this will change everything

“How can I start making money?

I used asked this question to myself one time too many. 

Often accompanied by “What business should I start?” or “what should I do in my life ?”. If you’ve asked them too, read on. 

Although I’m pretty sure most people ask them at some point in their lives. Some early, some late. For me, I used to ask them since I was 15. 

But how do we answer them? 

The hypothesis

Here’s my hypothesis. 

I think that answers to questions like these, come via serendipity. Perceived serendipity rather.

To the naked, external observer, it seems almost like an accident. But upon closer inspection and dissection, it becomes apparent that they were a result of a select few events. The events were results of habits. One habit, to be precise. A habit that most people can develop, but never will.

The Habit

I have been making money doing various things the last two years. So I have at least a temporarily reasonable answer to the question, “How will I make money?”.  

But how did I find it? 

I tried looking for the answer to this question in books, countless YouTube videos, and dozens of failed experiments. But no luck. Until one fine day, I stumbled upon sports cards (a story for another day). 

I couldn’t have predicted in my wildest dreams, that I would make my first bit of money buying and selling pieces of cardboard with pictures of athletes on them. 

But I did. 

It may seem very random to you reading how I stumbled upon sports cards as an avenue to make money. But in hindsight, it’s very obvious why it happened.

I had developed a habit of diving deep into topics that interested me, and taking action regardless of financial outcomes, I had gotten used to doing loads and loads of research on things I found interesting. And the research inevitably led to some form of action. In this case, I purchased a couple of cards online. Lost some money. Researched some more. Lost some more. Until…

….I started making some.

And then some more. There were the occasional losses of course but I started getting my first real taste of making money.

It could all be chalked back to that one decision of diving deep into a completely random topic (in this instance, sports cards) and then taking action upon my new found information (buying some cards and taking L’s).

It resulted in me discovering a brand new income stream, learning a range of skills as a byproduct, and gaining a newfound passion that will stay with me forever.

But if it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?

Why most people don’t do it

Because it’s a risk.

It requires you to put time, money and effort in, without any guarantee of a tangible return. 

And most people, I have realised, are afraid of taking even the slightest risk. 

You have been tuned to play it safe.

It’s what has been ingrained in you since you were a kid.

To only do things for tangible material rewards.

Study hard so that you can score well,

Score well so that you can get into good colleges,

Get into good colleges so that you can get a good job,

Get a good job so that you can make money and be stable and secure.

But here’s the catch. 

The people who are the best at what they do, the ones that are successful in the truest sense of the word, are the ones who never worked or learnt or studied for tangible external rewards.

They do things because they love the process of doing things, learning things, experimenting, failing, and finally, succeeding. 

And by consequence, most other things follow. 

Stacking Skills

Another big advantage of taking action without weighing tangible benefits is that you become extremely versatile.

It’s because you are working with an unlimited mental frame, as opposed to someone who works for tangible benefits.

Take someone who is studying English for a competitive exam. All his research, studying, and learning happens in the context of the exam. Once the exam is over, he has lost all willingness to study and learn. 

Now compare them with someone who is trying to learn English, and is trying to become a better speaker and writer for the sake of it, without a tangible result in mind. 

Firstly, the latter, ends up with a more comprehensive and unrestricted learning experience.

But secondly and more importantly, the latter will be able to pick up more such skills, regardless of context, and add them to his skill stack easily. Which will be difficult if you only learn and execute in a finite and contextual environment. 

Thats why most people are unidimensional. Unidimensionality, is easily replaceable. In the workplace, in life, in social circles, everywhere. 

But when you have stacks of skills, you become irreplaceable. 

And lastly…

And if that doesn’t convince you, here’s one last reason to do it. 

Do it for yourself.

Because it will instantly make your life more meaningful. 

Most people live unintentional lives. They aren’t in control. Rather, they are the ones being controlled. By situations, by people.

When you do things without expectation of material reward, you start being in control. You start doing the things YOU want to do. You learn the things YOU want to learn. Instead of learning the things that “pay the most” or have the best returns.

Naval Ravikant says "The only true test of intelligence is if you get what you wanted out of life”.

Be intentional. Do the things you want. Learn the things you want. Take action without expectation. And everything else will follow. 

It’s worked for me, it should work for you too.