I'll tell you my own pressure story.
I started Mission Paradox right after quitting my job as an arts administrator. I had no Plan B. I was either going to make Mission Paradox work or I was going to lose my home, my car and eventually be back in my mother's basement.
So there was a bit of pressure.
During the first six months of the whole thing the hardest part was resisting doing dumb things because of that pressure.
Dumb things like making promises to clients that I knew I couldn't keep because they had a check for me.
Dumb things like chasing clients I really didn't want to work with because they could pay me.
Now you have to understand that doing the actual work of my consulting practice wasn't the hard part. When it was time to do the workshop, give the speech, or sit down with a client I handled those moments pretty well.
The hard part was managing all the times I wasn't doing the work . . . the moments in between projects and opportunities. That is when I would feel the pressure the most. That's when the desire to do dumb things was at the peak.
In hindsight, I entered the world way too focused on my skills. I thought if I had the skills necessary to help people then everything else would work itself out.
But making a living outside of the grid of a typical 9-5 is about a lot more then skill. It's equal parts skills, strategy, luck . . . and your ability to handle pressure.
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