones where you say, should I do this, or that? Should I go left or right? Don’t require you having more knowledge. You already know the answer.

What they require is instead more bravery. Bravery to say, I’m going this way. Bravery to say, I’m doing this. Bravery to say, I don't need this.

And finally, bravery to listen to yourself.