The permission trap that kept me broke for years

I wasted years trying to please gatekeepers, both real and imagined.

I was listening to a Tim Ferriss podcast while knocking out some deadlifts at the gym the other day.

Tim interviewed the musician Jon Batiste. I didn’t know much about Jon before the podcast, as he’s not that big in Ireland. But, I love interviews with superstar creatives.

Halfway into the podcast, Jon told Tim:

“People, whether creative or not… have two, maybe three ideas in life. We have two ideas that we are constantly refining, recreating, presenting. Refining, recreating, presenting. And it’s your life’s idea set.”

That got me thinking about the idea that we need other people’s permission to start.

I wasted years trying to please gatekeepers, both real and imagined. Every time, I tried writing for traditional media or a big company, I’d get so far and then bang heads against one of them.

A judge who didn’t shortlist my writing. A hiring manager who decided not to progress me to the next round. Or a boss who said I wasn’t good enough for promotion.

Trying to appease these gatekeepers wasn’t fun. I ended up unemployed, depressed and broke.

One morning, with nothing to lose, I stopped asking for permission.

I fired up WordPress and started a tech blog (long since offline).

Since then, I’ve spent over a decade writing online. I’ve written about current affairs, tech, productivity, business, health and fitness, Web 3.0, food and drinks and the craft of writing.

(I’ve written for that niche the longest.)

Not all of those niches or creative projects worked out, but the ones that did more than compensated for the years of wasted effort.

Here’s the thing:

You don’t need permission to build, or create or write.

Every day you wait for someone to turn on the green light is another day of lost income.

Document what you know, tell authentic personal stories and then press publish.

Do it even if no one is reading, buying or watching.

Do it even if you don’t feel like your work is any good.

Do it every day.

Do it and you’ll slowly figure out what works.

Then, double down on that.

It won’t happen overnight, but you knock out the creator’s equivalent of a GMY personal record: getting paid for working on what you love.

Anyone can do it.

I did it.

So, turn up, create and press publish.

That’s my big idea.

What’s yours?