The First Day
I was on the way to work the other day, when suddenly I noticed the mob around me, commuting to work, to do things that they’ve always been doing and no doubt will be doing tomorrow as well.
It hit me then: I hadn’t felt passionate about something for a long time. I couldn’t even remember the time when I was working on something other than other people’s projects for the past 10 years.
The good ol’ days
I remember how much I enjoyed writing a simple ASCII-based Space Invader game as a kid, with BASIC. It wasn’t a very good game, but it wasn’t bad, it was working. I enjoyed writing that immensely.
I remember picking up English as a teenager, poring over the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, watching sitcoms after sitcoms, absorbing word after word, trying to get the different connotations and nuances. I still remember the very first time I caught somebody saying “exaggerated” in one of the sitcoms, after reading about it in the dictionary. Very fun.
I remember writing my first article, enjoying every second of it. When I found out that I was going get 600 dollars for it, I was ecstatic. I mean I didn’t know doing something that fun could get me paid so much. That was big money for me at that time! I was so happy!
Then work happened. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’ve been blessed. I have no complaints. I am grateful for all the jobs I’ve been able to secure so far. They develop me to who I am today. They put me in touch with all the great people, most of whom become my friends.
But…
But I want to do something different with my life.
I want to feel that passion again, working on something longer than a few days, on something other than other people’s projects. I want to wake up in the morning, jumping skyhigh out of bed because I can’t wait to go back to working on the project. I want to work on something long-term, that will pay off big in the end. Something that I can attribute my own name to, if not in front of anybody, at least in front of myself.
So what do I do?
I want to generate $5 million. Within a decade. That’s my personal long-term project now.
And today is the first day of the project.