1. Dedicate time to yourself.
No matter what you do, who you do it for, or whatever your personal circumstances are, you need to take time for yourself every day (even if only for a few minutes). It’s during this time that you can take care of your needs as a person. There’s no position you can possibly be in life where you’re not the most important person. Even Superman has a fortress of solitude.
2. Create (and never veer from) a business plan.
It’s important to have a business plan—if you think you’re going to be the first and only person to succeed in human history without a solid plan, you’re an idiot. Create your business plan now and make it something tangible. It’s not the least bit difficult; the hard part is sticking to it. The best plans in the world are wasted without quantifiable effort.
3. Start now. Nobody’s ever ready.
You’ll never be ready to quit everything and be self-employed, but you’re better off starting now then waiting to be forced into it. Nobody was every ready when they started and nobody ever thought they could do it, and there is absolutely no guarantee that what you do will pay off, but that’s the price you pay for freedom. If you can’t face those fears, your choices are to either accept your life the way it is now (because the only way it’ll ever change is by getting harder with age) or give up on everything, because nobody wants to hear you whining about your sense of entitlement.
4. Understand that things take time.
Before Jim Carry was famous, he lived in a van with his parents and siblings. Everyone you’ve ever heard of has gone through similar times. No business is ever successful in the first year; they spend a lot of money and don’t generate much income. You need a passion for what you do and the courage to face certain failure. If you can’t handle that, you’ll never be successful (regardless of what you do for a living).
5. Organize your work space and files.
You need to be able to find the resources you have when you need them. There’s nothing worse than missing an opportunity because your email inbox or desktop or work space was cluttered and you didn’t see something obvious. Get organized immediately, and you’ll be prepared for anything.
6. Run your life like a business.
Treat your life like a small business, whether you work for some faceless corporation or yourself. You need to get your resources straight and learn how to use them. There are some amazing resource management games you can download. One of my personal favorites is the Tropico series (Part 4 is available for download here), where you can practice balancing your budget and resources with your needs and goals. Apply these video game skills to real life.
7. Failure happens to everyone.
Everybody fails, and you’re going to fail too. If you see someone like Mark Cuban and wish you were like him, you’re going to have to go through what he did to get there, and it wasn’t easy. Despite what you may believe, you’re not entitled to any level of success; it takes years of dedication, resourcefulness, and actively pursuing your goals, rather than focusing on some pipe dream.
