In 1997, Alanis Morrissette went to India.

After touring behind her super-duper-smash hit album Jagged Little Pill, she took some time off. She returned with a sense of gratitude and bliss.

And of course, she never had another album that reached the same heights as her 1995 breakthrough. (Hardly anyone has.)

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Courtesy of a former wrestler, I know what it takes to become a state champion wrestler in high school.

It would involve grueling practices with wrestlers above your weight class, plus weight training. Meanwhile, preparation for qualifying for your own weight class would begin eight months ahead of time with an apple for dinner and going to bed early so as not to experience the hours of hunger that follow.

He boiled it down: “Basically, a miserable life.” No thank you.

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When I started my first business, I didn’t really think about the implications.

It didn’t feel like much of a commitment. Did I really need an exit plan for teaching music lessons? Nah. I figured I could do it is long as I wanted to, to whatever degree I wanted to.

That’s the nice thing about freelancing. That’s also the nice thing about being young — you don’t really think all the way through the consequences of your actions.

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The thing I appreciate most about being “the boss” is that I don’t have to spend a ton of time worrying about what “the boss” wants.

Sure, I try to do good work for clients. But I get to decide what that “good work” looks like and feels like. If the client and I have a mismatch, that’s not the right client for me.

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Are you trying to find the intersection between your passion, mission, skills, and what the market wants?

Are you seeking the one thing you were born to do that satisfies your passion, makes the world a better place, and earns you a great living?

Well, stop it!

I’m kidding, sort of. But the idea that we have to satisfy all of these things at once to find fulfillment is silly, and wholly manufactured by our fellow humans.

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