Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Upside

It's easy to complain, and since misery loves company, feedback reinforces and promotes it. I really do love what I do. Over time, what I do feels increasingly abstract and ephemeral. I generally know what will happen next week, next month and a year from now. The details begin to fade, "Matrix" style as you see the zeroes and ones that make up daily life. Still, there are some very concrete feelings I still have about owning my own store that make going back to anything else seem unthinkable. Here are 20 off the top of my head. Feel free to add more in the comments. It's generally a good life.
  1. Waking up in the morning without a feeling of dread.
  2. Doing something I can easily explain to my kid.
  3. Building a place where I want to spent my time and never compromising on this.
  4. Surrounding myself with things I think are cool.
  5. Arranging my environment to my precise specifications.
  6. Creating systems that accentuate what I like and want to do while delegating the rest.
  7. Not having to compromise my morals or beliefs for the good of the company.
  8. Getting to see or at least hear about awesome hobby stuff before everyone else.
  9. Having the pick of the best gamers, if I so desire.
  10. Knowing I'll never be laid off and that I'm sheltered by most "macro" economic conditions.
  11. Knowing my "self power" has gotten me this far and that only good decisions and hard work can get me farther.
  12. Knowing my finances and future are in my own hands and not someone elses.
  13. Getting to meet interesting people with similar beliefs who are happy I'm there to exchange cool stuff for money.
  14. Appreciating the communities that have evolved from what was built, even if I'm not part of all of them.
  15. Surrounding myself with cool, competent employees that I ultimately select.
  16. Occasionally hearing from my micro-heroes.
  17. Knowing only I''m to blame for shortcomings (see #11).
  18. Sleeping in.
  19. Setting the tone. 
  20. Being the guy.

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