Rules for Engagement - Rule 7 - Do Something You’re Happy To Do For Free

This is something I’ve been considering more during lockdown that I believe will lead to, hopefully success, money and most importantly meaning.

I’ve always been worried about waking up one day at 40 years old, balding, slightly overweight at 6 in the morning dreading the first steps into a cramped hot office to partake in mind-numbing work, chatting the same old sh*t about sports, music or other people in the office to colleagues. Then driving home in the rain (because it’s my thought and I can make it as depressing as I want), looking forward to the 2 minutes of peace and quiet that the toilet provides. I’m learning now that that isn’t a nightmare but a pleasant thought. If that’s the absolute worst case-scenario, then that’s a great life.

Of course, I’ve intentionally described the worst parts of a ‘normal life’ but the good parts often outweigh the bad. So let’s assume I’m waking up next to the love of my life (1 point), let’s also switch overweight for relatively healthy because I cycle to work (1 point), let’s say I open the window in the office and my colleagues are friends who I can go to the pub with after work and chat ideas as well as sports, music and other people in the office (2 points) and let’s say I go home, make or have a pleasant dinner with my family watching something funny under a couple of warm blankets (2 points). And let’s add a dog for good measure (1000000 points). That adds up to a tasty recipe for life. But I still worry.

Most of the time, my thoughts and mindset is ‘stay productive and keep focusing on progressing and growing your audience and eventually you’ll get paid for doing something you love.’ I hate to say that money has that hold on me but as the sexual assaulter pest, R Kelly says; Money Makes the World Go Round. Ideally, I’d love to make a comfortable living by writing, filming, learning and talking about topics I want to talk about with interesting people who I can learn greatly from. However, this is something to strive for, so what I’m getting at here is the journey towards the goal is more important than the goal. For instance, if I knew that if I played golf everyday for 10 years, I’d eventually get good enough for someone to pay me to play, I wouldn’t do it because that’s 10 years of playing f*cking golf. So, you have to choose something that you would be happy to do for free for 10 years. For me, that’s my new YouTube show In Context, if you haven’t watched it, please do. If, after 10 years of speaking with and learning from some of the most interesting people in the world I still wasn’t making any money from it, I wouldn’t be upset because I’m passionate about it. Hopefully, this passion for the show will lead to the furthering of my career. What you do for 10 years is more important than the hoped for endgame. If you are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life. Don’t.

If you aren’t enjoying what you do now, why are you doing it? Don’t torture yourself for the majority of your good years doing something you hate to end up with a larger pile of money than your peers. You may have more money but the liklihood that you’ll be more satisfied with it is low, as opposed to being purely satisfied doing something you love because you love it, not for money.

Also, if you are doing something you love, you’ll likely make mistakes and trip up because it’s most likely something new to you and hopefully new to others. This means you’re doing it right which should lead to a career others view as valuable.

So far, I’ve filmed 1 and a half episodes of my new show and I’ve already counted over 10 mistakes I made in episode 1. This is just signs for growth. I’m happier with how episode 2 is turning out and I’ll likely be happier with epsiode 3. This will hopefully continue to the point where as the episodes improve in aspects like hosting skills, editing, video quality etc., the amount of people who watch will too.

So, take a moment to sit and think about what you’re doing in all apsects of your life. Are you not happy on your own? Get off your butt to fecth your phone to sit back down again and swipe through Tinder because lockdown. Not happy with your current living arrangements? Move out. Dread going to work everyday? Look for something that will make you happier, or at least start doing something you love for free on the side. I was about to type “there’s no excuses” but I stopped myself due to the current times we live and also, I sometimes forget my place in society as I am a privelaged person and it’s easy for me to preach all these rules from the comfort of my home, so I just hope that someone can find something useful here, no matter your situation. So, if you’re not happy, as the disgraced sexual assaulter pest Michael Jackson sang, Make a Change. No matter how small. Small actions lead to larger growth.

Next week, I’ll explore Habits.

Patreon

I also wanted to let you know that I have created a Patreon account, Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid. If you’re enjoying reading my articles or watching my videos (new podcast, In Context, is out now FYI) and feel like it’s worth something, you can subscribe to my Patreon for £4 per month. This will grant you early access to all my work before it’s released and I’ll be conducting regular polls so you can have your say regarding topics you’d like me to cover. If you have any other ideas for perks you would receive like merchandise or shout outs, let me know by emailing gtmediauk@gmail.com. If you cannot afford to pay £4 per month, please do not feel pressured into paying, your views and you reading this is enough for me, so please don’t worry. You can also simply pledge a one-time payment of whatever you would like to pay, this would also be greatly appreciated and would support the work I’m carrying out. You can subscribe or pledge here