“Even if you’re on the right track,
You’ll get run over if you just sit there”
-Will Rogers
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son”
-Rudyard Kipling
Some time earlier this year, I expressed a bit of optimism that my career would change for the better. However, in the months that followed, despite the efforts that I was making, the doors that I tried to open were either locked or stuck. And confronted with the possibility of being somewhere that I did not want to be, I decided to try something different.
I recently teamed up with a friend to pursue a career in real estate on my own terms. Actually, that might be overstating it. There is always someone you have to answer to. And, for us, it will be potential investors as we try to get deals done. But, be that as it may, we are trying to be our own bosses, focusing on the markets that we want to focus on, and operating as entrepreneurs not bound by a rigorous mandate.
In other words, we’re trying to have fun.
Now, it is still very early days and far from clear that we will succeed. But, the tenor (at least for me) has changed. I feel re-invigorated and excited about the possibilities. That’s a good start. And it happened because I agreed to do something that seemed more risky than my straight and narrow demeanor typically goes for. I’m sure there’s some sort of moral in there – maybe that the only route to success is one where your nerves get a little frayed along the way. And no doubt that will be the case. But, that’s alright.
I guess these words are really meant to memorialize a turning point then. So, to bring it home with one more quote, here’s the incomparable Ellis Boyd Redding:
“I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain…get busy living, or get busy dying. That’s goddamn right.”
