Patrick Hobson @falablewisefool

I'm going to start offering workflow automation services to local professionals and in my first 30 days I’m going to make $10,000. And I’m going to document all of it here. To be clear, I have no background in this. I have no coding experience and I’ve never worked in tech or consulting. All I have is some dabbling in n8n the past month. I am very much flying blind. But that’s the exciting part. I could spend a few more weeks planning and "figuring it out". I definitely don't have all of the answers and many of my assumptions could be wrong. But there's only one way to find out. Day 1 starts tomorrow. Watch me figure this out or fail trying.

It’s also the perfect time to go all in with something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I was tempted to tip toe my way into it, but I’m not going to. And it scares the hell out of me. But not nearly as scary as sharing it publicly.

I got married last week. It was a long time coming. We both imagined it being much earlier in our relationship, but in the end it was the right time. The perfect time. Keep reading ⬇️

I’ll take it a step further

One thing I’m working on: Not hiding things I’m embarrassed for others to see. For example, I wrote “Build In Public” in large letters on the front page of a notepad earlier. I wanted to immediately flip the page over so nobody could see it.

Stop making excuses if you actually want to change. Every time you rationalize your behavior you move away from growth. It's these self-serving explanations that signal to your psyche that you were not deficient. And if you are not deficient there isn't a reason to change.

I'd say it sucks, but I'm enjoying the ride

I started running this year. It has transformed how I view progress. My most valuable takeaway: The days when you're slow and feel like shit. When your first mile feels like five. When other runners keep passing you. When you're tempted to call it at the next corner. But you don't. Maybe you even add another mile out of spite. These are the days that progress is made. Not the days where you're flying, hitting PRs, feeling invincible. Those days are just revealing what the shit days built. Progress is made in the background when you're at your worst but you show up anyway. It won't feel like progress. You’ll wonder why you’re doing it in the first place. But six months later, when your worst day is faster than your old best day you’ll know why.

It's thorns or thorns

That's when you finally press the button. Not because you're ready. But because you're exhausted from pretending that waiting is the same as doing.

Then one morning it hits you: The tragedy isn't that you might find your ceiling. The tragedy is that you're going to die in the lobby, never knowing if you could have made it to the penthouse.

You spend your twenties in the lobby. "I could go all the way up if I wanted to." You spend your thirties in the lobby. "I'm just waiting for the right moment to take the elevator." You spend your forties in the lobby. "I've been analyzing which floor would be best."

I was a decent skateboarder when I was younger. But one thing held me back from being good. I could never get myself to do the things I was afraid of. Instead I looked at it from every angle. Pretending that I was about to do it. As if I would find something that would make the fear vanish. But it never did. In the end I would always walk away having never tried. Regretting I didn’t at least attempt it. Sure, I could have been hurt. But I got hurt all the time doing the things I wasn’t afraid it. It came with the territory. Twenty years later, the falls don’t hurt anymore. But knowing I didn’t fully go for it does. Stop studying what you fear. You won’t find an angle that takes it away. Just drop in.

If you want to dig yourself out of a hole, you have to create your own energy. Nobody is coming to save you. Especially you. Be clear about who it is you want to become. Then start acting like that version of yourself. It won’t be perfect. Nobody will notice at first. But keep going. You will become it.

Don’t keep an untested identity. The one that exists only in potential. Instead, test your assumptions of who you could be. It’s scary as hell. The first time you publish your ideas. The first race you run. The first time you say ‘I can help with that’. The point where reality and theory collide isn’t always friendly. But untested potential can’t help anyone. Can’t build anything. Can’t change anything. It just floats there, perfect and useless.

Who else has felt this pressure, and how did you respond?

I don't like admitting this. It feels like a cop-out. A made up excuse to make myself feel better about my failures. But it’s the truth. And I’m betting I’m not the only one who has pulled back to avoid the full weight of their potential.

I’ve been wandering in the desert for 40 years. But today I am done wandering. Before I entered the desert I was building a moderately successful company. Or it was close to being moderately successful. We had that first taste of sweetness in our mouths.