Why Entrepreneurship (and life) is a creativity game.

Story time:

Between ages 11-19, I wanted to be an actor, then a writer and eventually a film director.

Realised I loved creating stories and entertaining people.

Also had a small side quest wanting to be a cricketer but that's... every brown kid ever

Anyway, one summer in 2014, I worked in a startup and realised that's where creativity AND massive value creation intersected.

I was hooked.

Wanted to be an entrepreneur from that summer onwards and it didn't feel like an identity switch because I'd just found a different outlet for being creative.

I'd never heard anyone phrase it a similar way until I listened to this podcast earlier today with Naval that breaks down his "How To Get Rich" tweet-storm that went viral a few years ago.

Btw- if you haven't read it- highly recommend.

Hearing him talk about entrepreneurship- or any other work for that matter- being akin to art when executed at the highest level is exactly how I've felt about this game.

It's hard for me to not play it because I am so curious about it. That's why I Iike to refer to work (and life) as a game and not work.

It creates the frame of it all being play instead of being a chore.

In order to ensure it's all play, you have to listen to your mind and body.

You can't keep forcing yourself to do stuff that makes you miserable.

That's why I left consulting. I never wanted to dread a Monday again. Silly way to live life.

An important nuance here is to decide the kind of miserable that gets you to where you want to go.

The debate I'm trying to have is about say:

Pushing yourself to work out when you don't feel like it but know it'll make you feel good in 30 mins....

versus

....changing your workouts altogether because you tried it for 30 days and it still feels hard to feel motivated.

And the thing that helps is curiosity. Just asking "why"

👉🏻Why do I feel this way

👉🏻Why is this annoying process at work so freakin annoying

👉🏻Why do my friends look at me weird when I make that edgy joke

I've had to reflect on this last one a lot throughout my life, by the way.

That's the #1 thing I learnt from working in a startup for 4 years. Probably my biggest reward for having worked with an entrepreneur directly.

The crazy thing for my parents and friends was how I took a massive pay-cut to do that job.

Some were more covert in their criticism than others, but eventually I realised very few actually thought I was sane.

Long-term though, that that experience will probably make me more money- and in the way I want to earn it.

In the medium-term, it's already started paying off!

Ways I've made money this year:

1. B2B Enterprise sales

2. A marketing agency

3. Writing and publishing my book

Before this year, it was consulting with founders on SEO, lead-gen.

Point is- there's always been a way.

I hadn't really done any of these things when I started doing them.

Curiosity being my north star though, has allowed me to traverse strange valleys and deserts.

And be pumped for Monday morning.

What more does a guy need?

tl;dr framework for entrepreneurship (and life):

1. Notice every little annoyance in work, life, relationships

2. Slow down. Don't fire up Netflix/Tinder/Instagram to distract yourself

3. Ask "why"

4. Write down the problem in great detail on a plain piece of paper

5. Usually the next steps/potential solutions flow after step 4

6. Try something out. See where it gets you. Reassess. Iterate.

7. Repeat 6 till you solve the problem.