Great read! Particularly this: In an ideal world, we wouldn't need breakdowns to have breakthroughs.
I do wonder what the right balance is between self-starting and work-balance. I feel like there is a notion in society that you have to put in the work early to find the balance later. Phil Knight definitely worked pretty hard selling shoes and so did Patti Smith, etc. Any thoughts there?
I am pretty definitively on the put in the hard work early on and then find balance later. I think the sense of balance has varying texture through the years though. Right now, I'd say I am working hard, and the type of balance that I have is around prioritizing my health. Later on in life, the balance would be about family time, and also working less overall. I'm not sure how hard it felt for Phil Knight / Patti Smith in their early days. It probably was exhausting at many moments, but I think it would be different type of exhaustion than burnout.
Great piece, Matt. Two parts that stood out to me:
"Traditional employment doesn't just provide money and meaning. It offers the comfort of knowing exactly what to work on and how hard to push, with guardrails to prevent coasting and incentives to keep ambitious souls striving."
Now that I'm about two years into my self-employment journey, I've been becoming aware of the other intangible benefits of traditional employment. Just today, I was at a coworking space and saw a group of four people in a meeting room who were discussing a project that they were all working on together for the same company. I miss that "being a part of a team, working toward a common goal" aspect of traditional employment.
"This is why I hold the term "coach" quite lightly - I don't constrain myself with modifiers like "career" or "life." The adjacent possible beckons: perhaps towards somatic therapy, deeper yoga practice, or paths I can't yet imagine. My process of becoming requires staying open to change."
I've been experiencing this too. When you take off the guardrails of traditional employment and really start following your true nature and ambition, there's no telling where it will lead.
To your first point, there's great benefit to finding collaborators, partners, and teammates while self-employed or doing your own thing. I feel like I've found that at Downshift where, although we're still early on, it does feel like it's more of a collective, rather than being an employee at a company. Case in point: I had time to write this essay and also diligently devote time and energy to my 1:1 coaching practice which is separate from Downshift.
I like your mantra! And resonate with the Taoist emptiness spirit - A room is useful because of the empty space it contains. We shape clay into a pot but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
Yes! I continued to be inspired by Taoism and continue to find wisdom it in my journey. I'd like to really deepen my study of it some day, but another way of looking at it is that there's moments to learn and apply Taoist principles everyday :)
Great read! Particularly this: In an ideal world, we wouldn't need breakdowns to have breakthroughs.
I do wonder what the right balance is between self-starting and work-balance. I feel like there is a notion in society that you have to put in the work early to find the balance later. Phil Knight definitely worked pretty hard selling shoes and so did Patti Smith, etc. Any thoughts there?
I am pretty definitively on the put in the hard work early on and then find balance later. I think the sense of balance has varying texture through the years though. Right now, I'd say I am working hard, and the type of balance that I have is around prioritizing my health. Later on in life, the balance would be about family time, and also working less overall. I'm not sure how hard it felt for Phil Knight / Patti Smith in their early days. It probably was exhausting at many moments, but I think it would be different type of exhaustion than burnout.
Great piece, Matt. Two parts that stood out to me:
"Traditional employment doesn't just provide money and meaning. It offers the comfort of knowing exactly what to work on and how hard to push, with guardrails to prevent coasting and incentives to keep ambitious souls striving."
Now that I'm about two years into my self-employment journey, I've been becoming aware of the other intangible benefits of traditional employment. Just today, I was at a coworking space and saw a group of four people in a meeting room who were discussing a project that they were all working on together for the same company. I miss that "being a part of a team, working toward a common goal" aspect of traditional employment.
"This is why I hold the term "coach" quite lightly - I don't constrain myself with modifiers like "career" or "life." The adjacent possible beckons: perhaps towards somatic therapy, deeper yoga practice, or paths I can't yet imagine. My process of becoming requires staying open to change."
I've been experiencing this too. When you take off the guardrails of traditional employment and really start following your true nature and ambition, there's no telling where it will lead.
To your first point, there's great benefit to finding collaborators, partners, and teammates while self-employed or doing your own thing. I feel like I've found that at Downshift where, although we're still early on, it does feel like it's more of a collective, rather than being an employee at a company. Case in point: I had time to write this essay and also diligently devote time and energy to my 1:1 coaching practice which is separate from Downshift.
I like your mantra! And resonate with the Taoist emptiness spirit - A room is useful because of the empty space it contains. We shape clay into a pot but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
Yes! I continued to be inspired by Taoism and continue to find wisdom it in my journey. I'd like to really deepen my study of it some day, but another way of looking at it is that there's moments to learn and apply Taoist principles everyday :)
Love this! I got to know Taoism from learning tea. Looking forward to following your journey in finding wisdom from Taoism.