If You Must Depend

Depend on a project to work at all costs, or treat it as a side-project.

Those are two ends of a work ethic regime, so let’s look at the consequences of this thinking. Let’s look at whether there’s merit to keeping a lighter touch on our work.

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If you must depend on a project to succeed for your self-worth, of course you will be defensive of new ideas. You must judge, you must filter, because only the good ideas, the ones that make money or help you succeed, should be given a chance.

If you must depend on a specific project to make money, all you have is your degree of effort, of hustle, to measure your focus. All other efforts are a lack of focus, and your focus is all you have.

If you must depend on your focus and your intensity to make the project work, then you will certainly have to sacrifice family, health, and everything that comes in your way.

You might win at this project, but you might lose at all of the essentials.

A side-project, through this lens, might as well be a distraction, a pipe dream, a totem of your weakness.

Maybe the trick is to be a bit more picky on what to depend on.

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If you didn’t have to depend on any given project working, what would you be dependent on instead? Maybe it would be that you depend on your skills. On your word. On keeping your commitments to your people. On your connections and relationships. On your integrity.

If you must depend on your integrity, turning it into your main competitive advantage, maybe you’d make choices differently. You might make different kinds of bets, to work on different projects.

If you must depend on choosing different projects to work on to keep your integrity, maybe you’d learn to choose projects where there is no competition, where the competitive people avoid playing, where you have to practice different beliefs to succeed, where you have to chart your own path.

If you must depend on charting your own path, you might have to keep a lighter touch on your work. You remain professional, dedicated, skillful, true to your word, creative and focused, but you judge your choices differently. You must depend on your personal development.

You’re in competition with your future self. And because of this, you must make progress as a person.

Now focus and work as much as you want. Main project, side projects, whatever.

Soon enough, others will be able to depend on you.